By: Aspen Andre
(West Salem, WI – July 1, 2017) The line to get into the gates at LaCrosse Speedway was almost out to the parking lot tonight as thousands of die hard Smash-O-Rama fans kicked off their Independence Day weekend festivities at LaCrosse Speedway. At the end of the night, they were treated to as much smashing, crashing, and fireworks as they could handle.
The ANTS Complete Pest Control Hornet feature saw an early lead by Jake Bemis diminished as Patrick Thicke would nudge his way to the front with 5 laps remaining and hold it until the checkered flag flew. Bemis would follow in second and Mark Bornitz finished third.
The second over the line races were won by mere inches both times tonight. In the first race, Kayla Vian took the early race lead, but when it came down to the checkered flag it was Paul Mortenson Jr. who crossed the line second so he would take home the win. Mark Bornitz would use the same strategy in the second race but again Bornitz ended up crossing the finish line first by just a couple inches so it would by Jimmy Bjorkman who would take home the win for the second over the line race.
Jimmy Bjorkman, Mark Bornitz, & Kayla Vian won the relay race where they would each race 2 laps and then pass a LaCrosse Speedway hat onto the next driver before being able to start the next leg of the relay. Matt Carpenter, Jake Schomers, & Jake Bemis finished second in the relay race and Robert Stanfield, John Huebner, & Mike Heyer finished third.
Scott Mahlum won the figure 8 race as he was leading the race the whole time and made it through all the traffic unscathed.
Austin Schott won the boat race without water tonight as he was the only racer who finished the race with his boat still attached. He won the fan vote over John Clauson by just a few people’s screams.
Davis Helgeson won the Roll Over Contest with a whopping 13 points! He was awarded 1 point for every ¼ car roll and 5 points for a full flip. Chris Christen and Jason Pyka both had 7 points and Taylor Dobbs finished with 1 point as his front end broke on the first try.
Jared Novak won the Burnout Contest after smoking up the whole back straightaway in 45 seconds and winning the fan vote over Dean Hamilton. Kyle Mortenson and Tyler Mickschl also participated.
Jared Novak destroyed the Wisconsin Lottery Pool while going off theramp backwards!
Jim Burns from Rockford, IL, who got his start at LaCrosse Speedway 8 years ago, tied with Ryan Rice of Lafayette, IL on an agreed upon 50/50 split in the Monster Truck Competition. Rice brought the crowd to their feet with his nonstop onslaught of car destruction on the front straight-away, but it just wasn’t quite enough to squeak out the win.
Doug Rose of Daytona Beach, FL burned down the track tonight with his Green Mamba Jet show on the front stretch. But it was the end of the night that really fired up the crowd when he burned down a mini van with his jet car.
The next event on the Speedway calendar is Saturday July 8 for Festival Foods Buddy Night and the rescheduled Fan Photo Night where it is 2:1 admission with Festival Foods Receipt and In-Store Voucher!!!
For more information please call the Speedway office at (608) 786-1525 or visit www.lacrossespeedway.com.
LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway is a proud NASCAR Hometrack, part of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series – www.hometracks.nascar.com.
Click here for the full results.