By:  Paul Reichert
May 15, 2021
Now that we endured another long and cold winter in Wisconsin along with other things, race fans in the Coulee Region are ready to go racing and excited for the new season at the LaCrosse Speedway.  Good sized fields in all five divisions and a great crowd in the stands helped to kick start the anticipation for what will happen during the 2021 racing season.  After battling side by side for the final five laps of the feature, Nick Murgic powered past Brent Kirchner on the final lap to drive away with the first checkered flag of the year.

Jeff Partington (Farmington, MN) led the early going of the Budweiser 25 lap NASCAR Late Model feature.  Brent Kirchner (LaCrosse, WI) put a ton of pressure on Partington before taking over the top spot on lap five.  Don Turner’s (LaCrosse, WI) tangle with the turn four wall and Cole Howland’s (LaCrosse, WI) tangle with the turn two wall brought out the first cautions of the year.  Jerimy Wagner (Onalaska, WI) stuck right with Kirchner on the restart, hoping for an opportunity to take the lead.  Carter Christenson’s spin in turn four with five laps to go set up a double wide showdown for the final restart.  A ‘no start’ caused a lot of checking up in turn one and put Ty Reedy hard into the turn one wall.  Nick Murgic (Rosemount, MN) would line up alongside of Kirchner for the final restart.  Murgic stuck on the outside groove and was able to ‘stick and stay’ with Kirchne over the final five laps.  On the final lap Murgic surged ahead of Kirchner down the back straight to claim the first feature of the new season.  After the race, Murgic said “I am thankful for those yellows late in the race giving us a chance to challenge Kirchner for the win.”

In the LawnKeepers Sportsmen feature, Justin Berg (Bangor, WI) took the lead three laps into the race.  Berg would have a mirror full of Sam Niles (Holmen, WI) for much of the the race.  Berg and his Joe Shear retro wrap job withstood the pressure from Niles to score his first ever feature victory Brandon Gallagher used lap traffic to his advantage late in the Auto Value Hobby Stock feature to get around Nick Oxborough with three laps to go and start his title defense off right with a victory.

Cheyanne Stanfield got tangled up with Shawn McCarhty’s with two laps to go in the ANT’s Complete Pest Control Hornet feature.  She was able to get back on the track, but Stanfield lost the lead and the victory to Marc Luethe.
In the Auto Value Street Stock feature, Brian Larson gave up the lead when he ran wide in turn two with three laps to go.  That allowed Alex Liebsch to power his way to the lead and claim his first ever feature win at LaCrosse.
The 2nd Over the Line Wins novelty event always has a chaotic finish with drivers trying not to be the first across the line.  Rob Stanfield patiently waited for other drivers to flinch and he was the 2nd across the line to claim the victory. 
Action continues next Saturday, May 22 with the first pair of 20 lap features for the NASCAR Late Models.  The Sportsmen and Hobby Stocks will also be in action, plus the 6 Shooters will make their debut and the Mini Vans will run their first race of the year.  Don’t be late for this afternoon show as gates open at 12:30, qualifying starts at 12:45 and racing takes the green flag at 2.

For more information about LaCrosse Speedway or the 2021 schedule of events, please call the track office at 608-786-1525 or visit our web site at lacrossespeedway.com.  LaCrosse Speedway is proud to be a NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.

RESULTS

Kwik Trip NASCAR Late Models
Feature (25 laps):  1. Nick Murgic, 2. Jacob Goede, 3. Jerimy Wagner, 4. Steve Carlson, 5. Billy Mohn, 6. Nick Clements, 7. Michael Beamish, 8. Chad Walen, 9. Adam Degenhardt, 10. Steve Bachman, 11. Jeff Partington, 12. Michael Ostdiek, 13. Michael Haggar, 14. Adam Oxborough, 15. Justin Mullikin, 16. Jackson Lewis, 17. Joseph Scholze, 18. Mandi McKinney, 19. Ken Donais, 20. Tony Leis, 21. Mike Carlson, 22. Ty Reedy, 23. Devin Schmidt, 24. Carter Christenson, 25. Matthew Henderson, 26. Cole Howland, 27. Don Turner, 28. Brad Powell (DQ), 29. Brent Kirchner (DQ)

6-for-6 Dash (6 laps):  1. Nick Murgic, 2. Matthew Henderson, 3. Tony Leis, 4. Chad Walen, 5. Jacob Goede, 6. Adam Degenhardt
Heat #1 (8 laps):  1. Adam Oxborough, 2. Don Turner, 3. Steve Bachman, 4. Cole Howland, 5. Jackson Lewis, 6. Joseph Scholze, 7. Mandi McKinney, 8. Ken Donais
Heat #2 (8 laps):  1. Devin Schmidt, 2. Billy Mohn, 3. Justin Mullikin, 4. Michael Ostdiek, 5. Carter Christenson, 6. Michael Haggar, 7. Ty Reedy
Heat #3 (8 laps):  1. Jerimy Wagner, 2, Brent Kirchner, 3. Steve Carlson, 4. Brad Powell, 5. MIchael Beamish, 6. Nick Clements, 7. Mike Carlson, 8. Jeff Partington

Qualifying:  1. Jacob Goede, 2. Matthew Henderson, 3. Adam Degenhardt, 4. Nick Murgic, 5. Chad Walen, 6. Tony Leis, 7. Mike Carlson, 8. Nick Clements, 9. Steve Carlson, 10. Michael Beamish, 11. Brad Powell, 12. Brent Kirchner, 13. Jerimy Wagner, 14. Jeff Partington, 15. Michael Haggar, 16. Ty Reedy, 17. Billy Mohn, 18. Michael Ostdiek, 19. Carter Christenson, 20. Devin Schmidt, 21. Justin Mullikin, 22. Steve Bachman, 23. Cole Howland, 24. Adam Oxborough, 25. Don Turner, 26. Joseph Scholze, 27. Jackson Lewis, 28. Ken Donais, 29. Mandi McKinney

LawnKeepers Sportsmen
Feature (15 laps):  1. Justin Berg, 2. Sam Niles, 3. Jesse Green, 4. Ed Ross, 5. Travis Gordon, 6. Jack Larson, 7. Dexter Malin
Heat #1 (8 laps):  1. Sam Niles, 2. Justin Berg, 3. Travis Gordon, 4. Jesse Green, 5. Ed Ross, 6. Jack Larson, 7. Dexter Malin
Qualifying:  1. Ed Ross, 2. Jesse Green, 3. Sam Niles, 4. Justin Berg, 5. Travis Gordon, 6. Dexter Malin, 7. Jack Larson

Auto Value Hobby Stocks
Feature (15 laps):  1. Brandon Gallagher, 2. Jason Bolster, 3. Nick Oxborough, 4. Jestin Delap Sr., 5. Lester Stanfield
Heat #1 (8 laps):  1. Brandon Gallagher, 2. Nick Oxborough, 3. Jason Bolster, 4. Lester Stanfield, 5. Jestin Delap Sr. 
Qualifying:  1. Brandon Gallagher, 2. Jason Bolster, 3. Nick Oxborough, 4. Lester Stanfield, 5. Jestin Delap Sr.

ANT’s Complete Pest Control Hornets
Feature (15 laps):  1. Marc Luethe, 2. Cheyanne Stanfield, 3. Michael Wachs Jr., 4. Kristopher Berg, 5. Tyler Stuber, 6. Joey Johnson, 7. Brandon McCarthy, 8. Justin Iverson, 9. Matthew Miller, 10. Kyle Cottone, 11. Chuck Lofquist, 12. Karl Schroeder, 13. Bernie Lucey, 14. Abigail Knaack, 15. Shawn McCarthy, 16. Travis Atkinson, 17. Jake Schomers, 18. Dakota Clauson, 19. Nick Hadler, 20. John Huebner
Heat #1 (8 laps):  1. Tyler Stuber, 2. Chuck Lofquist, 3. Justin Iverson, 4. Kyle Cottone, 5. Matthew Miller, 6. Karl Schroeder, 7. Travis Atkinson, 8. Abigail Knaack
Heat #2 (8 laps):  1. Jake Schomers, 2. Kristopher Berg, 3. Brandon McCarthy, 4. Troy Tuma, 5. Ben Thurk, 6. Shawn McCarthy, 7. Keanna Barney, 8. John Huebner
Heat #3 (8 laps):  1. Joey Johnson, 2. Michael Wachs Jr., 3. Cheyanne Stanfield, 4. Dakota Clauson, 5. Bernie Lucey, 6. Rob Schliefer, 7. Marc Luethe, 8. Andy Barney
Qualifying:  1. Cheyanne Stanfield, 2. Andy Barney, 3. Michael Wachs Jr., 4. Marc Luethe, 5. Dakota Clauson, 6. Rob Schliefer, 7. Joey Johnson, 8. Kristopher Berg, 9. Jake Schomers, 10. Ben Thurk, 11. John Huebner, 12. Troy Tuma, 13. Brandon McCarthy, 14. Keanna Barney, 15. Tyler Stuber, 16. Chuck Lofquist, 17. Matthew Miller, 18. Shawn McCarthy, 19. Kyle Cottone, 20. Karl Schroeder, 21. Travis Atkinson, 22. Justin Iverson (NO TIME), 23. Rob Schliefer (NO TIME), 24. Abigail Knaack (NO TIME), 25. Nick Hadler (NO TIME)

Auto Value Street Stocks
Feature (15 laps):  1. Alex Liebsch, 2. John Huebner, 3. Al Bartels, 4. Rob Stanfield, 5. Tristan Drazkowski, 6. Brian Larson, 7. Keith Larson, 8. Lester Stanfield, 9. Pete Thompson, 10. Zach Liebsch, 11. Chris Christen, 12. Steven Brasda, 13. Chris Larson, 14. Jonathan Burbach, 15. James Tobias
Heat #1 (8 laps):  1. Chris Larson, 2. Alex Liebsch, 3. Brian Larson, 4. Zach Liebsch, 5. Jonathan Burbach, 6. Steven Brasda, 7. James Tobias
Heat #2 (8 laps):  1. Rob Stanfield, 2. Al Bartels, 3. Tristan Drazkowski, 4. John Huebner, 5. Lester Stanfield, 6. Pete Thompson, 7. Chris Christen
Qualifying:  1. Rob Stanfield, 2, John Huebner, 3. Tristan Drazkowski, 4. Pete Thompson, 5. Lester Stanfield, 6. Al Bartels, 7. Zach Liebsch, 8. Jonathan Burbach, 9. Steven Brasda, 10. Brian Larson, 11. Alex Liebsch, 12. James Tobias (NO TIME), 13. Chris Larson (NO TIME), 14. Chris Christen (NO TIME), 15. Keith Larson (NO TIME)

Novelty
2nd Over the Line Wins (6 laps):  1. Rob Stanfield, 2. Chris Larson, 3. Pete Thompson, 4. Zach Liebsch, 5. Al Bartels, 6. John Huebner, 7. Jonathan Burbach, 8. Chris Christen, 9. Brian Larson, 10. James Tobias, 11. Lester Stanfield, 12. Brian Larson