Fourth 'Fest Feature For Fredrickson

Taking the lead from Ty Majeski on the final restart, Dan Fredrickson of Lakeville, Minnesota, captured his fourth win in the Oktoberfest 200 at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway in front of a huge sun baked crowd on Sunday. The event was also the final race of the 2015 schedule for the ARCA Midwest Tour and while he faded to third at the checkers, Majeski still had a reason to celebrate by capturing the series title.



Johnny Sauter receives some pre-race advice from his children

Twenty-eight cars would line up for the 200-lap event on the paved 5/8th-mile oval with Florida's Dalton Zehr and Griffin McGrath from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, starting from the front row. While at the back of the grid you would find the third fastest qualifier on Saturday Johnny Sauter who had accepted the challenge to start from the rear for the chance to win an additional $5,000 if he could then win the race.

With Zehr setting the early pace, Sauter would quickly pick up nine positions in the first ten laps. And, by lap twenty as Zehr led Jim Sauter Jr., McGrath and Ty Majeski, Johnny Sauter had already cracked the top ten. Sauter Jr. would then slip by Zehr the following lap to become the race leader. McGrath was looking strong in third until lap thirty-five when an obvious miss in the motor caused him to slow and eventually pull to the pits six laps later and that would leave just fourteen cars on the lead lap before the competition yellow waved on lap fifty.

With all drivers required to pit at least once during the event, only the second place car of Zehr and the sixth-place car of Dan Fredrickson would make that stop among the leaders during this first caution as Johnny Sauter had already made his way up to fourth. Fredrickson who started 19th picked up the pace once he was passed by Sauter on lap ten and had followed him toward the front during the first quarter of the event.

Jim Sauter Jr. again set a quick pace that the now second-place car of Majeski would match and on lap 81 the young driver from Seymour, Wisconsin, would put a nose under the leader. Sauter Jr. would fight off that bid and then again six laps later when Majeski pulled even with him on the high side going down the front straightaway. Not far behind the lead duo, Johnny Sauter's amazing run to the front began to fade a bit as Jacob Goede passed him for third on lap 88 and Goede was not satisfied with that as he quickly reeled in Majeski to challenge for second as the race hit the midway mark.

Walcott, Iowa's Caleb Adrian spun off of turn two on lap 106 bringing the caution out and this time around all of the leaders pitted except for Dalton Zehr who would reclaim the point for the restart. Zehr would learn quickly that this was not his best strategy as he got loose coming to the green and dropped all the way to fifth as Majeski assumed the lead for the first time with Goede and Sauter Jr. giving chase while Johnny Sauter picked his way back into contention passing Natalie Decker. When Johnny would slip by Goede for second on lap 128 it looked like the bonus money might go his way even though his shadow Dan Fredrickson would soon follow him into third.

Zehr's fade continued as he went a lap down to Majeski on lap 138 and six laps later the Florida driver would spin down the back stretch to produce the caution that would have otherwise waved around lap 150 for one more round of optional pit stops. None of the top ten chose to pit and it would be Majeski leading Johnny Sauter, Fredrickson, Goede, Decker and Travis Sauter back to green with 44 laps remaining. Fredrickson would take second away from Johnny Sauter two laps later and he would then ride about four car lengths back from the leader for the next twenty-five laps.

As the laps wound down and with lapped traffic looming ahead Fredrickson closed in on Majeski and began to apply some pressure as the lead duo now had a full straightaway over the third-place car of Sauter. With the scoreboard set to click to just ten laps remaining Johnny Sauter slowed going down the back stretch and made the left hand turn into the infield now making the battle between Travis Sauter and Natalie Decker the race for third. As they exited turn four contact sent Travis for a spin and the caution waved one last time for what would be a ten lap sprint for all the marbles.

Both Decker and Travis Sauter were sent to the back of the nine remaining lead lap cars and it would be Majeski bringing the field back single file for the green flag. However, in what he would later describe as a vapor lock causing his car to stutter for a split second when he hit the throttle, Majeski would be passed by both Fredrickson and Goede heading into turn one. As the two Minnesota drivers raced away, Goede tried to make a run at the leader over the closing laps to no avail as Dan Fredrickson would collect his fourth Oktoberfest crown. Second would go to the 2015 Elko Speedway champion Goede while Majeski would celebrate a series championship in third. Nick Murgic drove a steady race to finish in the fourth position while the same could be said for Skylar Holzhausen in fifth. Tim Sauter qualified out of the Last Chance race, started 22nd and finished in sixth ahead of Natalie Decker, Chris Weinkauf and Travis Sauter while Caleb Adrian completed the top ten one lap down to the leader.

In other action on this warm Sunday afternoon eighteen Big 8 Series Late Model drivers were invited to participate in the JMcK 63, a tribute to John McKarns with the event to be run in three 21-lap segments and the overall winner to be determined by points from the finish in each of those segments. The opening segment was lined up by a pill draw and with Ty Majeski drawing the pole this looked like it would be a race for second until Michael Beamish squeezed past Majeski for the lead mid-race. Majeski would fight back though and pass Beamish on the outside to take the checkers in segment one as Beamish nipped Rick Schumann Jr. at the line for second and Chris Merrick finished fourth after starting tenth. Also thirteen-year-old Brody Willett of Alburnett, Iowa, whom we have seen running on the dirt this year in a Micro Mod, started fifteenth and finished eighth.

With a 13-car invert for the starting lineup of the second segment the 2015 Big 8 Series Rookie-of-the-Year, Cole Anderson, fought off a late charge from Majeski to take the win as John Baumeister Jr., Jeremy Miller and Chris Merrick completed the top five. The third segment would see the top twelve in points inverted for the start and that would land Willett on the pole although the youngster faded quickly on the start. Mike Ostdiek appeared to have the race well in hand until a late caution brought the field back to him with Ryan Kamish and Majeski now poised to challenge on the restart.

Kamish would take the point away from Ostdiek with Majeski soon settling into second and even though the overall points title was now well in hand, Majeski wanted more. As the white flag waved Majeski made a run to drive to the outside of Kamish and it would be a drag race off of turn four to the checkers with Majeski taking the win by a matter of inches at the line. Ostdiek would hold down the third spot with Miller and Merrick in fourth and fifth allowing Merrick and Kamish to place second and third in the overall payoff.

An interesting mix of twenty-three Vintage Cars definitely brought back some nostalgia, but these guys weren't just putting on an exhibition as they were racing for real! It was announced prior to the event that Rex Rossier would have a $320 bounty on him and you could see why as he easily worked his way through the field passing his brother Royce for the lead. A late caution though bunched the field together and 71-year-old Woody Pool made the move around Rossier with a couple of laps remaining to take the win and the extra cash.

While I made it here for a Thursday night qualifier eight years ago, this was my first Oktoberfest finale in thirteen years and it is good to see that nothing has changed......well except for the climate, at least on this day! When you approach the fairgrounds you have to be amazed at the number of campers and it was no surprise to me that the first open parking spot that I found was at least a good half-mile away from the speedway. Half the fans are wearing racing shirts while the rest are in Green Bay Packers jerseys, okay so maybe there were a couple of Vikings fans in the crowd as well, but you get the picture, and the smell of burgers and bratwursts fills the air. I was disappointed to learn that the pork chop sandwiches had sold out the night before showing just how big of a crowd had been here throughout the four day run, but I still made sure to get my bowl of Queen's Apples topped with hot caramel sauce and whipped cream. I will say that it was very odd to be at Oktoberfest wearing shorts and a t-shirt as the temperatures soared into the mid-80's without a cloud in the sky, but what a perfect day it was to close out "one great racing weekend" in western Wisconsin.

The drive up and back was beautiful as well riding along highway 52 and the Mississippi River between Prairie Du Chien and La Crosse, but the leaves weren't quite in full color yet likely due to the warmer than normal weather that we have been experiencing lately. Maybe I will catch them in their full glory in two weeks when I plan to make a similar trip to the Dells Motor Speedway on October 25th for the Falloween 100. Perhaps you should check it out as well!