By: Dave Noelke (West Salem, WI – June 1, 2016)
The hottest weekend of the 2016 season greeted fans and drivers, but that didn’t stop the racers from some intense competition on the track. At the end of the night, fans watched as Mike Carlson passed his father Steve late in the feature to take the win.

Matthew Henderson was on a mission early on in the LaCrosse Tribune 25 for the Kwik Trip NASCAR Late Models, as he took his number 33 to the front by the third lap. Laps later, Adam Degenhardt nosed under but was unable to take the top spot. Quitely, however, as fans watched the lead battle, the Carlson duo was getting closer to the front. By the race’s midway lap, Steve took the lead, and held it until lap 21, when he slid loose in turn four, just as Mike had his nose to the inside. Mike led the final four laps and took home his second win of 2016.

“We’re having a pretty good year,” Carlson told the crowd after the race. “We have some new sponsors on board the car this year, and they have helped make this car pretty racy. It’s been a good year so far, and we hope that continues in the next couple months,” Carlson concluded.

The race did have an opportunity for Steve to challenge for the win, as a yellow came out with two laps to go. Don “Thunder” Turner spun in turn three, bunching up the field. As cars doubled up for the restart, Steve chose the bottom lane behind Mike and that pretty much sealed up the win. Rounding up the top five were Henderson – in a side by side battle with Jerimy Wagner – and Adam Degenhardt finished 5th.

The Dean’s Satellite Sportsmen LaCrosse Tribune 15 featured a spin by Randy Humfeld on the very first lap, a lead for several laps by Justin Berg, racing in his second outing in 2016, and a charge from the back by Nick Clements. Clements made his way from 9th to the lead in eight laps and took the win, followed by Brian Hesselberg, Steve Bachman, Brad Warthan and rookie contender Jason Stark.

In the Auto Value Thunderstox feature second year driver Kyle Lockington take home the win, over Jason Bolster, Jordan Myers, Adam Moore and last week’s winner Jason Schiller.

Jason Stark, doing double-duty beat Jason Bolster, Marc Luethe, last year’s champion Ron Lockington and Mark Challet – racing three divisions on the night- for the Subway Restaurants Outlawz Feature.

The next event at the La Crosse Speedway is Saturday, June 18th, as Old Dutch Foods presents the Late Models, Sportsmen, Thunderstox and Hornets, plus the annual Faster Pastor Races.

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.