By: Dave Noelke
(West Salem, WI – July 3, 2015) It was a perfect summer evening at LaCrosse Speedway for the Star Spangled Spectacular as Skylar Holzhausen wowed the crowd with a win in the TUNDRA Super Late Models.

At the start, the 2014 winner, Reagan May started on the pole and jumped out to an early lead. Local favorite Holzhausen wasn’t able to challenge and dropped several positions in the race’s first few laps. It looked like the white and purple number 78 was not going to have a good night.

“The car wasn’t good on the start, and it was tight early on,” commented Holzhausen after the race. “But it (the setup and handling) came around, and ended up perfect for us in the end.”

Meanwhile, one of the fastest cars appeared to be Jim Sauter Jr. For several laps, he challenged Mike Lichtfeld with Lichtfeld on the outside. Sauter was unable to advance, and next it was Ty Majeski’s turn to try and get underneath the car of Lichtfeld, and after several laps was finally able to make the pass.

Laps later, the first yellow came out as Lichtfeld spun his car in turn two, after running many laps in the high lane while battling for position.

On the restart, Michael Sauter started on the outside of May, and May spun in turn four later that lap, with most of the field headed at her. The cars of Ryan Farrell and Jordan Ives were collected in the melee, but most were able to avoid any collision.

Michael Sauter took the lead on the restart, but not without pressure from young gun Austin Nason. Nason didn’t waste time and got the lead, and it wasn’t long until point leader Ty Majeski was right in his mirror. Seven laps later the fireworks began. Majeski dove underneath Nason heading into turn three for another attempt to get the lead. The two got together, sparks flew, and the result was Nason’s car backing into the wall.

Holzhausen, meanwhile assumed the lead after the Nason and Majeski incident. As green flag racing resumed, Holzhausen fought off a brief challenge from Jim Sauter Jr., but was able to break away and lead the final laps to take the win. The top Five was completed by Sauter Jr., Michael Sauter, Dan Lensing, and Joel Theisen.

“To come away with a win on our hometown grounds, this is pretty special. Forty laps for our car is a little short, and we’re normally setup for 100 laps, but once it came together, the car was really good,” concluded Holzhausen.

The Great Northern Sportsmen Series followed up the excitement of the TUNDRA feature with many moments of thrills for the fans.

Devin Schmidt started on the front row with Bill Prietzel and took off to an early lead. Schmidt, the 2013 Oktoberfest GNSS winner showed that his car was fast. During the race’s middle laps, the car of Michael Gilomen spun on the frontstretch bringing out the first caution.

That was the break that Schmidt was not looking for, but the one that Tony Leis, Dave Trute and Nick Clements were glad to get.

Shortly after the restart, Jeremy Wolff and Rick Johnson tangled in turn two, bringing out another yellow. After that restart, Schmidt nearly spun on the backstretch after making contact with Trute’s car. Both went to the back of the field and it left the race wide open to LaCrosse weekly racers Leis and Clements. With just a handful of laps to go, Clements got under Leis for the lead, but a slow car prevented the pass. Leis held on for the Star Spangled win, holding off Clements, Conrad Jorgenson, Jason Thoma, and Pretzel.

The Auto Value Thunderstox feature started with Nathan White and Scott Mahlum on the front row, and it was White leading all fifteen laps of the Dean’s Satellte 15 en route to victory. A mid race collision between Andy Moore and Kayla Lockington slowed point leader Moore, but he was able to continue and finish the race on the tail end of the lead lap. Kyle Lockington, Mahlum, Charles Vian Jr., and Jacinda Pfaff completed the top five.

The Mountain Dew Outlawz roared into action after a couple weeks off and action was aplenty. The first yellow came out when David Cavin spun in turn four, and a couple laps later, Jason Stark and Cole Scholze tangled, sending Scholze into the wall and out of the race. On the restart, Jeff Sarver spun at the line. Stark made his way to the lead past Lockington and Bolster to take the lead and the win.

Next weekend, the speedway features two events with Street Drags on Friday. On Saturday the Late Models, Sportsmen, Thunderstox, Hornets race, and a 2:1 Admission with coupon from Festival Foods. For more information please call the Speedway office at (608) 786-1525 or visit www.lacrossespeedway.com.

LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway is a proud NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series – www.hometracks.nascar.com.

Click here for the full results.