By: Kevin Ramsell & Aspen Andre
(West Salem, WI – October 8, 2017)
It was a day that Johnny Sauter has been waiting for throughout his career and it finally became a reality today as he dominated and won the ARCA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment’s Oktoberfest 200 presented by JE Pistons.
Sauter, who also won the fast qualifier award, started ninth and took over the lead on lap 34 and led the final 166 laps to easily take the victory over defending winner and four-time Tour Champion Ty Majeski.
“Yeah, we got one, this is cool,” a smiling Sauter said in victory lane. “It’s a lot of work with a lot of great people helping me do this stuff. This is fun, and it’s rewarding when you can win, especially with the trouble I have had with this car. We were leading a race and the motor shut off. We worked our butts off and this is gratifying.”
Dan Fredrickson and Jason Weinkauf swapped the lead back in forth throughout the first 30 laps of the race, while Johnny Sauter and Ty Majeski worked their way to the front.
Sauter’s march to the front ended on lap 34 when he took over the top spot from Weinkauf. Majeski followed him to the second spot. Weinkauf fell back to third.
Sauter continued lead as many stayed out during the first competition yellow on lap 50. After the caution, Sauter led with Majeski not far behind him.
The caution flew on lap 70 when Michael Ostdiek and John DeAngelis tangled in turn two. Both were able to restart at the back of the field.
The competition yellow flew on lap 114 and the entire field came down pit road during the competition, thus allowing the entire field to come back out in the same order as they were when they came in for their stop.
After the restart, Sauter and Majeski both continued to pace the field with direct competition.
The final competition caution came with 21 laps to go in the event. Both Sauter and Majeski chose the inside line, allowing third place runner Fredrickson to take the outside and restart alongside with Sauter.
The final yellow flew with nine to go when Dillon Hammond spun in turn one collecting Austin Nason and Jason Weinkauf. All three were able to continue, but fell to the back of the pack.
It was a single file restart with nine to go and Sauter pulled away as Majeski and Fredrickson put on a spirited battle for the second spot.
At the checkers, it was Sauter picking his official first Oktoberfest 200 presented by JE Pistons victory while Majeski edged Fredrickson at the line for second.
“Johnny was just a little bit better. Our car was pretty good, it really was,” Majeski said after the race. “I tried to get it done at the end and I was playing more defense then offense. Danny and I were racing pretty hard and that was a lot of fun. When I had a few open laps, I could maintain with Johnny but not catch him. Overall he was just better.”
Fredrickson saw an opportunity with the final double file restart with 15 laps to go in the race. Sauter and Majeski both chose the inside line, allowing Fredrickson to grab the outside front row for the restart.
“I got a wife to go home too, and I was in third, and nobody took the outside, she would lock me out the door,” Fredrickson said with a grin. “I tried, but I just about wrecked going into the corner and the brakes were fading. I forgot to pump them up and we went in there and I about crashed it, if I pumped them I may have gotten the lead.”
Dalton Zehr finished fourth with Andrew Morrissey rounding out the top five.
Michael Ostdiek finished 17th and was crowned the 2017 ARCA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment Rookie of the Year.
Two 15-lap last chance races helped fill the field for today’s Oktoberfest 200 presented by JE Pistons. The top-five from each race advanced to the feature field.
Casey Johnson won the first last chance with Dennis Prunty in second and Justin Mondiek in third. Erik Darnell and Travis Dassow also advanced to the main event.
In the second last chance race, Chris Weinkauf easily won over Michael Ostdiek, Dean LaPointe, Bubba Pollard and Michael Sauter.
Start making your plans now to be a part of the great racing weekend!
For more information about Oktoberfest Race Weekend, please visit oktoberfestRaceWeekend.com. Also on Facebook at facebook.com/RaceOktoberfest and on Twitter at @RaceOktoberfest. #FestIsBest
For more information about LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway, 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.
LA CROSSE FAIRGROUNDS SPEEDWAY
ARCA Midwest Tour
Oktoberfest 200 Lap Feature (28 cars) — 1. Johnny Sauter 2. Ty Majeski 3. Dan Fredrickson 4. Dalton Zehr 5. Andrew Morrissey 6. Jonathan Eilen 7. Paul Shafer 8. Justin Mondeik 9. Erik Darnell 10. Skylar Holzhausen 11. Derek Kraus 12. Travis Sauter 13. Casey Johnson 14. Nick Murgic 15. Travis Dassow 16. Jacob Goede 17. Michael Ostdiek 18. Austin Nason 19. Dean LaPointe 20. Michael Sauter 21. Jason Weinkauf 22. Dillon Hammond 23. Bubba Pollard 24. Jim Sauter Jr. 25. Matt Kocourek 26. John DeAngelis Jr. 27. Chris Weinkauf 28. Dennis Prunty
Qualifying — 1. Johnny Sauter, 18.675 sec., 120.482 MPH 2. Skylar Holzhausen, 18.680 sec., 120.450 MPH 3. Paul Shafer Jr., 18.683 sec., 120.430 MPH 4. Jim Sauter Jr., 18.689 sec., 120.392 MPH 5. Derek Kraus, 18.745 sec., 120.032 MPH 6. Jason Weinkauf 7. Dalton Zehr 8. Dan Fredrickson 9. Travis Sauter 10. Nick Murgic 11. Ty Majeski 12. Jonathan Eilen 13. Andrew Morrissey 14. Jacob Goede 15. Austin Nason 16. Dillon Hammond 17. Casey Johnson 18. Chris Weinkauf 19. Dennis Prunty 20. Dean LaPointe 21. Travis Dassow 22. Michael Ostdiek 23. Justin Mondeik 24. Bryan Syer Keske 25. Erik Darnell 26. Matt Kocourek 27. Gabe Sommers 28. Michael Sauter 29. John DeAngelis Jr. 30. Bubba Pollard 31. Jerry Brickner 32. Tim Springstroh 33. Regan May 34. Bradley Tilton 35. Keith Tolf 36. Jeff Holmgren
Last Chance 1 — 1. Casey Johnson 2. Dennis Prunty 3. Justin Mondeik 4. Erick Darnell 5. Travis Dassow
Last Chance 2 — 1. Chris Weinkauf 2. Michael Ostdiek 3. Dean LaPointe 4. Bubba Pollard 5. Michael Sauter
JMck Big-8 Invitational
Feature (21 cars) — 1. Ty Majeski 2. Brody Willett 3. Zack Riddle 4. Derek Lemke 5. Jon Reynolds 6. John Baumeister 7. Jon Lemke 8. Thayran Rezin 9. Ryan Kamish 10. Bryan Back 11. Ty Reedy 12. Jesse Pokszyk 13. Tony Leis 14. Braisen Bennett 15. Ryan Gutknecht 16. Justin Mullikin 17. Craig Phillips 18. Carter Christenson 19. Bret Widdis 20. Gary Krueger 21. Bill Baumeister DNS. Owin Giles
Segment 1 (21 cars) — 1. Ty Majeski 2. Brody Willet 3. Zack Riddle 4. John Lemke 5. Derek Lemke 6. Jon Reynolds Jr. 7. Ty Reedy 8. Tharyn Rezin 9. Ryan Gutknecht 10. Bryan Back 11. Jesse Pokszyk 12. Tony Leis 13. Johnny Baumeister 14. Ryan Kamish 15. Craig Phillips 16. Billy Baumeister 17. Justin Mullikin 18. Carter Christensen 19. Bret Widdis 20. Gary Krueger 21. Braisen Bennett
Segment 2 (20 cars) — 1. Johnny Baumeister 2. Ty Majeski 3. Jesse Pokszyk 4. Ty Reedy 5. Brody Willet 6. Ryan Kamish 7. Zack Riddle 8. Tharyn Rezin 9. Derek Lemke 10. John Lemke 11. Jon Reynolds Jr. 12. Bryan Back 13. Braisen Bennett 14. Tony Leis 15. Justin Mullikin 16. Carter Christensen 17. Bret Widdis 18. Craig Phillips 19. Gary Krueger 20. Ryan Gutknecht
Segment 3 (20 cars) — 1. Jon Reynolds Jr. 2. Ty Majeski 3. Derek Lemke 4. Johnny Baumeister 5. Zack Riddle 6. Brody Willet 7. Bryan Back 8. Ryan Kamish 9. John Lemke 10. Braisen Bennett 11. Tharyn Rezin 12. Craig Phillips 13. Carter Christensen 14. Justin Mullikin 15. Tony Leis 16. Bret Widdis 17. Ryan Gutknecht 18. Gary Krueger 19. Jesse Pokszyk 20. Ty Reedy
Qualifying — 1. Ty Majeski, 20.005 sec., 112.472 MPH 2. Zack Riddle, 20.394 sec., 110.327 MPH 3. Brody Willet, 20.400 sec., 110.294 MPH 4. Ryan Gutknecht, 20.433 sec., 110.116 MPH 5. Jon Lemke, 20.447 sec., 110.041 MPH 6. Derek Lemke 7. Jon Reynolds Jr. 8. Jesse Pokszyk 9. Tony Leis 10. Ty Reedy 11. Craig Phillips 12. Braisen Bennett 13. Bryan Back 14. Tharyn Rezin 15. Carter Christensen 16. Justin Mullikin 17. Ryan Kamish 18. Bret Widdis 19. Gary Krueger 20. Justin Neisius
Mid-American Touring Series
Oktoberfest 30 Lap Feature (18 cars) — 1. Dan Gilster 2. Ryan Gutknecht 3. Ron Vandermeier Jr. 4. James Swan 5. Bill Prietzel 6. Kevin Berg 7. Bobby Gutknecht 8. Jeff McClintock 9. Dusty Mann 10. Taylor Dawson 11. Cole Neisius 12. Kenny Joosten 13. Andy Buhrow 14. Brad Warthan 15. Collin Neisius 16. Tyler Bauknecht 17. Rick Schermerhorn 18. Tom Luethe
Qualifying — 1. Dan Gilster, 20.958 sec., 107.358 MPH 2. Tyler Bauknecht, 21.218 sec., 106.042 MPH 3. Kevin Berg, 21.230 sec., 105.982 MPH 4. Rick Schermerhorn, 21.324 sec., 105.515 MPH 5. Ron Vandermeier Jr., 21.336 sec., 105.456 MPH 6. James Swan 7. Bill Prietzel 8. Dusty Mann 9. Bobby Gutknecht 10. Ryan Gutknecht 11. Tom Luethe 12. Jeff McClintock 13. Kenny Joosten 14. Andy Buhrow 15. Cole Neisius 16. Brad Warthan 17. Collin Neisius 18. Taylor Dawson
Vintage Cars
Oktoberfest 15 Lap Feature (14 cars) — 1. Woody Pool 2. Ken Hutchins 3. Dan Navrestad 4. Pat Echlin 5. JJ Meyer 6. John Gilbertson 7. Ron Demers 8. Jim Olson 9. Ed Reynolds 10. Rex Rossier 11. Roger Peterson 12. Ralph Cattone 13. Michael Young 14. Jason Bolster DNS. Dale Herrina DNS. Kenny Baum DNS. Paul Dolphy DNS. Andy Niles
Heat 1 — 1. Ralph Cattone 2. Dan Navrestad 3. Roger Peterson 4. Ron Demers 5. Jim Olson
Heat 2 — 1. Rex Rossier 2. Woody Pool 3. Pat Echlin 4. Ken Hutchins 5. JJ Meyer