By: Aspen Andre
(West Salem, WI – July 22, 2017) After Mother Nature gave the LaCrosse Speedway a good dose of rain part way through the racing program tonight, track officials and drivers were able to get the racing surface dried off in order to finish out the nights scheduled program.

The first Tobacco Outlet Plus Grocery Late Model feature for the night saw LaCrosse’s Cole Howland take the early race lead right off the green flag. He would battle off Ty Reedy for the first 11 laps of the 20-lap feature until Steve Carlson took over second. Howland would try to fight off Carlson for a few more laps, but on lap 14 Steve Carlson took the lead and would stay there until the checkered flag flew. Howland would finish the first feature second and Nick Panitzke battled his way all the way from his last place start to take home third when he passed Nick Clements with half a lap to go.

After leaving the track during the rain storm thinking that there would be no way the races would continue afterwards, Nick Panitzke took the lead of the second Tobacco Outlet Plus Grocery Late Model feature on lap 4. Panitzke was able to take home his 4th feature win after holding off Steve Carlson who was giving it his all trying to pick up his third feature win of the season. Carlson would take home second and Mike Carlson would follow behind in third.

The Dean’s Satellite Sportsmen feature had a wild start when a car got sideways in turn 4 on the first lap that pushed cars all over the front stretch trying to stay clear of the smash. Brian Hesselberg hit the front straight wall and went air born before collecting Randy Humfeld near the turn one wall, ending both of their nights. Adam Oxborough brought the field out of the caution and was able to fight off Brad Warthan for the first 9 laps, but on lap 10 Warthan took the lead and would stay there until the checkered flag flew to collect his 4th feature win of the season. Adam Oxborough finished second and Steve Bachman third.

After fighting his way to from the back of the Auto Value Thunderstox feature lineup, Jason Bolster of Sparta found himself in the top three by lap 3. Bolster would take the lead from Kyle Lockington on lap 5. From there he was able to fight off Kyle Lockington to get his first feature win of the year. Mark Challet took home second and Adam Moore third, after Lockington was disqualified during the post-race inspection.

The ANTS Complete Pest Control Hornet feature had some spin outs due to the huge puddle in turn one from the rain event that delayed the start of the feature race tonight, but the field managed to stay caution free. Ben Thurk took the race lead in lap 4 and fought the puddle off to take home his first ever feature win. Patrick Thicke saw the checkered flag second after Mark Bornitz stalled his car in turns one and two on the last lap and was unable to finish the race. Kayla Vian finished third.

The next event on the Speedway calendar is Saturday, July 29 where there will be Late Models, Sportsmen, Thunderstox, Outlawz, Street Stocks, & Kids’ Big Wheel 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.