By: Paul Reichert
September 2, 2023
Now that we have finished weekly racing at the LaCrosse Speedway, it is time to have a little fun and enjoy some exciting mayhem on the ‘action track’ quarter mile before the 54th Oktoberfest Race Weekend kicks into high gear in about a month. Can the ‘action track’ quarter mile handle a whole mass of cars racing enduro style non stop for 200 laps? The Big Cheese 200 Enduro was the first fun event of our post-season to kick off the Labor Day holiday weekend. There were many loose wheels, loose parts and even a loose car or two that rolled over in the 200 laps of action packed chaos. After those 200 contentious laps were run, Luke Geisler was the driver that conquered all of his fellow competitors to win the Big Cheese Enduro.
73 competitors behind the wheel of four cylinders, six cylinders and mini-vans were ready to tackle the ‘action track’ quarter mile for 200 grueling laps. The action got started as they took the green when Josh Heyer and Gabriel Jimenez bounced off each other. Corey Fair and Paul Servais tangled in turn two on lap six, but Corey and his ‘license plate’ truck ran backwards until he got an opening in turn four. The jam trucks are here to help clear up incidents on the track, but a few cars got piled up behind one of them on lap nine. Fair suffered a flat tire on lap 20 and nursed his car back to the pits. Paige Nelson, Ethan Hawes and Brandon David tangled on the front straight on lap 40, but all got untangled and were able to race on. Robert Marcum lost a tire on the front straight on lap 53 to bring out the red flag because of that loose wheel. Red returned a lap later when Jeremiah Jacobson collided with the rear of Kaleb Schulte and rolled over. Jacobson was able to climb out of his car, and after a check over by Tri-State he would return to action some time later with a not so badly damaged race vehicle. Brandon Lovstuen stalled in turn two on lap 65, but with a bent left front wheel one jam truck could not get him into the pits. Luckily the other jam truck was able to finally get Lovstuen back to the pits. Cole Lorenz lost a left rear wheel in turn four on lap 75 to cause another red flag. A driver collided with one of the tractor tires and it somehow got on the racing surface, but one of the jam trucks was able to get it back in its place. A big pileup on the front straight on lap 85 collected Zach Liebsch, Ethan Franzose, Dustin Groskrevtz, Brian Lee and Noah Jennings. Luckily everyone was able to break it up and return to racing. The halfway break came at lap 110 with Luke Geisler, Dylan Peterson, Jameson Peterson, Alex Liebsch and Jared Novak running in the top five.
34 cars were able to return from the halfway break to run the remaining 90 laps of the race. Kolton Flick was the latest to experience ‘loose wheel syndrome’ on the front straight on lap 116 to cause another stoppage in the action. Schulte looped it in turn four on lap 131, while Abe Atemper tried to avoid him but hits the front straight wall instead. The jam truck came to Atemper’s rescue and got him off the track. A tangle in turn four resulted in Rob Stanfield making hard contact with the inside front straight wall on lap 139 to bring out the red again. Stanfield was checked out to be okay, but his car was not and he was forced to retire. Brandon Davis was hit hard and ended up on his roof shortly after the restart. Davis was just fine and was able to resume competition immediately thanks to the safety team. Something may have finally snapped on Aaron Grattan’s rear end on a lap after the restart with his right rear wheel very much out of whack. Grattan went to his pits, his crew came up with something very enterprising to deal with that rear end, but it did not last very long after he returned and his night came to an end. Noah Jennings and Joe Marthaler tangled on the front straight on lap 173, but Marthaler came to a stop before hitting the wall. Second and third place ran into the tires in turn two with 23 laps remaining, but Dylan Peterson and Jameson Peterson were able to right things quickly and returned to action without losing their positions. Back up front Luke Geisler was unstoppable as he dominated the second half and ddrove away with the Big Cheese 200 Enduro victory.
With one fun event in the books, we have another fun event before preparations begin for the 54th Oktoberfest Race Weekend. The fans and competitors will enjoy a smashing and crashing good time at the 32nd annual Night of Destruction presented by Western Technical College next Saturday, September 9. You will witness a Rollover Contest, monster trucks, a jet car burning down a vehicle, the smoky Burnout Contest, the hard hitting Trailer Race of Destruction and other fun and entertaining events. The Mini-Vans will be the on track racing action as they run their final race of the year and crown their season champion. Gates open at 5:30, qualifying for the Mini-Vans begins shortly after that and the hard hitting good clean fun fires up at 7.
For more information about 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. LaCrosse Speedway is proud to be a NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.
RESULTS
Big Cheese 200 Enduro (200 laps): 1. Luke Geisler, 2. Alex Liebsch, 3. Jameson Peterson, 4. Dylan Peterson, 5. Brendan Ressel, 6. Joe Schams, 7. Paul Servais, 8. Karl Knopps, 9. Jeremy Reihart, 10. Brandon Davis, 11. Jeremiah Jacobson, 12. Jared Novak, 13. Tyler Miskschl, 14. Garrett Walczak, 15. Joe Marthaler, 16. Karissa Davis, 17. Dennis Barta, 18. Zach Liebsch, 19. Dylan Loppnow, 20. Carson Bullerman
