Fans were transported back in time to an exciting Wednesday night of fair time racing at the La Crosse Speedway, even if the La Crosse Interstate Fair was not happening.  The CWRA Late Models made their triumphant return to La Crosse for the first time in at least 20 years.  The fans witnessed thrilling finishes to both features.  Steve Carlson fought off fast qualifier Colin Reffner to win the first feature, while Jesse Pokszyk powered by Nick Clements coming to the white flag to take the second feature.

Darren Jackson (Nekoosa, WI) quickly took the lead at the start of the first Clason Buick-GMC 30 lap CWRA Late Model feature.  Mark Lamoreaux (Bloomington, MN) got up to second by lap three.  Lamoreaux showed why he is the ‘Bloomington Bandit’ as he shot by Jackson for the lead on lap seven.  Running his first CWRA show in a long time, Steve Carlson (West Salem, WI) got around Jackson for second just before halfway.  Following in Carlson’s tire tracks was third generation driver Colin Reffner (Wisconsin Rapids, WI).  Reffner took over third from Jackson on lap 11, then both slowly closed up on Lamoreaux.  Something broke on Jeff Partington’s car with six laps to go as he spun out before hitting and riding the front straight wall.  Fortunately, Partington was okay.  It took Carlson and Reffner a few laps off the restart to drive under Lamoreaux to take over the top two spots.  Reffner immediately put the pressure on Carlson by using the outside lane.  They battled neck and neck over the final two laps, but Carlson held off Reffner by half a car length for the win.  After the race, Carlson said “There is a great mix of drivers here in the CWRA, and they are just as competitive as when I ran with them in the 80s.” 

In the second Clason Buick-GMC 30 laps CWRA Late Model feature, Harley Jankowski (Sparta, WI) wasted little time to taking command of the race.  Nick Clements (Onalaska, WI) was on a rail as he powered by Jankowski to take over the race lead on lap three.  Yellow flew on lap six when Steve Carlson, Darren Jackson, and Mark Lamoreaux tangled in turn one and ended up in the outside wall.  Clements began to open up his lead on the field on the restart, but soon he would have a new challenger.  Former NASCAR Late Model driver Jesse Pokszyk (Friendship, WI) move into second just before halfway.  Pokszyk closed the gap on Clements, then both drivers had to fight their way around lap traffic.  Clements tried to open things up again, but Pokszyk stayed close to the leader.  Pokszyk used the old ‘bump and run’ on Clements in turn three coming to the white flag to take over the race lead and score the victory.  After the race, Pokszyk said “I love racing here at La Crosse.  This track has been very good to me.”  Thanks to finishing second in the first feature and third in the second feature, Colin Reffner claimed the overall victory and the big bonus money. 

Michael Wachs dove under race leader Joey Johnson, Jr. off the restart with three laps to go to power his way to the Hornet feature victory.  It was Wachs, Jr. second consecutive win, giving him two feature wins in five days.

The Street Stock feature a very competitive side-by-side battle between Adam Kerley and Al Bartels in the final laps.  Using the outside lane, Bartels got around Kerley with two laps to go to claim another victory in his amazing 33 year quarter mile racing career.

The Street Stocks also ran the 2nd Over the Line Wins Novelty event.  Keith Larson ran four wide coming to the line.  Larson could not stop his momentum at he crossed the line a bit too soon. Huebner patiently let Larson zoom by him as he won.

Action continues on Saturday, July 18 with the next round of twin 20 lap features for the NASCAR Late Models.  The Upper Midwest Vintage Racing Series will also be in action along with the Sportsmen, Hobby Stocks and Mini-Vans.  Gates open at 6:00, qualifying begins at 6:15 and racing action fires up at 7:30.

For more information about the La Crosse Speedway or the 2020 schedule of events, please call the office at 608-786-1525 or visit our web site at lacrossespeedway.com.  La Crosse Speedway is proud to be a NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.

RESULTS

CWRA Late Model Stars to Legends Tour

Feature #1:  1. Steve Carlson, 2. Colin Reffner, 3. Mark Lamoreaux, 4. Matt Henderson, 5. Darren Jackson, 6. Paul Paine, 7. John Beale, 8. Jeff Weinfurter, 9. Jesse Pokszyk, 10. Carter Christenson, 11. Nick Clements, 12. Tom Carlson, 13. David Satorius, 14. Harley Jankowski, 15. Brett Breitenfeldt, 16. Tim Jackson, 17. Jeff Partington, 18. Monte Gress, 19. Putch Bentley, 20. Corey Jankowski

Feature #2:  1. Pokszyk, 2. Clements, 3. Reffner, 4. Henderson, 5. Paine, 6. H. Jankowski, 7. Christenson, 8. Weinfurter, 9. Beale, 10. Satorius, 11. M. Gress, 12. Breitenfeldt, 13. Bentley, 14. T. Jackson, 15. T. Carlson, 16. D. Jackson, 17. S. Carlson, 18. Lamoreaux

Qualifying:  1. Reffner 19.836, 2. S. Carlson 19.967, 3. Clements 20.073, 4. Henderson 20.159, 5. C. Jankowski 20.164, 6. Weinfurter, 7. Paine. 8. Christenson, 9. Lamoreaux, 10. H. Jankowski, 11. Pokszyk, 12. D. Jackson, 13. Beale, 14. T. Carlson, 15. Satorius, 16. M. Gress, 17. Partington, 18. T. Jackson, 19. Breitenfeldt, 20. Bentley, 21. Sievers

ANT’s Complete Pest Control Hornets

Feature:  1. Michael Wachs, Jr., 2. Joey Johnson, Jr., 3. Kris Berg, 4. John Huebner, 5. Rob Stanfield, 6. Nick Hadler, 7. Cheyanne Stanfield, 8. Jimmy Bjorkman, 9. Marc Luethe, 10. Jake Schomers, 11. Chuck Lofquist, 12. Keanna Barney, 13. Jaydin Schock, 14. Chris Christen, 15. Jacob Iverson, 16. Matthew Miller

Heat #1:  1. R. Stanfield, 2. Johnson, Jr., 3. Ja. Iverson, 4. Hadler, 5. Miller, 6. Luethe, 7. Lofquist, 8. Christen, 9. Barney

Heat #2:  1. Huebner, 2.  Bjorkman, 3. Wachs, Jr., 4. Schomers, 5. C. Stanfield, 6. Schock, 7. Berg

Qualifying: 1. Wachs, Jr. 16.234, 2. C. Stanfield 16.254, 3. Bjorkman 16.419, 4. Ju. Iverson 16.442, 5. Berg 16.522, 6. Schock, 7. Schomers, 8. Huebner, 9. Luethe, 10. Johnson, Jr., 11. Ja. Iverson, 12. R. Stanfield, 13. Hadler, 14. Miller, 15. Lofquist, 16. Barney, 17. Christen

Auto Value Street Stocks

Feature:  1. Al Bartels, 2. Chris Larson, 3. Matt Moore, 4. Adam Kerley, 5. Thomas Farra, 6. Dan Frye, 7. Rob Stanfield, 8. Jestin DeLap, Sr., 9. Landon Lockington, 10. Peter Thompson, 11. Keith Larson, 12. Zach Liebsch, 13. Alex Liebsch, 14. John Clauson, 15. Spencer Nevinger, 16. Jonathan Burbach, 17. Brian Larson, 18. Katie Wolfe, 19. Clayton Haessig, 20. Steve Brasda, 21. Tory Lockington, 22. Dustin McCracken

Heat #1:  1. A. Liebsch, 2. J. Clauson, 3. Nevinger, 4. T. Lockington, 5. Wolfe, 6. Burbach, 7. B. Larson

Heat #2:  1. R. Stanfield, 2. Kerley, 3. Bartels, 4. Farra, 5. Huebner, 6. DeLap, 7. L. Lockington, 8. Haessig

Heat #3:  1. K. Larson, 2. McCracken, 3. Z. Liebsch, 4. C. Larson, 5. M. Moore, 6. Frye, 7. Brasda, 8. Thompson

Qualifying:  1. C. Larson 16.918, 2. M. Moore 16.942, 3. Frye 17.094, 4. Brasda 17.147, 5. K. Larson 17.205, 6. McCracken, 7. Z. Liebsch, 8. Thompson, 9. Bartels, 10. DeLap, 11. Haessig, 12. R. Stanfield, 13. Huebner, 14. Farra, 15. L. Lockington, 16. Kerley, 17. Burbach, 18. B. Larson, 19. Nevinger, 20. Wolfe, 21. T. Lockington, 22. J. Clauson, 23. A. Liebsch

Novelty

2nd Over the Line Wins:  1. John Huebner, 2. Rob Stanfield, 3. Thomas Farra