Eddie Hoffman wins his third ASALMS Feature of the Season and fourth career Oktoberfest triumph at the LaCrosse (WI) Fairgrounds Speedway.
West Salem, Wisconsin (10/07/2007): The 10th and final ASA Late Model Series Northern Division Presented by GM Performance Parts Race of the 2007 Season is now complete as the 2007 ASALMS Northern Division and 2007 Rookie of the Year titles have been decided and the Champions have been crowned.
The home of one of the biggest year end special events in the United States, the 38th annual Oktoberfest Weekend, was the site for the 2007 ASALMS Northern Division Season Championships as the historic 0.545 Mile Progressively Banked Paved Oval of the LaCrosse (WI) Fairgrounds Speedway, located East of the Minnesota/Wisconsin state line in West Salem, Wisconsin served as gracious hosts of the Oktoberfest 100.
In front of a stand room only crowd, Multi-time Oktoberfest Feature Winner, Eddie Hoffman passed 19-year-old Nick Neville on Lap 34 and from there, the Wheaton, Illinois veteran withstood heavy pressure the remainder of the race from ARP Bodies/Aluminum Racing Products Fast Qualifier, Jacob Goede to score his third ASALMS Northern Division Feature Win of the 2007 Season.
Ironton, Minnesota driver, Trent Snyder finished 10th and clinched the 2007 ASALMS Northern Division Championship for his first career title while Jesse Saunders finished right behind him in 11th to secure the 2007 Rookie of the Year title for the New Glarus, Wisconsin pilot.
For Hoffman, it was his Third Feature to go with his previous triumphs at the Rockford (IL) Speedway in the Rockford 100 on July 28, 2007 and the 1st annual Bob Milner Memorial 125 Win at his home track of the Grundy County (IL) Speedway. In addition, this was the 47-year-olds’ Fourth career Oktoberfest Feature victory!
“I had to work hard for this one.” Hoffman said as he climbed out of his Lisa Thomas Salon Ford Fusion. “ The 72 car (Jacob Goede) was right there with me for the longest time. I gave him the top side and I think he burned his tires up running up there for so long. This is a great win for the whole team especially after the way we lost this race a year ago.” He added.
In the 2006 version of the Oktoberfest 100, Landon Cassill, now driving for Hendrick Motorsports, passed the Wheaton, Illinois veteran with less than a lap to go to win the ASALMS Northern Division portion of the 37th annual Oktoberfest Weekend.
19-year-old Nick Neville and Hoffman led a strong 30-car field to Chief Starter, Tom Powell’s green flag to begin the 100-lap main event that featured two other battles within itself. Trent Snyder led Peter Cozzolino and Charlie Menard by just 21 and 31 points respectively in the chase for the 2007 ASALMS Northern Division Championship.
Both Menard and Cozzolino had to come through the 25-lap GM Performance Parts Shootout just to make the 100-lap Feature as a stellar 42-car field was on hand with Qualifying times real close with the Top 29 cars in Qualifying separated by just a half second!
Meanwhile the chase for the 2007 Rookie of the Year title would be decided as well as Jesse Saunders carried a 40-point margin over Mike Heiss and needed to stay within Nine (9) positions of the fellow freshman to score the Rookie title!
Neville edged out ahead of Hoffman at the drop of the green flag, but his efforts were for naught as the first of 10 cautions flew as the field was heading down the backstretch.
Trevor Stewart and Griffin McGrath got together in Turns 1-2 and collected Cozzolino, who started shot gun on the field in 30th place. All three were able continue, but all three suffered some forms of cosmetic damage as a result of the incident.
On the restart, Neville again beat Hoffman to the first corner to take the early lead as the rest of the field tried to settle down in the beginning stages of the century grind. Hoffman never let Neville stray to far out in front of him and stayed glued to the fellow Prairie State drivers’ back bumper through two more cautions.
Another caution flew on Lap 31 as a crash involving 15-year-old Alex Kennedy and 2007 I-70 Speedway ASA Late Models Track Champion, Austin Siebert slowed the action down. During the clean up process, both ASALMS Northern Division Points Leader, Trent Snyder and Rookie of the Year Points Leader, Jesse Saunders pitted throwing the 2007 Points Standings into disarray!
Both drivers came back out after curing their respective ailments and restarted the race at the rear of the field and both with their work cut out for them. Meanwhile up front, Hoffman began his charge and looked high and low trying to figure out a way around Neville.
Hoffman had to hurry though as ARP Bodies/Aluminum Racing Products Fast Qualifier, Jacob Goede was now on Hoffman’s back bumper. Finally on Lap 34, both Hoffman and Goede were able to skate by Neville to take first and second respectively.
Lap 41 saw 2007 ASALMS Challenge Division Champion, Travis Dassow and 19-year-old Josh Wallace collide while racing for the 10th spot and both slid up into the Turns 1-2 wall. Both Wisconsin based drivers were done for the night as on the restart, Hoffman, Goede, and Neville pulled away to battle one more time.
Hoffman and Goede were able to separate themselves from a hard-charging Neville and commenced to battling on their own. Both drivers dove high and low dicing through lapped traffic and all the while, Hoffman was able to keep Goede behind him.
A pivotal caution flew on Lap 56 when Northern Division title contender, Charlie Menard, who started 27th and had worked his way up to 10th, came in contact with Derek Neville, Nick’s older brother, and the contact resulted in Menard backing his mount into the Turn Three wall.
Cozzolino, who was involved in the opening lap incident was also involved and suffered more cosmetic damage to his machine! Menard was done for the night while Cozzolino spent more time than he wanted too on pit road and lost several laps in the pits once the green came out.
Because of this, Snyder, who was back up to 15th, had to just finish the race and he would win the 2007 ASALMS Northern Division Championship. Saunders meanwhile needed to finish closer to an Eighth Place at the time, Mike Heiss and the Rookie title was his.
A scary moment occurred for Heiss on Lap 74 when debris from another car fly off and Heiss ran over it on the front stretch! Heiss was ok and no damage was done. One more caution flew on Lap 77 when LaCrosse regular, J. Herbst spun in Turn Four setting up one final showdown.
Back up front, Hoffman had Goede following in his tire tracks all over the 0.545 Mile Progressively Banked Paved Oval as the laps continued to click off. Behind the lead duo, Neville now had his hands full with 2007 Big 8 Late Model Series Champion, Jeremy Miller, who was making his ASALMS debut and Wisconsin veteran, Jim Duchow as the trio ran nose to tail in an effort to reel in Hoffman and Goede.
Goede tried every trick in his arsenal to get by Hoffman, but the crafty Wheaton, Illinois veteran stood his ground and with 10 laps to go, Goede’s tires began going away while Hoffman pulled away from him and the rest of the field.
Hoffman carefully negotiated some late lapped traffic and was able to lose Goede in the process and go on to score his third ASALMS Northern Division Feature Win of the 2007 season and fourth career Oktoberfest Feature victory!
“This feels really good to be back in Oktoberfest Victory Lane. We have a lot of great history with John McKarns (Oktoberfest Promoter) and we’re certainly happy to be standing here in victory lane in front of these great fans!” An appreciative Hoffman added as the crowd roared their approval. “We’ve got one race left in Nashville and hopefully this is the start of ending this year on a high note.” Hoffman ended.
“Man I gave him all I had, but we just came up a little short.” Goede added in his post race interview after finishing second to Hoffman. “To be racing with these guys, especially that guy up there (Pointing towards Hoffman) and having a chance at winning is a really big deal for this team. We can only afford to make certain shows and we’ve tried to make the most of the them.” The New Germany, Minnesota driver added.
Goede, who ironically was making his first ASALMS Northern Division start of the season, has two ASALMS Challenge Division Feature Wins to his credit. The first came in the Make-A-Wish 150 at the Iowa (IA) Speedway on May 19, 2007 and his second and by far the biggest win of his career, occurred on August 4, 2007 when the 22-year-old won the Crate American Race 200 at the Bristol (TN) Motor Speedway.
Nick Neville, who earlier in the day won the 2007 Oktoberfest Best Looking Car and Crew Award and started on the pole and led the first 33 laps of the 100-lap Feature, finished a career high third and secured the runner-up spot in the (Unofficial) final 2007 ASALMS Northern Division Points Standings.
“After the way this year started, I never would’ve expected to be standing here with my first podium finish.” An ecstatic Nick Neville said during his post race interview. “I have to thank my whole crew at Buzz Motorsports and everyone else involved in this deal for not giving up on me this season. It was a struggle the first half of the year, but man we turned it up the second half and all of our hard work is finally starting to pay off.” He added.
2007 Big 8 Late Model Series Champion, Jeremy Miller made the most of his first career ASALMS start a the Rockford, Illinois driver finished Fourth over Appleton, Wisconsin veteran, Jim Duchow, who finished Fifth for the second year in a row in this event!
Tom Gille came home sixth while Rookie of the Year Runner-Up, Mike Heiss finished seventh. Derek Neville brought home an eighth place finish while 2006 ASALMS Northern Division Champion, 18-year-old Jesse Smith passed on his torch after finishing Ninth over newly crowned 2007 ASALMS Northern Division Champion, Trent Snyder who completed the Top 10.
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