By: Ashley Iwanski
(West Salem, WI – May 29, 2010) Shawn Pfaff was able to hold off a hard-charging Steve Carlson to take home his second feature win of the season in the Kwik Trip NASCAR Late Model Division at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway.

The last two laps of the race Pfaff and Carlson were nose-to-tail and side-by-side entering and exiting the corners. On lap 24 Carlson was able to get a run on Pfaff, but Pfaff was able to close the door forcing Carlson back. When they came around to the checkered flag Carlson was on Pfaff’s bumper, but didn’t have enough momentum to pass.

“The car wouldn’t stick,” said Carlson after the race. “There wasn’t much of a top groove.”

The top groove may have been bad, but the bottom worked well for Pfaff’s car.

“It (his car) just gets better as the race goes on,” Pfaff said. “It’s been awesome.”

When the green flag waved to start the race Brad Powell jumped into an early lead. Two laps later the caution came out for a wreck in turns three and four. Mike Koeneke spun collecting Troy Rave and Brent Kirchner. The side of Kirchner’s car was ripped off and he was forced to the pits to repair the damage.

On the restart, Todd Korish took over the lead while Pfaff and Carlson were battling for second. At the halfway point the leaders had reached lap traffic. Korish fell back as Pfaff and Carlson took over first and second. Meanwhile, Mike Carlson and Matthew Henderson were trying to break into the top five, but held each other back fighting for the sixth position. Henderson won the battle finishing sixth. Mike Carlson finished seventh.

In the end, Pfaff took the win followed by Steve Carlson, J. Herbst, Todd Korish and Paul Proksch.

Rick Schermerhorn finished two car-lengths ahead of Nick Clements in the North Country Contractors Sportsmen division. Both Schermerhorn and Clements started in the front of the pack and battled back and forth for the lead up to the last lap. Schermerhorn held on for the lead and Clements finished second. Earlier in the night Randy Steinhoff and Bill Martin got together during the second heat. Steinhoff had nowhere to go and ended up on top of the wall in turn two, taking out a billboard in the process. Both drivers walked away, but the wreck ended their night.

Andy Moore won the United Auto Supply Thunderstox race after the race leaders hit the wall with five laps to go. Steve Rusch had led the first 10 laps running with Henry Vian. Rusch and Vian then got together in the exit of turn two slamming into the wall and losing the lead. Andy Moore then took over the race. Charles Vian Jr., Nathan White, Danielle Neary and Raymond Hardy round out the top five.

Eric Papenfuss won the novelty Boat Race after a fan vote. Boats were piled along the backstretch after the first couple of laps. Those drivers that managed to keep their boats attached to their cars were being pulled all over the track. Once the race came to a close the track was littered with debris reminiscent of the trailer race of destruction.

There will be double the fun on Saturday, June 5th with two 20-lap Late Model features along with the Sportsmen and Thunderstox 15-lap features. Then on Friday, June 11th is another exciting Friday Night Street Drags sponsored by Unique Edge Customizing. A minimum of ten brackets will be available for entry. Join us on June 12th for a full night of regular season racing along with a Faster Pastor novelty race.

Find the LaCrosse Speedway and become a fan on Facebook, or sign up for our weekly email newsletters at the speedway’s official website. For more information about LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway, call the Speedway office at (608) 786-1525 or visit www.lacrossespeedway.com.

Click here for the full results.