April 12, 2003; West Salem, WI - There was clearly something missing from the Season Opener at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway on Saturday night. It wasn't the crowd, because a near-capicity crowd filed up on the hill to see the opener. It certainly wasn't the action on the track, as Brad Powell and Tony Bagstad put on a show battling back and forth in the NASCAR Late Model feature, and Monte Gress and Greg Scheck put on a display of three-wide passing in the B-Main as well.
What was missing was the defending champion. While eight-time track champion Kevin Nuttleman was home, nursing a a broken ankle that will cost him at least the first two weeks of the season, the competition to dethrone the second-winningest driver in La Crosse history stepped up and made names for themselves. Steve Holzhausen stated his case, taking fast time, and charging through the field in the Bud Dash, before cutting a tire that sent him to the pits. He came away with a fifth-place finish in the feature as well, after starting 11th. Brad Powell stepped up, leading most of the way in the Budweiser 25, and holding off all that former NASCAR Touring Series driver Tony Bagstad could dish out for 20 laps. Bagstad made his championship move, taking advantage of Powell's one mistake, a bobble in turn four on lap 21, that gave Bagstad the opening he needed to take the opening checkered flag. Powell, the 2001 Track Champ at La Crosse, battled back, and almost got
under Bagstad on the final lap, but had to settle for second, while Mark Lamoreaux, J.
Herbst and Steve Holzausen were well back of the lead battle, and rounded out the top
five. Blake Horstman was sixth, followed by Todd Korish, Rick Wateski, Andy Burgess and
Jim Hagel. In the B-Main, Tom McClintock took the lead from Bill Niles with two laps remaining to take the checkered, but the real action took place behind him the rest of the way. Kevin Eddy and Bill Niles touched on the final lap, with Eddy moving up to take second, and Monte Gress and Curt Eckleberg both got by Niles, knocking him from the feature event. Gress recovered from an earlier incident, when he and Greg Scheck touched while battling for the lead, sending both cars to the rear of the field. The two cars made three-wide passes of two cars in their dash back to the front, but while Gress made the feature field, Scheck fell two spots short. Fast timer Steve Holzhausen charged up from the rear in the Odd Bud Dash, but with 3 laps to go, he cut a tire on the backstretch, sending a shower of sparks up in turn three and bringing out the yellow. Brad Powell came away with the win, after ducking under early race leader Dan Steele three laps before the caution. Tony Bagstad and Gib Scharpf battled side by side at the front of the Even Bud Dash, with Mark Lamoreaux waiting, looking for a way around. Bagstad pulled to the lead with three laps remaining, and took the checkered ahead of Sharpf and Lamoreaux. Brent Kirchner ducked under Monte Gress on a late restart to take the first qualifying heat, with Mike Belling advancing to the feature by claiming second over Gress. In the second qualifier, Troy Goodenough ducked under Curt Eckleberg on lap two, and pulled out to the win, with Tim Nelson also advancing. Chand Wehling started on the pole of the Ray Hutson Chevrolet Sportsman
feature, and held off everything Larry Bolster, Jr. could throw at him, as he led all 15
laps to take the feature. Over the final six laps, Bolster kept trying to edge under
Wehling, but Wehling wouldn't give up the low groove, and Bolster couldn't make his car
stick up high. As the lead pair battled, Baker came up to make it a three-car battle, but
neither Bolster or Baker was able to get by Wehling for the win. The field was scattered in turn four at the start of the B-Main, but
everyone made it through the melee, and the race stayed green as Todd Lockington jumped to
the lead and took command en route to taking his first checkered flag of the season. Matt Inglett took a page out of Wehling's book, leading all 15 laps of the United Auto Supply Thunderstox feature, but he managed to maintain his lead over Tim Steinhoff despite a multitude of lapped traffic in the opener. Jason Bolster came up to finish second, followed by Joey Johnson, Dean Ashbacher and Ron Heller. Troy Schnitzler survived a wild wreck midway through the B-main, and came away with the checkered over Bill Inglett and Greg Lindvig. Heat winners in the division were Shane Ulvestad, Dwayne Anderson, Andy Moore and Ed Senn. Adam Moore took the checkered in the Second-Over-The-Line-Wins Novelty Event. Saturday, April 19, 2003 ///NASCAR Late Models, Sportsman,
Thunderstox, Steel Wall Crash For complete results from the RACESTAT computer click here Kwik Trip NASCAR Late Models Budweiser 25 Feature- 1) Tony Bagstad, Cashton; 2) Brad Powell, La Crosse; 3) Mark Lamoreaux, Bloomington, MN; 4) J. Herbst, West Salem; 5) Steve Holzhausen, Bangor; 6) Blake Horstman, Bangor; 7) Todd Korish, La Crosse; 8) Rick Wateski, La Crosse; 9) Andy Burgess, Eau Claire; 10) Jim Hagel, Holmen; 11) Charlie Menard, Eau Claire; 12) Mike Belling, La Crosse; 13) John Towner, Trempealeau; 14) Gib Scharpf, La Crosse; 15) Troy Goodenough, Mindoro; 16) Brent Kirchner, La Crosse; 17) Tim Nelson, La Crescent, MN; 18) Jon Barrette, La Crosse; 19) Monte Gress, Neillsville; 20) Curt Eckleberg, West Salem; 21) Adam Degenhardt, Coon Valley; 22) Dan Steele, West Salem; 23) Tom McClintock, Onalaska; 24) Bill Niles, Holmen; 25) Kevin Eddy, Sparta B-Main- 1) Tom McClintock, Onalaska; 2) Kevin Eddy, Sparta; 3) Monte Gress, Neillsville; 4) Curt Eckleberg, West Salem; 5) Bill Niles, Holmen Qualifying- 1) Steve Holzhausen, Bangor, 20.054 seconds, 97.886 MPH; 2) Andy Burgess, Eau Claire, 20.158 secs., 97.381 MPH; 3) Todd Korish, La Crosse, 20.194 secs., 97.207 MPH; 4) Rick Wateski, La Crosse, 20.217 secs., 97.097 MPH; 5) Blake Horstman, Bangor, 20.238 secs., 96.996 MPH Qualifying Heat 1- 1) Brent Kirchner, La Crosse; 2) Mike Belling, La Crosse; 3) Monte Gress, Neillsville; 4) Tom McClintock, Onalaska; 5) Kevin Eddy, Sparta Qualifying Heat 2- 1) Troy Goodenough, Mindoro; 2) Tim Nelson, La Crescent, MN; 3) Greg Scheck, West Salem; 4) Curt Eckleberg, West Salem; 5) Jeff Krueger, La Crescent, MN Odd Bud Dash- 1) Brad Powell, La Crosse; 2) Todd Korish, La Crosse; 3) Blake Horstman, Bangor; 4) John Towner, Trempealeau; 5) Charlie Menard, Eau Claire Even Bud Dash- 1) Tony Bagstad, Cashton; 2) Gib Scharpf, La Crosse; 3) Mark Lamoreaux, Bloomington, MN; 4) Jon Barrette, La Crosse; 5) Rick Wateski, La Crosse Ray Hutson Chevy Sportsman Budweiser 15 Feature- 1) Chand Wehling, Stoddard; 2) Larry Bolster, Jr., Sparta; 3) Jeff Baker, Holmen; 4) Tom Thill, West Salem; 5) Rick Shisler, La Crosse; 6) Tony Ciano, La Crosse; 7) Rick Steinhoff, Sparta; 8) Dan Gilster, West Salem; 9) Sam Andersen, Melrose; 10) Trent Boettcher, La Crescent, MN; 11) Laurel Viera, Eagle Lake, MN; 12) Branden Berg, North Bend; 13) John Korish, La Crosse; 14) Jamie Mills, Black River Falls; 15) Aaron Hass, La Crosse B-Main- 1) Todd Lockington, Mindoro; 2) Aaron Hass, La Crosse; 3) Bill Miller, Sparta; 4) Ken Lewis, Black River Falls; 5) John Olson, Sparta Qualifying- 1) Trent Boettcher, La Crescent, MN, 22.699 secs., 86.480 MPH; 2) Tony Ciano, La Crosse, 22.733 secs., 86.350 MPH; 3) Dan Gilster, West Salem, 22.784 secs., 86.157 MPH; 4) Rick Shisler, La Crosse, 22.798 secs., 86.104 MPH; 5) Sam Andersen, Melrose, 22.806 secs., 86.074 MPH Non Qualifiers Heat- 1) Jes Tenner, North Bend; 2) Mark Olson, Lewiston, MN; 3) Randy Hass, La Crosse; 4) Rob Christen, Holmen; 5) Rob Curran, Rockland Qualifying Heat 1- 1) John Korish, La Crosse; 2) Jamie Millis, Black River Falls; 3) Aaron Hass, La Crosse; 4) Bill Miller, Sparta; 5) Jeff Winterfield, Coon Valley Qualifying Heat 2- 1) Marv DeGarmo, Chaseburg; 2) Scott Beckler, Tomah; 3) John Olson, Sparta; 4) Todd Lockington, Mindoro; 5) Troy Anderson, Galesville Odd Bud Dash- 1) Rick Steinhoff, Sparta; 2) Dan Linnehan, Sparta; 3) Dan Gilster, West Salem; 4) Sam Andersen, Melrose; 5) Trent Boettcher, La Crescent, MN Even Bud Dash- 1) Jimmy Gilster, West Salem; 2) Larry Bolster, Jr., Sparta; 3) Rick Shisler, La Crosse; 4) Tony Ciano, La Crosse; 5) Tom Thill, West Salem United Auto Supply Thunderstox Budweiser 15 Feature- 1) Matt Inglett, La Crosse; 2) Jason Bolster, Sparta; 3) Joey Johnson, West Salem; 4) Dean Ashbacher, Rockland; 5) Ron Heller, Onalaska; 6) Ben Allen, Bangor; 7) Al Bartels, Tomah; 8) Scott Voss, La Crescent, MN; 9) Lester Stanfield, La Crosse; 10) Tony Leiss, Middle Ridge; 11) Dwayne Anderson, Sparta; 12) Trent Tenner, Melrose; 13) Brad Warthan, Sparta; 14) Troy Schnitzler, Onalaska; 15) Greg Lindvig, Holmen B-Main- 1) Troy Schnitzler, Onalaska; 2) Bill Inglett, La Crosse; 3) Greg Lindvig, Holmen; 4) Steve Scholze, Sparta; 5) Kurt Jankowski, Tomah Bud Dash- 1) Tony Leis, Middle Ridge; 2) Lester Stanfield, La Crosse; 3) Al Bartels, Tomah; 4) Ben Allen, Bangor; 5) Ed Senn, La Crosse Heat 1- 1) Shane Ulvestad, Westby; 2) Tony Leis, Middle Ridge; 3) Ryan Lockington, Bangor; 4) Trent Tenner, Melrose; 5) Bryan Brown, Onalaska Heat 2- 1) Dwayne Anderson, Sparta; 2) Lester Stanfield, La Crosse; 3) Ron Heller, Onalaska; 4) matt Inglett, La Crosse; 5) La Verne Berg, Melrose Heat 3- 1) Andy Moore, Sparta; 2) Ben Allen, Bangor; 3) Brad Warthan, Sparta; 4) Mary Schill, Minneapolis, MN; 5) Scott Voss, La Crescent, MN Heat 4- 1) Ed Senn, La Crosse; 2) Al Bartels, Tomah; 3) Joey Johnson, West Salem; 4) Dean Ashbacher, Rockland; 5) Tim Steinhoff, Cashton Novelty Event (Second Over The Line Wins)- 1) Adam Moore, Sparta |
