COLE ANDERSON VISITS VICTORY LANE MULTIPLE TIMES DURING OKTOBERFEST WEEKEND
WEST SALEM, WI (Oct. 10, 2016) – In one of the upper midwest’s largest year-end races, Cole Anderson once again proved his prowess this past weekend by visiting victory lane three times in the year-ending Oktoberfest event at Lacrosse Fairgrounds Speedway in Wisconsin. Among the wins were Thursday’s preliminary event, a segment of the Dick Trickle 99, and an ARCA Midwest Tour qualifying event on Saturday night.
Thursday was the first of four days of consecutive racing at the 5/8-mile Lacrosse Fairgrounds Speedway, and Anderson, along with his No. 97 Toyota and Anthony Campi Racing team, hit the track for a race billed as “The Futures” event and quickly served notice that they would be forces to be reckoned with over the course of the weekend. Anderson crossed the checkered flag nearly five seconds ahead of his closest challenger and set the tone for his race weekend.
On Friday, the uniquely formatted Dick Trickle 99 was the feature event, showcasing identical 33-lap races as part of the larger contest where points over the three races determined a champion. In the second feature, Cole battled NASCAR Camping World Truck Series star Johnny Sauter for the win. The duo raced side by side for nearly a half-dozen laps with Anderson firmly entrenched on the high side of the flat corners, working over the veteran Sauter for the race win. Ultimately, Anderson prevailed by a scant margin and claimed victory as part of the Dick Trickle 99.
Among Saturday night’s activities were qualifying events for Sunday’s ARCA Midwest Tour feature. Cole captured his qualifying heat for the upcoming 200-lap contest on Sunday. The qualifying race win gave him a mid-pack starting spot for the race the next day.
Prior to the green flag flying on Sunday’s headliner, Cole and the No. 97 Anthony Campi Racing team brought home two more wins on the weekend. Though the wins were not on track, they were awarded trophies for both the best appearing car and best appearing crew, a motivational boost prior to the biggest race of the weekend. Once the green flag flew, Cole quickly began working his way forward over the course of the 200 circuits. He had worked his way inside the top ten before a series of late cautions found him in the “wrong lane” on a handful of restarts and a late-race scuffle relegated him to the tail of the field. At the end of 200 laps, Anderson finished on the lead lap in 14th.
“We started 18th and had battled our way up to ninth, but a few cautions came out and we got stuck in the wrong lane,” Anderson said, describing the traffic during the immediate laps following the restarts. “I’d say we had a pretty good weekend, but the results of the 200-lap race weren’t what we wanted. We learned a lot and got a lot of seat time.”
“The weather can change the racetrack so much so we were trying to keep up with the weather,” he continued, noting that the previous weekend events were run at night and the Sunday event during the daytime. “With that difference, sometimes it’s hard to judge what the car is going to do, but it was a solid weekend. As a team, we did well, tried our hardest, grabbed a few wins and ran every lap of the weekend, so we can’t really look down on that.”
Tentatively, the next scheduled event for Cole Anderson and the No. 97 Toyota fielded by Anthony Campi Racing is at New Smyrna Speedway on Saturday, October 29. Recent damage from Hurricane Matthew, however, may cause those plans to be adjusted.
