Advertisement
Enter Tom Thurk.
Thurk built a new engine for Linnehan just in time for Thursday night’s Ray Hutson Chevrolet Sportsman Division Oktoberfest 20 at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway. And what a power plant it proved to be as Linnehan ran away from the feature field to win the race and lock up fifth place in the season-long points standings.
“It had some pretty good horsepower,” Linnehan said. “It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. We didn’t qualify very well (8th), but we changed some tire pressure and some other things and the car was pretty good.”
Actually, it was uncatchable, even for Jes Tenner, who took second, and Larry Bolster, who took third.
West Salem’s Dan Gilster, who already had his third track championship locked up before the race started, wound up finishing 20th in a borrowed car, but it didn’t matter. The regular season finale, which was run on the first night of the four-day Oktoberfest Race Weekend before a crowd estimated at 3,000, was a no-pressure night for Gilster.
“I had fun. It sure made it a lot easier not having to use my car,” said Gilster, who in the past has spent the entire night after the finale reworking his car to meet the rules for another division, Area Sportsman, which runs today. “I didn’t have to show up tonight (to claim the championship), but I wanted to for the fans and for my sponsors.”
Gilster, who also won Sportsman track championships in 2000 and 2003, finished with 902 points, which was 36 more than runner-up Tenner, and 40 more than third-place Tom Thill. Tenner and Thill were tied for second place in the standings entering the night, but Tenner earned 55 points on the night to 51 for Thill.
“It was a pretty tough run tonight with that wreck (on Lap 5). I got pretty lucky to get through that,” Tenner said. “There was grass and leaves on the track after that one.”
Still, Tenner was pleased with a runner-up season finish.
“We came into the season to run for a championship. There are lot of tough drivers in this division like Danny Gilster, who wins his third championship, and guys like Tom Thill who have been good for a long time.”
Gilster said he intends to put a team together to run in the track’s premier division, the Kwik Trip Late Model, next season. However, it all depends on money and sponsorship.
“It’s all got to do with finances. I’m hoping we can make the jump next year,” Gilster said. “We don’t have the sponsors yet. We’re trying to do it on our own. I want to enjoy this (championship) first. This one is the sweetest (of the three) because the competition is tougher than it’s ever been.”
T-STOX TITLE: Justin Berg of Bangor won the United Auto Supply Oktoberfest 15, but it was Jason Bolster who claimed the season points championship. Berg beat Travis Schendel and Charles Vian across the line in the 15-lap feature.
Bolster, who spun several doughnuts in celebration of his track championship, finished eighth in the feature race. That gave him 1,164 points, eight more than runner-up Greg Lindvig.
TRICKLE THIRD FASTEST: Dick Trickle, who is running in the ARTGO Reunion 100 on Sunday, turned some heads Thursday during an ARTGO practice session. Trickle’s unofficial lap times of 19.3 and 19.4 — his fastest laps — trailed only West Salem’s Steve Carlson (19.1) and David Prunty of Brownsville, Wis. (19.2).
“I think they are trying to pump me up a little,” Trickle said when told of his lap times.
ARTGO FIELD: A total of 47 drivers have pre-registered for the ARTGO Reunion 100, and another eight have indicated they will be entering the race. Track president John McKarns was hoping for around 50 cars in the event, but it may actually approach 60.
The record field for an ARTGO race at Oktoberfest came in 1997 when 86 cars competed.
TRACK RECORD: Jason Stark of Sparta, Wis., set a track record in the R.A.Y.S. — Race All Your Stuff — division during qualifying when he turned a lap of 15.259 seconds. That erased the previous track record of 15.679 seconds, which was set by Dave Lashua on Oct. 7, 2004.
ROLL’EM OVER: Danny Fradette of De Soto, Wis., had a thrilling night, at least for a few moments, when he wound up hitting the Turn 3 wall, then rolling over on the quarter-mile track during a United Auto Supply Thunderstox Division heat race. Fradette was not injured.
ASA FIELD: A total of 44 cars have registered for the ASA Late Model division, which will run a 100-lap feature at 7 p.m. today.
TOP QUALIFIER: Jes Tenner, who entered the night tied for second in the Ray Hutson Chevrolet Sportsman Division point standings, turned in the fastest qualifying time Thursday night with a 22.079-second lap. Points leader Dan Gilster, who is running a different car than he ran during the regular season, had the 11th fastest time. A total of 43 drivers ran qualifying laps in the division.
Bob Lamb of the La Crosse Tribune contributed to this story.
