July 19, 2003; West Salem, WI - Steve Carlson was the man charging up from the rear, mowing down the field. Steve Holzhausen and Tony Bagstad were the patient movers, as they looked to solidify their hold on the top two spots in the point standings, and Charlie Menard and Steve Burgess were the quick cars making a beeline for the lead.
J. Herbst got to the point first, taking the lead from Mark Lamoreaux, and then holding off Burgess for 27 laps to take the Brickl Bros. 50-lap feature at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway. Mark Lamoreaux led the first 20 laps, and for a while, looked like he had the car to lead them all, as he kept Blake Horstman, and then Herbst at bay. Herbst moved to the outside of Lamoreaux on lap 20, taking the lead in turn four of 21, as he led the rest of the way. As Herbst took the top spot, Carlson had already climbed to 11th, and Burgess and Menard were in third and fourth, ready to move by Lamoreaux and challenge Herbst for the lead. Holzhausen and Bagstad were in the hunt as well, sitting fifth and seventh on lap 20. Burgess' chances ended five laps later, when he and Lamoreaux touched in turn three, sending Lamoreaux to the infield, and both cars to the pits as the cuation flew for the third time in the race, the first two cautions coming after Tim Nelson spins. That left Menard and Holzhausen second and third, with Bagstad fourth, and Carlson up to sixth. The top three were able to open up a lead on the 27 of Bagstad on the restart, and Carlson quickly bypassed Blake Horstman to put all five contenders into the top five. Four laps later, Carlson was by Bagstad, and moving up on the top three. Another caution with 11 laps remaining bunched the field, but Herbst got a good jump on the restart, and opened up a lead, as Holzhausen and Menard began to battle for second. They quickly pulled back in line, and were able to hold off Carlson, and began distancing themselves from the 66 car, and closing in on the leader. Menard tried twice on lap 46 to get by Herbst, but was forced to drop back in line both times. On lap 47, he tried the outside line, allowing Holzhausen to slip just inside him. As the cars went into turn one, they touched, sending both Holzhausen and Menard into the wall, and bringing out the final caution. Herbst pulled away from Carlson down the stretch for the win, while the accident allowed Bagstad, Brad Powell and Kevin Nuttleman to slip into the top five at the finish. It wasn't a good night to be a points leader at the speedway. Along with Holzhausen's late accident in the Late Model feature, Sportsman points leader Chand Wehling was involved in a lap seven accident, and finished 22nd, losing his points lead to Dan Gilster by four points. Thunderstox points leader Ron Heller took what appeared to be substancial damage on the opening lap of their feature, but was able to continue, finishing 23rd. Heller was able to maintain the top spot in the division however, as did Holzhausen in the late model points. In other late model action, Holzhausen took fast time at 20.254 seconds, Troy Goodenough won the B-Main, and heats went to Monte Gress and Jim Hagel. Powell and Todd Oliver won the Bud Dashes. Dan Linnehan chased down John Olson by midrace in the Ray Hutson Chevrolet Grand National Sportsman feature, then held off Dan Gilster on a lap eight restart, and Rick Steinhoff down the stretch to take the win. Steinhoff took second, followed by Jeff Baker, fast timer Mike Albrecht, Jr. and Trent Boettcher. Troy Anderson took the B-Feature, Chand Wehling and Scott Beckler took heat races, and Jes Tenner and Randy Steinhoff won the Bud Dashes. For the second time this season, a driver led 14-plus laps in the United
Auto Supply Thunderstox feature, but crossed the finish line second. This time John
Hendrickson was the driver on the point most of the way, but he got caught up in lapped
traffic on the final lap, allowing Ed Senn to slip by on the outside for the win. Senn was
disqualified in post-race inspection, and Tim Steinhoff, Andy Barney, Robert Stanfield and
Ryan Pfaff rounded out the top five. Saturday, July 26 ///NASCAR Late
Models, Sportsman, Thunderstox For complete results from the RACESTAT
computer click here |
