By: Ashley Iwanski
(West Salem, WI – May 9, 2009)
It may have been a chilly night, but the racing was hot at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway as enthusiastic fans watched Tony Bagstad go on to win the Kwik Trip NASCAR Late Model feature sponsored by Christen Farm Nursery.
There were three starts to the Late Model feature. When the first green flag waved Jarred Soller hit the wall in turn two bring out a caution before the first lap was complete. Then as the field came back around to catch the next green flag cars got together in turn one. Bill Niles, J. Herbst, Jeff Baker, Todd Korish and Tim Nelson were all involved.
On the next restart they were able to get the first official lap in the book. Bagstad was fighting off advances from Matthew Henderson and Kevin Nuttleman right from the start. Bagstad was able to get a little relief will the cars behind him were battling it out trying to get as close to the leader as possible. Another caution flag flew with ten to go Travis Hancock blew an engine. The field was brought back together for a restart and from then on the field was being shuffled around looking for any and all openings that would get them to the front. Nuttleman was looking mostly to the inside of Bagstad in each turn. In the end, Bagstad was able to hold him off and take the win. Nuttleman finished in 2nd, Mike Carlson in 3rd, Brad Powell 4th and Steve Carlson 5th.
Jes Tenner won the North Country Contractors Sportsmen feature for the second week in a row. Tenner started mid-pack and slowly made his way to the fifth position. A caution with five to go brought the field together. Tenner used this to his advantage. He was in 2nd within one lap and passed leader Greg Scheck with one to go. No one could catch him then. Scheck finish 2nd, Tony Leis 3rd, Nick Clements 4th and Randy Humfeld 5th.
Brad Warthan jumped into an early lead in the United Auto Supply Thunderstox feature. It wasn’t long before he had to fight off the cars on his tail and lap traffic while avoiding cars spinning across the track. Despite it all he was able to take the checkered flag.
Both mothers and daughters were out to race in the Queen Bees division. It started with cars spinning on the first lap. By the half way point Kim Eckelberg was leading while her daughter, Mandi Eckelberg, was running 2nd. The mother daughter duo was side by side when they crossed the finish line. Kim was able to hold off Mandi to take home the trophy on Mother’s Day race weekend.
The Skidders will join us on Saturday, May 16th along with the NASCAR Late Models, North Country Contractors Sportsmen, and United Auto Supply Thunderstox divisions. On May 23rd regular racing will return with an exciting T-Bone crash novelty event you won’t want to miss. For more information about La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway please visit www.lacrossespeedway.com or contact the office at (608) 786-1525 or lacrossespeedway@yahoo.com.
This article was posted to the website on May 9th, 2009
