By: Kevin Ramsell
West Salem, WI – At the beginning of the season, it would appear that Ty Majeski would be having an easy walk to another ASA Midwest Tour title. His focus on winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title understandably stopped that walk to his sixth title.
This thrusted defending champion Gabe Sommers and current Kulwicki Driver Development Program leader Levon Van Der Geest up to the top to challenge for the championship this weekend at the 55th Annual Oktoberfest Race Weekend at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway in West Salem, WI.
Sommers vaulted to the top of the standings after winning the Hawkeye 100 back in August at Hawkeye Downs Raceway in Cedar Rapids, IA.
The defending ASAMT champion would gain points on Van Der Geest at the Howie Lettow Classic at Madison International Speedway in Oregon, WI and the Jim Sauter Classic at Dells Raceway Park in Wisconsin Dells, WI.
As the series came into Elko Speedway in Elko, MN for the Thunderstruck 93 event, Sommers held a 32-point lead over Van Der Geest. At the end of the night, that lead was cut in half.
In qualifying, Van Der Geest qualified sixth whereas Sommers qualified eighth, allowing Van Der Geest to gain two points.
Van Der Geest had one of this best races of the season in the ASAMT as he was in the top two throughout the 125-lap race. He would lose the lead to eventual winner Justin Mondeik on lap 77, but hang on for second place podium.
Mondeik sits solidly third in points, 48 points behind Sommers.
Behind him, Sommers stayed in the top five throughout the event and finished sixth. The finish allowed Van Der Geest to gain 14 points and leave Elko Speedway cutting Sommers lead from 32 to 16 points heading into Fest.
When you look at momentum coming into the Oktoberfest Race Weekend, each has their own version of it.
Sommers comes to the 5/8-mile oval as the defending winner of the Oktoberfest 200 along with capturing the 2023 championship.
“Yeah, I mean, it was pretty cool,” Sommers recalled. “We came in there, knowing that if we started the race, you’d get the points and then we end up winning the thing too, so that is pretty cool for sure.”
Last year’s race featured a great battle between Majeski and Dalton Zehr until the two made contact in the late going eliminating both of them. Sommers found himself up front and went on to get the big win.
“Yeah, I feel like it that’s happened a lot to us too in the past, and we were just on the other end of it that day and it was nice to get one in from that way, it definitely pays to be there at the end.” Sommers recalled. “It’s a long race to when it laps, so it just gotta be there at the end, and that’s what we did and we were able to get the win.”
Van Der Geest is having one of his best season’s in his super late model. The 2019 Midwest Truck Series champion is still looking for his first ASAMT win and it may have to take the victory on Sunday to win the title.
While he is chasing Sommers for this title, he is leading the Kulwicki Driver Development Program competition with a month to go. It is safe to say that one thing could help the other for Merrill, WI driver.
“It’s been a great season so far but it all has lead up to Oktoberfest weekend. Not only will the Midwest Tour championship be determined but it could also be the determining factor in my battle for the Kulwicki Cup,” Van Der Geest explained. “Stakes are high but the strong run we had earlier this year at the Reffner 88, it gives me some confidence going into the weekend.”
Back in July, Van Der Geest finished second in the inaugural race honoring the late ARTGO star Tom Reffner held at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway.
Back in 2018, fans witnessed a great battle between Austin Nason and Dalton Zehr for the championship as Nason came into the 200 with a three-point lead over Zehr. At the end, it was Zehr sneaking past Nason to capture his first ASAMT title.
We could see another battle come down to the wire this Sunday afternoon. It will start with qualifying on Saturday afternoon and qualifying races on Saturday night.
Both drivers could be in action all four days with the Knights of Oktoberfest race on Thursday night and the famous Dick Trickle “99” race on Friday night.
Oktoberfest Race Weekend is a tradition in the Midwest since 1970! Four Days of Stock Car Racing, Legendary After Race Parties, Special Challenge Races, Super Late Models, The FAMOUS Camper Village, and over 700 laps of feature racing action! Make you plans now to attend!
The track will be open for practice on Wednesday, October 2nd from 2pm to 6:20pm.
For more information, please visit oktoberfestraceweekend.com.