By: Ashley Iwanski
(West Salem, WI – August 22, 2009) Matthew Henderson of Coon Valley took home a feature win in the Kwik Trip NASCAR Late Model division Saturday night after narrowly avoiding multiple wrecks.
The first half of the race was very smooth. Tony Bagstad jumped into an early lead followed by Shawn Pfaff and Brent Kirchner. Lap 15 was when the race really started. The front four leaders were nose to tail while Todd Korish and Steve Carlson battled for the fifth position. A few laps later the leaders started to push each other around. It wasn’t long before Pfaff was spinning down the back stretch and flying into the inside wall. His car then shot towards the pit exit and flipped over, catching on fire. Pfaff walked away from the wreck and leader Tony Bagstad was sent to the rear of the field. The other drivers had a hard time recovering from the interruption. Officials had to restart the race three times. The first two restarts were stopped when multiple cars spun in the middle of turns three and four. When the race was finally restarted the front three leaders pulled away and as they came around to the checkered flag Carlson and Korish were side by side behind Henderson. Henderson took the win and Carlson finished inches ahead of Korish for second.
Jerrod Loging won the North Country Contractors Sportsmen division feature that produced and interesting shake up in the point standings. The race started with Jimmy Gilster in the wall on the front stretch. Four laps later points leader Rick Schermerhorn was in the wall in turns one and two. Schermerhorn was unable to restart the race; he started the night 24 points ahead of Jes Tenner and ends the night 29 point behind him. Loging was then able to hold off both Nick Clements (2nd) and Tenner (3rd) for the win.
Charles Vian Jr. claimed his first feature win of the season in the United Auto Supply Thunderstox division. A caution came out early when Dakota Miller spun collecting a few other cars. The rest of the race the focus was on Vian Jr. trying to shake Andy Moore (2nd) and Jesse Vain (3rd). He never quite got them off of this tail, but he was able to hold his position to win the race.
The night started with the Features Sports Bar and Grill Hornets heats and ended with the drivers participating in two feature races. Cars were being pushed and shoved all over the field throughout both feature races. During the first feature Heath Weissenberger was having a hard time holding onto the lead; Andy Moore was on his bumper as they came across the finish line. Weissenberger walked away with the first feature win. The second feature was just as exciting with driver daring to take the corners five wide as Kevin Turner weaved through lap traffic to take the lead and feature win.
Saturday, August 29 the Skidders will be back to accompany the Late Model, Sportsmen and Thunderstox divisions. Saturday, September 5th is the last night of regular season racing. The Kwik Trip NASCAR Late Models will run twin 50 lap races along with the 15 lap Sportsmen and Thunderstox features. 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 August 22nd, 2009
