By:  Paul Reichert

October 6, 2024

There are many moments of drama and excitement that happen over the course of the Oktoberfest Race Weekend, but it is not limited to the first three days.  With the crowning of the overall Oktoberfest champion on Sunday, there are many twists and turns to see who walks away with the victory.  As we closed out the 55th edition of Oktoberfest at the LaCrosse Speedway, there were close to a dozen different drivers with a chance to become an Oktoberfest champion and just two drivers that had a chance to be the ASA Midwest Tour champion.  Ty Majeski used a late competition caution to his advantage to become only the third driver to score at least four Oktoberfest titles, while a strong race-long performance by Gabe Sommers locked up his second straight ASA Midwest Tour crown.

Chad Butz (Green Bay, WI) powered by second in points Levon Van der Geest (Merrill, WI) to lead the first few laps of the ASA Midwest Tour Oktoberfest 200 feature. Dalton Zehr (Verona, WI) bounced off the back straight wall, collected Andrew Morrissey (DeForest, WI) and came to rest on the turn three wall with heavy damage to his machine on lap five.  Butz had a mirror full of ASA race winner and champion Jonathan Eilen (Hampton, MN) on the restart.  After losing third to Gabe Sommers (Plover, WI) on lap 18, Van der Geest had a plug wire come loose that put his title hopes in peril.  Luckily the 23’s crew was able to fix the issue and returned to action, albeit six laps down.  R.J. Braun (Wales, WI) and Dean LaPointe (Marshfield, WI) tangled coming out of turn four to bring out a yellow flag on lap 33.  Sommers shot past Butz to take command of the race on the restart, but trying to catch him and make things a little more interesting up front were Ty Majeski (Seymour, WI) and Ty Fredrickson (Webster, MN).  That trio of competitors got into a race of their own as we reached the quarter-mark, but Majeski began to slowly reel in Sommers before powering under him for the #1 spot on lap 58.  Noah Gajewski (Marathon, WI) spun in turn four shortly after that to bring out another caution period.  Fredrickson tried to create a three-wide situation on the restart, but Majeski and Sommers sorted things out to retain the first two positions.  Yellow returned again on lap 73 when Lowell Bennett (Neenah, WI) and Travis Volm (Kronewetter, WI) tangled on the back straight and slid into the grass.  The restart did not get very far as Braun looped his race car in turn one and backed it into the wall.  Sommers used the outside line on the restart to power by Majeski and take the lead back.  Majeski powered back by Sommers to take over the lead position again on lap 92 as Sommers start to fall back into the clutches of Fredrickson and Johnny Sauter (DeForest, WI) 

Sommers felt a ton of pressure from Sauter as the crossed flags were displayed and the 2017 Oktoberfest champion surged into second on lap 104.  Satuer was the fastest car on the racetrack as the former NASCAR Truck Series champion began to cut and slice the deficit with Majeski.  Lapped traffic was helping Sauter eat up more of the gap on Majeski, who would surrender the lead to Sauter on lap 114.  Many competitors were in need of some service to help get them to the finish, and that would come thanks to the competition caution with about 80 laps renaming.  Majeski surged by Sauter on the outside on the restart, but a lap after that Fredrickson and Michael Hinde (Hernando, FL) touched in turn one and sent Hinde into the spin cycle.  Majeski got a better run in turns one and two to maintain the top spot over Sauter on the restart.  Once they got cleared of the lapped traffic, Majeski maintained a healthy advantage over Sauter.  Sauter was only putting a small dent of a few hundredths of a second on Majeski’s lead.  Lapped traffic became an issue for Majeski with about 40 lapa left to run, but even that was not helping Sauter cut into the deficit.  After his earlier spin, Hinde was the fastest car on track in the late stages of the race as he set his sights on third place Morrissey.  Another competition caution flew with 24 laps to go to give the drivers and crews one last chance to bring home a strong finish in a good old 20 lap Saturday night feature.  Majeski pulled away from the field on the restart, but Morrissey bumped with Sauter and shot under him to take over second place.  Majeski just had too much power as he pulled away from Morrissey over the final 16 laps to motor back to North Carolina with his fourth Oktoberfest Championship.  Sommers ran all day with the leaders and took the checkered flag in fourth to secure his second straight ASA Midwest Tour championship.  The impressive season for Fredrickson continued as he added another Rookie of the Year title to his ever growing trophy case.

The 602 Cratetoberfest Challenge feature saw Daneille Behn (Waupaca, WI) power by Saturday’s Midwest Truck winner Chester Ace (Oregon, WI) for the early lead.  Michael Haggar (Hanover, MN) and his many laps of racing on Saturdays at LaCrosse worked in his favor as he took over the lead from Behn on lap six.  Shortly after that, newly crowned LaCrosse Sportsmen champ Bob Fort (Fountain City, WI) spun out in turn three.  As Haggar was pulling out to a sizable lead following the restart, some cars that started towards the middle of the pack began to make major forward progress through the field.  James Swan (Genoa City, WI), John DeAngelis, Jr. (Hubertus, WI) and Brad Warthan (Sparta, WI) were the fastest cars making their way through the field in pursuit of an Oktoberfest victory.  Jeff Storm spun in turn four and headed for the grass on lap 14, but surprisingly Storm kept his foot on the gas, got back on the track and returned to finish the race.  Swan was slowly reeling in Haggar along with DeAngelis, Jr., Warthan and Tom Carlson (West Salem, WI).  Swan entered turn one and dove underneath Haggar on the next to last lap to take charge of the race.  Swan pulled away from his competition to add another Oktoberfest title to his racing accomplishments.  After the race, all the drivers gathered on the front straight to witness Swan draw the winner of a brand spanking new 602 crate motor.  The lucky winner was former LaCrosse Sportsmen driver and current Midwest Truck competitor Jesse Green.

Ralph Cottone (Mindoro, WI) took his son Greg’s former car to the lead of the Upper Midwest Vintage Racing Series feature.  Dan Linnehan (Leon, WI) quickly caught Cottone and powered the former Sportsmen race car that won a championship here at LaCrosse to the front of the field on lap four.  Jerimy Wagner (Onalaska, WI) spun his Steve Holzhausen retro Ford in turn four on lap six to slow the action down.  On the restart, Linnehan would have his mirrors full of a very fast vintage car piloted by Jason Stark (Wisconsin Dells, WI).  A pair of 99 race cars were also catching the lead duo as Rich Bickle (Saint Paul, MN) and former Late Model champion Todd Korish (Holmen, WI) made the battle for the win even more competitive.  Yellow returned on lap 12 for a tangle between John Mayer (Holmen, WI) and Travis Gordon (LaCrescent, MN) that resulted in hard contact with the wall for Mayer.  Stark wasted little time on the restart as he powered around Linnehan to take over the lead position.  At the same time, Bickle’s car came to life as he shot past both Korish and Linnehan to settle into the runner-up spot.  Bickle could not catch Stark with very few laps remaining as Stark made Woody Poole proud and drove the car to its fifth Oktoberfest feature victory.

Thank you to all of the race fans and teams that came from all over the country to be a part of the 55th annual Oktoberfest Race Weekend.  Make sure you have October 2, 3, 4 and 5 of 2025 marked on your calendar for the 56th running of the Oktoberfest Race Weekend.  Thank you to our very loyal and supportive local race fans and teams that made the LaCrosse Speedway their place for excitement on Saturday nights during the 2024 racing season.  Gregg McKarns, Chuck Deery, Austin Wells and Motorsports Management Services want to applaud our staff in the grandstands and in the pits, as well as the race officials in the pits and the tower for helping to put on the best racing program in the Midwest every Saturday night.

Stock up your supplies and prepare yourself and your house for another long freezing winter season coming very soon.  While it will be nice to reflect on the 2024 season as the snow and wind blows around, we can always hope for bigger and better things to happen during the upcoming 2025 racing campaign.  Visit our web site at lacrossespeedway.com and make sure to like the track’s Facebook page to keep abreast of what to look forward to in 2025.  As soon as we have a clear picture of what will be taking place during 2025, you can call the track office at 608-786-1525.  LaCrosse Speedway is proud to be a NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.

RESULTS

ASA Midwest Tour

Feature (200 laps):  1.Ty Majeski, 2. Andrew Morrissey, 3. Michael Hinde, 4. Gabe Sommers, 5. Justin Mondeik, 6. Kody King, 7. Bryce Miller, 8. Johnny Sauter, 9. Jonathan Eilen, 10. Derek Kraus, 11. Jeremy Lepak, 12. Ryan Farrell, 13. Derek Lemke, 14. Ty Fredrickson, 15. Braison Bennett, 16. Dean LaPointe, 17. Joe Valento, 18. Brandon Hill, 19. Lowell Bennett, 20. Ridge Oien, 21. Levon Van der Geest, 22. Chad Butz, 23. Noah Gajewski, 24. Harley Jankowski, 25. Jeff Storm, 26. R.J. Braun, 27. Travis Volm, 28. Chris Weinkauf, 29. Dalton Zehr

Gandrud Performance 602 Cratetoberfest Challenge

Feature (25 laps):  1. 97s-James Swan, Genoa City, WI [10], 2. 51D-John DeAngelis Jr, Richfield, WI [6], 3. 22-Brad Warthan, Sparta, WI [11], 4. 51C-Tom Carlson, West Salem, WI [14], 5. 13-Michael Haggar, Hanover, MN [3], 6. 93-Chester Ace, Oregon, WI [2], 7. 1W-Eugene Gregorcih Jr, Amherst Juncition, WI [5], 8. 5L-Brady Liddle, Brooklyn, WI [8], 9. 48-Ethan Rose, La Valle, WI [13], 10. 67-Mason Hellenbrand, Verona, WI [9], 11. 60-Grant Griesbach, Waukesha, WI [4], 12. 51B-Brian Back, Rudolph, WI [12], 13. 84-Nick Van, Hortonville, WI [7], 14. 83-Ryan Kamish Sr, Farmington, MN [16], 15. 28-Danielle Behn, Waupaca, WI [1], 16. 4-Cody Vander Loop, Freedom, WI [23], 17. 8K-Brent Kirchner, Stoddard, WI [20], 18. 5E-Dave Edwards, Salem, WI [17], 19. 21-Scott Ciesielski, Amherst, WI [19], 20. 7H-Dillon Hammond, Wisconsin Dells, WI [33], 21. 45-Austin Powers, Baraboo, WI [15], 22. 2H-Adam Hansen, De Soto, WI [21], 23. 29-Jesse Green, Eleva, WI [22], 24. 38-Kevin Zielezinski, New Lenox, IL [18], 25. 5-Nick Quinnell, Arkdale, WI [24], 26. 2K-Wyatt Kraiss, Randolph, WI [27], 27. 2-Kasey VanDerLoop, Appleton, WI [28], 28. 22JS-Jeff Storm, Waterford, WI [32], 29. 55-Charles Muller, Tomah, WI [25], 30. 8B-Jason Bolster, Sparta, WI [34], 31. 36-Andy Muller, Onalaska, WI [30], 32. 97-Robert Fort, Winona, MN [26], 33. 1V-Charles Vian Jr, Sparta, WI [31]

Heat #1 (8 laps):  1. 97s-James Swan, Genoa City, WI [4], 2. 5L-Brady Liddle, Brooklyn, WI [2], 3. 84-Nick Van, Hortonville, WI [1], 4. 51B-Brian Back, Rudolph, WI [6], 5. 51C-Tom Carlson, West Salem, WI [8], 6. 48-Ethan Rose, La Valle, WI [7], 7. 22-Brad Warthan, Sparta, WI [5], 8. 67-Mason Hellenbrand, Verona, WI [3]

Heat #2 (8 laps):  1. 83-Ryan Kamish Sr, Farmington, MN [1], 2. 13-Michael Haggar, Hanover, MN [5], 3. 45-Austin Powers, Baraboo, WI [2], 4. 28-Danielle Behn, Waupaca, WI [3], 5. 51D-John DeAngelis Jr, Richfield, WI [8], 6. 1W-Eugene Gregorcih Jr, Amherst Junction, WI [7], 7. 60-Grant Griesbach, Waukesha, WI [6], 8. 93-Chester Ace, Oregon, WI [4]

Heat #3 (8 laps):  1. 5E-Dave Edwards, Salem, WI [8], 2. 2H-Adam Hansen, De Soto, WI [4], 3. 8K-Brent Kirchner, Stoddard, WI [5], 4. 21-Scott Ciesielski, Amherst, WI [6], 5. 7H-Dillon Hammond, Wisconsin Dells, WI [9], 6. 5-Nick Quinnell, Arkdale, WI [1], 7. 29-Jesse Green, Eleva, WI [3], 8. 38-Kevin Zielezinski, New Lenox, IL [7], 9. 4-Cody Vander Loop, Freedom, WI [2] (DQ)

Heat #4 (8 laps):  1. 22-Jeff Storm, Waterford, WI [7], 2. 2-Kasey VanDerLoop, Appleton, WI [2], 3. 2K-Wyatt Kraiss, Randolph, WI [3], 4. 55-Charles Muller, Tomah, WI [5], 5. 1V-Charles Vian Jr, Sparta, WI [6], 6. 97-Robert Fort, Winona, MN [4], 7. 36-Andy Muller, Onalaska, WI [1], 8. 8B-Jason Bolster, Sparta, WI [8]

Qualifying:  1. 51C-Tom Carlson, 19.8900; 2. 48-Ethan Rose, 19.9640; 3. 51B-Brian Back, 20.0180; 4. 22-Brad Warthan, 20.0570; 5. 97s-James Swan, 20.2460; 6. 67-Mason Hellenbrand, 20.3080; 7. 5L-Brady Liddle, 20.3320; 8. 84-Nick Van, 20.3850; 9. 51D-John DeAngelis Jr, 20.4300; 10. 1W-Eugene Gregorcih Jr, 20.4520; 11. 60-Grant Griesbach, 20.4600; 12. 13-Michael Haggar, 20.4790; 13. 93-Chester Ace, 20.5180; 14. 28-Danielle Behn, 20.5220; 15. 45-Austin Powers, 20.5740; 16. 83-Ryan Kamish Sr, 20.6240; 17. 5E-Dave Edwards, 20.7540; 18. 38-Kevin Zielezinski, 20.8230; 19. 21-Scott Ciesielski, 20.8480; 20. 8K-Brent Kirchner, 20.9690; 21. 2H-Adam Hansen, 21.0360; 22. 29-Jesse Green, 21.1610; 23. 4-Cody Vander Loop, 21.1640; 24. 5-Nick Quinnell, 21.3780; 25. 55-Charles Muller, 21.7250; 26. 97-Robert Fort, 21.7540; 27. 2K-Wyatt Kraiss, 21.7890; 28. 2-Kasey VanDerLoop, 21.7960; 29. 70-Alan Shierling Jr, 21.8190; 30. 36-Andy Muller, 21.8340; 31. 1V-Charles Vian Jr, 23.5180

Upper Midwest Vintage Racing Series

Feature (15 laps):  1. 81-Jason Stark, Wisconsin Dells, WI [11], 2. 99-Rich Bickle, Saint Paul, MN [12], 3. 32DL-Dan Linnehan, Sparta, WI [9], 4. 99k-Todd Korish, Holmen, WI [14], 5. 98-Tom Gille, Winnebago, IL [13], 6. 69-Ralph Cottone, Mindoro, WI [1], 7. 21-Sean Herzog, Wausau, WI [8], 8. 55-Frank Kreyer, Wisconsin Dells, WI [5], 9. 78-Jerimy Wagner, Onalaska, WI [10], 10. 18-Tracey Prissel, Tomah, WI [6], 11. 34G-Travis Gordon, La Crescent, MN [4], 12. 28-Lloyd Wilkinson, Hixton, WI [2], 13. 19-Brian Hanson, Black River Falls, WI [16], 14. 32-John Meyer, Holmen, WI [7], 15. 11-Dustin Brillowski, Junction City, WI [3]

Heat #1 (8 laps):  1. 55-Frank Kreyer, Wisconsin Dells, WI [6], 2. 69-Ralph Cottone, Mindoro, WI [2], 3. 34G-Travis Gordon, La Crescent, MN [5], 4. 11-Dustin Brillowski, Junction City, WI [4], 5. 28-Lloyd Wilkinson, Hixton, WI [3], 6. 19-Brian Hanson, Black River Falls, WI [1], 7. 5-Shawn Johnson, Edgerton, WI [7]

Heat #2 (8 laps):  1. 32L-Dan Linnehan, Sparta, WI [4], 2. 99K-Todd Korish, Holmen, WI [9], 3. 81-Jason Stark, Wisconsin Dells, WI [6], 4. 18-Tracey Prissel, Tomah, WI [1], 5. 98-Tom Gille, Winnebago, IL [8], 6. 21-Sean Herzog, Wausau, WI [3], 7. 78-Jerimy Wagner, Onalaska, WI [5], 8. 99B-Rich Bickle, Saint Paul, MN [7], 9. 32-John Meyer, Holmen, WI [2]