Story By: Paul Reichert

Photo By: Mike Ramsell

October 6, 2023

 

Mother Nature always tries to interject herself into the racing plans of the Oktoberfest Race Weekend at the LaCrosse Speedway. The hearty race fans that come from all over have to deal with finger numbing cold at times and even snow flurries, but rain is the sworn mortal enemy of the racing world.  A few rain showers tried to ruin our plans for racing, but in the end the racing won out and the race fans would witness some historic performances on day two of Oktoberfest.  Ty Majeski put in another dominating performance to win a record-tying fourth Dick Trickle 99 title, which would be his third consecutive championship.  Jacob Goede continued the momentum he started on Thursday by sweeping the second pair of 20 lap LaCrosse NASCAR Late Model features to give him three out of four wins over the last two days.

 

Two-time Oktoberfest champion Andrew Morrissey (DeForest, WI) led the way for the first three-fourths of the first segment of the Dick Trickle 99.  After leading a fast paced qualifying session, Ty Majeski (Seymour, WI) started in fifth after the invert and methodically picked his way through the field before finally catching up to Morrissey.  Majeski powered his way around Morrissey for the lead with ten laps remaining and pulled away to score the victory in the opening act of this very popular and important race.  Chad Butz (Green Bay, WI) got ahead of Johnny Sauter (DeForest, WI) to lead the first half of the second segment.  Sauter’s car eventually found its groove and slowly began to reel Butz back in as the field was closing in on the midway point.  Diving to the inside of Butz, Sauter surged by Butz to take over command of the race.  After starting fourteenth in the segment, Majeski finally made his way by Butz with nine circuits left to make.  Sauter had too large of a lead for Majeski to overcome as the 2018 champion ran away with the segment win.  The start of the final segment was the only blemish on what could have been a caution-free race.  Braison Bennett (Larsen, WI), Tristan Swanson (Elko New Market, MN), Ty Fredrickson (Webster, MN) and Corey Jankowski (Tomah, WI) all tangled with each other to abort the first start.  The second try was very successful for Ryan Farrell (Big Bend, WI) as he shot past Jason Weinkauf (Merrill, WI) for the lead.  After starting sixth Sauter would catch Farrell on lap 16 and power by him entering turn one to become the new leader.  Majeski caught up to Sauter with eight laps to go after starting twelfth as both fought hard over the segment win.  Sauter fought back the many challenges of Majeski to win the final segment, while the win and pair of seconds gave Majeski one of the lowest overall scores ever to claim his third straight overall win.  This would be Majeski’s fourth Dick Trickle 99 title as he tied Dan Fredrickson (Lakeville, MN) for the most titles in the event’s history.  

 

The third 20 lap LaCrosse NASCAR Late Model feature saw Mike Carlson (West Salem, WI) roar by Michael Beamish (Eagan, MN) to take the lead early on in the race.  Soon the defending track champion would have his hands full with another champion in the form of Jacob Goede (Carver, MN).  Coming from a starting spot of fifth Goede would catch and pass Carlson to take over the number one position on lap five.  Goede would open up a sizable lead on Carlson, while together they both began to leave the rest of the field in their wake.  That came to a screeching halt after Jeremy Wolff (Chaska, MN) spun out in turn one with four laps remaining.  Steve Bachman (Sparta, WI) found a way around Carlson to take over the runner-up spot on the restart, while Goede pulled away from the pack to score his second feature win in the past two days.

 

NIck Clements (West Salem, WI) started on the pole of the fourth and final 20 lap LaCrosse NASCAR Late Model feature and got ahead of Adam Bendzick (Prior Lake, MN) for the lead.  Bendzick would remain not far behind Clements as these two drivers battled hard not just for the win but the Chase Championship as well.  Clements maintained a few car lengths advantage on Bendzick as he was looking for a third straight win after starting on the pole and leading the whole race.  Behind the lead duo, Jacob Goede was on the move from his tenth starting spot as he got all the way up to third before trouble reared its ugly head with three laps to go.  Contact between Devin Schmidt (New Prague, MN) and Brent Kirchner (Stoddard, WI) in turn two sent Kirchner into the spin cycle.  Kirchner tried to gain control of his race car but he clipped the car of Steve Carlson (West Salem, WI), which took a long slide before meeting up with the turn three wall.  On the restart Goede lined up behind Clements, who powered ahead of Bendzick again.  A lap later Goede shot past Clements on the outside to take over the lead.  Goede drove away with a near clean sweep of all four features, settling for three wins and an eighth.  That was good enough to give Goede his second Nuttleman Grain Cleaning Festmaster Championship.  Clements fought back Skylar Holzhausen in the final three lap showdown to become the Chase Champion for a second straight year.  The return of the Holzhausen name to LaCrosse was complete as Skylar scored the season points championship, adding a fifth title to the four championships that dad Steve had earned in his racing career.

 

Carson Sillars (Wausau, WI) got to turn one quicker than Jim Cormack (Plover, WI) to lead the early laps of the Area Sportsmen feature.  Mike Krueger, Jr. (Sparta, WI) worked his way through the traffic before he caught up to Sillars.  Krueger, Jr. dove to the inside of Sillars entering turn one on lap seven to lead his first ever Sportsmen race in just his third ever start behind the wheel of this type of race car.  Krueger, Jr. would quickly have to deal with a new challenger as the field closed in on the halfway mark.  Devin Schmidt (New Prague, MN) was moving through the field like gangbusters as he caught Krueger, Jr. on lap nine, and Schmidt only needed another lap to power around Krueger, Jr. and see the crossed flags first.  Then the yellow flags showed up to try and slow down Schmidt’s torrid pace.  Robert Turzinski, Jr. (Mauston, WI) tagged the front straight wall on lap 12 and Tina Lodermeier (Rosemount, MN) spun to avoid him.  The restart did not get far when Krueger, Jr., Sillars and Brent Kane (Lonsdale, MN) all made contact that sent Krueger, Jr. into the wall.  Randy Humfeld (Chaseburg, WI) tried to avoid the incident but clipped Sillar’s car.  Kane’s passenger side door fell onto the track on lap 15 to fly the yellow again.  All of these cautions did not faze Schmidt as he went right back to his racing business and pulled away from his competition to give the veteran of Sportsmen racing another big victory.    

 

A long year of hard work and close quarters racing all comes down to one race for three divisions at the 54th Oktoberfest Race Weekend on Saturday, October 7.  The Big 8 Late Model Series, the Mid-Am Racing Series and the Midwest Dash Series wrap up their racing year and settle season-long points battles during ‘Championship Saturday’.  The Midwest Truck Series has a huge task of topping the exciting main event they ran last year in their next-to-last race of the campaign.  The ASA Midwest Tour will run their preliminary events to determine most of the field for their big 200 lap grand season finale on Sunday.  Gates open at 2:10, the race against the clock in qualifying begins at 2:25 and the green flag flies on the close fender rubbing racing action starting at 5.

 

For more information about the LaCrosse Speedway or the 2023 schedule of events, please call the track office at 608-786-1525 or visit our web site at lacrossespeedway.com.  Be sure to check out oktoberfestraceweekend.com for the latest news and results on Wisconsin’s biggest racing weekend.  LaCrosse Speedway is proud to be a NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.

 

Feature (99 laps/Overall):  1. Ty Majeski 5 pts, 2. Dalton Zehr 13 pts, 3. Casey Johnson 14 pts, 4. Andrew Morrissey 14 pts, 5. Johnny Sauter 15 pts, 6. Chris Weinkauf 19 pts, 7. Dan Fredrickson 21 pts, 8. Justin Mondeik 25 pts, 9. Chad Butz 27 pts, 10. Ryan Farrell 28 pts, 11. Jason Weinkauf 34 pts, 12. Levon Van der Geest 35 pts, 13. Jacob Goede 38 pts, 14. Tristan Swanson 47 pts, 15. Riley Stenjem 48 pts, 16. Jeff Storm 49 pts, 17. Braison Bennett 50 pts, 18. Bryan Syer-Keske 53 pts, 19. Max Kahler 53 pts, 20. Kole Guralski 60 pts, 21. Travis Volm 63 pts, 22. Brady Bill 64 pts, 23. Corey Jankowski 65 pts, 24. Ty Fredrickson 86 pts 

‘Stubby’ Feature (20 laps):  1. Doni Wanat, 2. Cameron Clifford, 3. Mitchell Haver, 4. Carter Christenson, 5. Andy Monday, 6. Harley Jankowski, 7. Sam Niles, 8. Joseph Scholze

Qualifying:  1. Ty Majeski, 2. Dalton Zehr, 3. Ryan Farrell, 4. Gabe Sommers, 5. Chris Weinkauf, 6. Andrew Morrissey, 7. Dan Fredrickson, 8. Brady Bill, 9. Bryan Syer-Keske, 10. Jacob Goede, 11. Casey Johnson, 12. Levon Van der Geest, 13. Jason Weinkauf, 14. Ty Fredrickson, 15. Corey Jankowski, 16. Riley Stenjem, 17. Tristan Swanson, 18. Justin Mondeik, 19. Kole Guralski, 20. Chad Butz, 21. Braison Bennett, 22. Jeff Storm, 23. Travis Volm, 24. Johnny Sauter, 25. Maxwell Schultz, 26. Cameron Clifford, 27. Andy Monday, 28. Joseph Scholze, 29. Mitchell Haver, 30. Doni Wanat, 31. Sam Niles, 32. Harley Jankowski, 33. Max Kahler, 34. Carter Christenson

 

Feature #3 (20 laps):  1. Jacob Goede, 2. Steve Bachman, 3. Mike Carlson, 4. Devin Schmidt, 5. Skylar Holzhausen, 6. Michael Beamish, 7. Adam Degenhardt, 8. Brent Kirchner, 9. Adam Bendzick, 10. Nick Clements, 11. Steve Carlson. 12. Tom Carlson, 13. Steve Anderson, Jr., 14. Michael Haggar, 15. Ryan Varner, 16. Bryan Syer-Keske, 17. Adam Oxborough, 18. Ryan Kamish, 19. Tom Luethe, 20. Grant Brown, 21. Tony Leis, 22. Franc Beldowski, 23. Robbie Hazleton, 24. Ridge Oien, 25. Don Turner, 26. Jeremy Wolff, 27. Cole Howland, 28. Gregory Borchardt, 29. Chris Skrede

Feature #4 (20 laps):  1. Jacob Goede, 2. Nick Clements, 3. Skylar Holzhausen, 4. Adam Bendzick, 5. Mike Carlson, 6. Michael Beamish, 7. Adam Degenhardt, 8. Tom Carlson, 9. Tom Luethe, 10. Adam Oxborough, 11. Michael Haggar, 12. Gregory Borchardt, 13. Ryan Kamish, 14. Jeremy Wolff, 15. Franc Beldowski, 16. Bryan Syer-Keske, 17. Cole Howland, 18. Robbie Hazleton, 19. Steve Bachman, 20. Don Turner, 21. Devin Schmidt, 22. Ryan Varner, 23. Tony Leis, 24. Ridge Oien, 25. Chris Skrede, 26. Brent Kirchner, 27. Steve Carlson, 28. Steve Anderson, Jr., 29. Grant Brown

B-Feature (15 laps):  1. Jeremy Wolff, 2. Gregory Borchardt, 3. Franc Beldowski, 4. Adam Oxborough, 5. Ryan Brown, 6. Rick Redig-Tackman, 7. Todd Verhagen, 8. Randy Sargent, 9. Hunter Stenson, 10. Thomas Farra

 

Feature (20 laps):  1. Devin Schmidt, 2. Tytus Helgestad, 3. Dave Trute, 4. Mark Challet, 5. Jason Thoma, 6. Jim Cormack, 7. Tom Sorem, 8. Rick Redig-Tackman, 9. Justin Berg, 10. Tina Lodermeier, 11. Tony Holm, 12. Brent Kane, 13. Travis Gordon, 14. Tadd Labuda, 15. Taylor Goldman, 16. Chris Weber, 17. Mike Krueger, Jr., 18. Carson Sillars, 19. Randy Humfeld, 20. Dillon Sellner, 21. Henry Vian, 22. Robert Turzinski, Jr., 23. Clay Curts, 24. Eric Campbell, 25. Timmy Stewart, 26. Ron Vandermier, Jr. 

Last Chance Race (12 laps):  1. Tina Lodermeier, 2. Timmy Stewart, 3. Tadd Labuda, 4. Tony Holm, 5. Tom Sorem, 6. Rick Redig-Tackman, 7. Matthew Frye, 8. Taylor Goldman, 9. Timmy Spatz, 10. John Ventrello, 11. Travis Gordon, 12. Andrew Meyerhofer, 13. Cameron Vandermier, 14. Kenneth Donais, 15. Joshua Fehrmann, 16. Jason Bolster

Qualifying:  1. Dave Trute (20.617–New Track Record), 2. Dillon Sellner, 3. Chris Weber, 4. Jason Thoma, 5. Randy Humfeld, 6. Brent Kane, 7. Clay Curts, 8. Devin Schmidt, 9. Eric Campbell, 10. Mark Challet, 11. Mike Krueger, Jr., 12. Carson Sillars, 13. Jim Cormack, 14. Ron Vandermier, Jr., 15. Henry Vian, 16. Tom Sorem, 17. Robert Turzinski, Jr., 18. Justin Berg, 19. Tina Lodermeier, 20. Tony Holm, 21. Tytus Helgestad, 22. Tadd Labuda, 23. Rick Redig-Tackman, 24. Matthew Frye, 25. Timmy Stewart, 26. Travis Gordon, 27. Andrew Meyerhofer, 28. Taylor Goldman, 29. Timmy Spatz, 30. John Ventrello, 31. Cameron Vandermier, 32. Joshua Fehrmann, 33. Jason Bolster