By: Ashley Iwanski
It may have rained early in the day, but the thunder in West Salem Saturday night was coming from La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway where Brad Powell won his 3rd feature race of the season.
When the green flag waved it looked as though Steve Carlson was going to thread his way through traffic to quickly take the lead. He stayed patient through two restarts half way through the race. Then on the third restart, Carlson jumped up to stay on the bumper of race leader Powell. Carlson saw his chance to pass with four laps to go and tried to get his nose to the inside of Powell entering turn one. Powell quickly closed the gap. Carlson tried multiple times to get back to the inside of Powell, but Powell continued to close the door on him. Both drivers were asked about the battle for the win in post-race interviews. “My car got loose so I had to back out of it. Brad’s good at protecting the bottom” said Carlson. Powell later said “I did what I had to do to get the win.”
The Late Models point standing is sure to be shaken up a bit after Saturday. Point leader Kevin Nuttleman was having engine trouble before the feature started. On lap 14 his motor quit in turn four. He got it restarted, but later went to the pits and was unable to finish the race. Shawn Pfaff started the night second in points. On lap 15 he and Todd Oliver got together in the backstretch causing both cars to spin across the track. Pfaff was able to come back and finish 11th, but the drivers trailing him in the points were able to finish ahead of him.
Carlson may not have been able to pass Powell for the Kwik Trip NASCAR Late Model feature, but he was able to pass multiple cars to win the ASA Late Model North Series River Run 100. By lap 20 had taken the lead away from Ross Kenseth who he then had to hold off for the duration of the race. Meanwhile, the cars 3rd through 8th were pushing and shoving each other trying to get to and pass the race leaders. Carlson later said his car was sliding around on the track. He may have had to work hard to hold onto the lead, but he made it look easy. It also helps to have a great car. “We’ve only raced this car about 15 times and we’ve won every race but two” Carlson said.
The USST North Truck Series ran a 40 lap feature that was split into two 20-lap segments. Curt Barknrecht won the first of the two segments. He had to fight off multiple cars to keep the lead and was successful throughout the caution free race. John Wood didn’t seem a likely contender to win any of the races. The engine in his number 72 truck blew up during practice. He jumped into another driver’s truck and went on to win the second segment.
La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway will be celebrating Independence Day both Friday and Saturday nights. Friday, July 3rd is Smash-O-Rama; events include Felon Monster Truck, Skidders, Roll-Over, 75 Lap Enduro, Fireworks and More! And on Saturday, July 4th La Crosse Speedways Late Models, Sportsmen, and Thunderstox divisions will be racing along with a Lights-Out Race and Fireworks Extravaganza! 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 June 27th, 2009
