By: Kevin Ramsell
West Salem, WI – A third-generation driver, a four-time tour champion, and two-time winner this season walk into a racetrack with a 20-point separation to being the 2026 champion.
No, it’s not a start of a traditional joke; it’s a description of three drivers who are in a close battle to become the 2026 Appalachian Sucker Punch ASA Midwest Tour presented by Five Star Race Car Bodies champion.
The championship will be decided on Sunday, October 11th in the Oktoberfest 200 during the 57th Annual Oktoberfest Race Weekend at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway in West Salem, Wisconsin.
The third-generation driver is Penn Sauter, the son of 2016 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter and grandson of ASA/ARTGO legend Jim Sauter.
Sauter will come into the season’s finale with a nine-point lead over four-time defending series champion Casey Johnson and a 20-point lead over Paul Shafer Jr., who recently won the Bettenhausen Classic at Grundy County Speedway.
The DeForest, WI driver has two podium finishes, six top-fives, and seven top-10s in eight starts so far this season. His latest podium came at last Sunday’s Bettenhausen Classic, where he finished third.
Johnson, who also has yet to record a victory this season in the Midwest Tour, has three podiums, five top-fives, and six top-10 finishes. He recently finished second at last Sunday’s event at Grundy.
Shafer is the only two-time winner this season in the Midwest Tour with victories at Jefferson and last Sunday’s Bettenhausen Classic, where he became a three-time winner of that event. Along with his two wins, he had three podiums, three top fives, and six top ten finishes.
Last year, Penn Sauter finished fifth in his first Oktoberfest 200 last year, while Johnson looked for his fourth Midwest Tour title with a third-place finish.
Shafer is making his Oktoberfest 200 appearance since 2021 where he finished 17th. His best finish came in 2018 where he finished second.
Justin Mondeik is currently fourth in the standings, only 54 points back, and Levon Van Der Geest is in fifth, just 64 points back. Both are mathematically still in the hunt for the title but will have a big hill to climb to have a shot this weekend.
The battle for the championship will not be easy for the top five in the point standings, a who’s who in short track racing.
Five-time Midwest Tour champion Ty Majeski will fly back from his truck race in Charlotte to go for his sixth victory in the 200.
Two-time ASAMT Norway Speedway winner Dalton Zehr and Ty Fredrickson, who won the Howie Lettow Memorial, have both filed an entry.
Former Gandrud 250 champion Luke Fenhaus is hoping for his first big Oktoberfest victory.
Two-time series champion and 2023 Fest 200 winner Gabe Sommers will be looking for another big win at La Crosse.
Jacob Goede and Skylar Holzhausen, who are coming into this weekend also with seven points separating their championship battle for the La Crosse Late Model division crown, will strap into their super late models for the big event on Sunday.
Two-time Fest 200 winner and defending Dick Trickle 99 winner Andrew Morriseey has filed his entry.
Other drivers entered as of press time include: Riley Stenjem, Billy Mohn, Joseph Scholze, Nick Egan, Bryce Miller, Weston Marthaler, Mitch Haver, Wesley Slimp, Matthew Henderson, Jeff Storm, Braison Bennett, and Ridge Oien.
Tickets are on sale now at oktoberfestraceweekend.com.
If you live too far away from West Salem, WI, tracktv.com will broadcast all four days of racing.