WEST SALEM, Wis. — Jacob Goede was the winner of the Big 8 Late Models 38-lap feature race during day three of the 53rd annual Oktoberfest Race Weekend at the LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway Saturday night.
Goede was joined by Ty Majeski (Midwest Truck Series), Clay Curts (Mid-Am Racing Series) and Paul Malouf (Midwest Dash Series) as feature winners during an evening full of racing at the five-eighths-mile paved oval.
Goede, the Carver, Minn., short-track ace, wheeled his Chevrolet No. 72 to the checkered flag in the Big 8 series headliner, scoring his fourth consecutive Oktoberfest victory. Goede bested fellow Minnesota speedsters Steve Bachman and Grant Brown. Randy Sargent, LaCrosse track champion Mike Carlson and Jackson Lewis rounded out the top six finishers.
Wrapping up his first Big 8 Late Models championship, Dale Nottestad had to borrow a car after his own late model experienced transmission problems, coming home in the night’s feature race.
Known for his super late model and NASCAR Truck Series exploits, Ty Majeski captured his first-ever Midwest Truck Series main event. Using a late race, two-laps-to-go, yellow flag, Majeski raced by leader Danielle Behn on the restart to win the 25-lap event. Behn finished second, followed by Kody Hubred, Paul Shafer Jr., Cody Vanderloop and Kevin Knuese. James Swan finished 11th and won the Midwest Truck Series championship.
Illinois speedster Clay Curts raced by Jim Cormack to win the 25-lap Mid-Am Racing Series main event. The series’ rookie of the year, Curts rolled to the checkered flag in his Chevrolet No. 88 to score his first career Mid-Am feature. Trailing Curts and Cormack at the checkered flag were fast qualifier Rick Corso, Timmy Stewart, Dale Lecus Jr. and Tony Holm. Slowing late in the race, Ron Vandermeir Jr. secured another Mid-Am championship with a 14th place finish.
Phil Malouf was the winner of the 20-lap Midwest Dash Series feature race. Malouf held off a late charge from Scott Ciesielski to grab the checkered flag. Dan Braum, Kyle Stark and Karter Stark made up the rest of the top-five finishers.
Earlier in the evening, Jeff Storm and Dean Cornelius won eight-lap qualifying dash races for ARCA Midwest Tour competitors, setting the starting field for the series’ 200 lapper on Sunday afternoon. Tristan Swanson added himself to the 200 starting lineup by winning the 12-lap qualifier. During afternoon qualifying, Matthew Henderson set fast time among 27 Midwest Tour qualifiers.
The fast qualifier had the first choice to take the Ultimate Challenge by starting at the rear of the 200-lap event for bonus money that was, at press time, over $7,600 and still growing. Henderson turned down the challenge, so it was offered to second fastest qualifier Ty Majeski, who accepted the challenge and will go to the back of the pack on Sunday afternoon.