By: Paul Reichert
August 31, 2024
Now that the weekly racing action has concluded, the LaCrosse Speedway gets to let loose and have some fun on the ‘action track’ quarter-mile before we wrap the year up with local titles and big series championships on the line during the 55th annual Oktoberfest Race Weekend. A massive group of four-cylinder and six-cylinder race cars, and even a few mini-vans, were ready to do battle for 200 non-stop close quarters laps of racing action in the Air Force Reserve Big Cheese 200 Enduro. A black flag for defending champion Luke Geisler on lap 142 gave Sheldon Berg the lead and he would run away from the rest of the field to capture his first ever enduro feature victory.
After Erick Mauss was crowned the winner of the Ugly Contest and Joey Miller’s Richard Petty look alike car won the Beauty Contest, 57 competitors took to the ‘action track’ quarter-mile for 200 laps of non-stop wheel-to-wheel fender rubbing racing thrills. The first big tangle occurred on lap 12 when Caleb Wittman, Hunter Peterson and Jed Kasten got mixed up in turn two, but all were able to break up and drive away. Lost tires were becoming an issue early on when Wesley Townsend was driving without his right rear on 21, thenCole Salisbury lost his right front on lap 25. Both of their tries rolled into the infield and racing continued on. Regular Trailer Race competitor Jared Novak clouted the front straight wall on lap 33, but not hard enough to bring his night to an early end. Gabriel Jiminez spun out on turn one on lap 47 and tagged the outside wall. Despite that contact Jimenez was able to race on. A mechanical issue sent early race leader Charles Vian, Jr. to the pits after he reached the 50 lap mark. That turned the number one position over to defending Big Cheese winner Luke Geisler. Brendan Russel lost a wheel in turn four on lap 58. Jameson Peterson also suffered the loss of a tire on lap 71, but his tire was on the track to bring out the first red flag of the night. Red quickly returned on lap 73 for Townsend losing another wheel that was on the track. Amazing driving ability was displayed on lap 80 when Gregory Fair spun in turn two, but drove backwards down the back straight so he could right his race car in turn three. Cole Krunebusch did an amazing 360 spin on the front straight on lap 81 but no one else ran into him and he was able to keep going like the Energizer Bunny. Fair spun and tagged the turn three wall on lap 96. After several tries to drive his car the wrong way down the back straight to right his car, the jam truck tried to assist him. Fair’s car ended up perched on the barricades in turn four on lap 104 to bring the red flag and the halfway break for the rest of the field.
Thirty-four drivers returned to the track after the ten-minute break to begin their battle in the second half of the race. Dennis Barta and Mitchell Hanson tangled on the front straight on lap 111 but quickly rejoined the race. Matthew Motl had several flat tires during the race but spun out in turn two on lap 115 and then got hit by Carson Bullerman. Both were able to power back into action, but two laps later Bullerman would bounce off the front straight wall. On lap 120 Kyle Ranzenberger spun himself out of fourth place but would rebound to finish in the top ten at the end. Three-wide or even four-wide sometimes worked during the race, but on lap 124 it would not as Mike Heyer, Jason Witte and Levi Thompson collided on the front straight. Trevor Lay did another amazing drive as he spun on the front straight on lap 125, but was able to drive his car backwards to turn one before he got his vehicle pointed in the right direction. The jam truck is out there to clear up wrecks and stalled cars, but it also has to sometimes take a bit of abuse. That was the case on lap 138 as Charles Vian, Jr. made a bit of contact with the rear of one of the jam trucks. The second half of the enduro was not kind to Abe Stemper as he suffered through a flat tire on lap 157 and another one with 20 laps remaining. The domino effect of close quarter racing came into play with 36 laps left to run when Jessica Stemper got spun on the front straight. Stemper would be bumped from behind by Heyer, who in turn would get bumped in the rear by Jared Novak. All three drivers were able to get back into competition and finish out the race. Sheldon Berg took advantage of a black flag for Luke Geisler to become the new race leader on lap 142 and drove away with his first ever enduro victory. The only problem for Berg after the race was trying to find his way to Altra Federal Credit Union Victory Lane.
Get out to the LaCrosse Speedway early next Saturday, September 7 to find a good seat for another car crunching and metal mangling good time on the ‘action track’ quarter-mile. The 33rd annual Night of Destruction presented by Western Technical College promises to once again deliver hard hits, big air and wild rides that will leave the race fans cheering for more. After a successful first ever visit to LaCrosse back in June, the legendary monster truck Bigfoot returns for an encore performance to thrill the fans once again. There will also be a ton of wild and wacky events and stunts like the Burnout Contest, the Rollover Contest, the Pool Splashtacular, the Trailer Rae of Destruction, a jet car melting down an everyday vehicle to its frame and there will be aerial booms with a huge fireworks show to end the night. In addition to all of that, the Mini-Vans and the Six Shooters will race one final time and decide their season championships. Gates open at 5:30, qualifying for the Six Shooters and Mini-Vans goes green shortly after that and the good clean hard hitting fun roars to life at 7.
To learn more about the LaCrosse Speedway or the 2024 schedule of events, call the track office at 608-786-1525 or visit our website at lacrossespeedway.com. LaCrosse Speedway is proud to be a NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.
RESULTS
Air Force Reserve Big Cheese 200 Enduro (200 laps/Top 20 finishers): 1. Sheldon Berg, 2. Jack Barta, 3. Garrett Bohr, 4. Dave Nelson, 5. Brendan Russell, 6. Kyle Ranzenberger, 7. Maggie Hardy, 8. Cole Deegan, 9. Levi Thompson, 10. Jessica Steiger, 11. Charles Vian, Jr., 12. Kolton Flick, 13. Cole Krunebusch, 14. John Huebner, 15. Jason Witte, 16. Jared Novak, 17. Mike Heyer, 18. Dennis Barta, 19. Alex Liebsch, 20. Luke Geisler