RYAN, JR. SWEEPS INTO VICTORY LANE AT ELKO SPEEDWAY

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RYAN, JR. SWEEPS INTO VICTORY LANE AT ELKO SPEEDWAY (Elko, MN - May 16, 2009) Dan (Dan Pat) Ryan, Jr. was focused from the get-go Saturday night at Elko Speedway. The young Farmington upstart blistered the Big 8 Sportsmen qualifying field setting fast time with a lap of 14.601. He then set his sights on heat and feature racing, winning both in impressive fashion in front of the Eve of Destruction crowd. Ryan started the heat race on the post and his charge to victory lane was only interrupted once when a lap two crash ended the night for Roger's Lawrence Berthiaume when the rear end of his mount came around half way down the front straight.

Berthiaume wound up smacking the rear of his car into the turn one wall retiring the car for the night. Ryan, Jr. was able to pull away from Northfield's Steve Anderson to claim the heat win. Elko's Tom Kamish was able to claim the win in the second heat setting up the feature field. Ryan, Jr. started sixth on the feature field and showed the patience of a veteran in the rookie's run to the front. The early laps saw a three way battle for the lead as Elko New Market's Steve Schultz swapped the lead with Paul Neisius of Hastings. Schultz grabbed the point only to have Prior Lake's Doug Brown pull into a battle for the lead with Ryan, Jr. on their tails. Ryan was able to get around both mounts and pull out to a four car length lead only to see the caution flag fly with four laps to go as Kamish and New Prague's Nick Crawford tangled in turn two. Ryan, Jr. never looked back on the restart on his way to victory lane.

He was followed across the stripe by Brown, Schultz, Neisius and Prior Lake's Nick Barstad. On his victory lap, Ryan, Jr., who lost his father to ALS over the winter, paused his racecar on the track in the middle of turn one where his dad had always watched his progress over the last few years.

The Figure 8 cars once again thrilled the crowd with Farmington's Ricky Martin holding off John Lebens of Shakopee for the checkered flag in the first feature. The second feature saw Bloomington's Dan McCarthy best Scott Westphal of Apple Valley and Hasting's Dave Nogle for the win. Only the finishing positions changed for the top three teams in the Two-man Cruiser division. The Koester Farms entry, out of Dennison held off All Night Motorsports Racing of Elko and Ellsworth, WI Hummer Racing in the first feature. The second time out saw Hummer Racing crossing the line first, followed by Koester Farms Racing with All Night Motorsports Racing in third.

University of Minnesota engineering student Dan Johnson of Lakeville vowed to better last year's record jump of 110 feet, 4 ¼ inches in the Dukes of Hazzard Jump only to come up short. Johnson was able to win the event but came up short of the record in his "slightly used up Ford Exploder" with a jump of 103 feet, 9 ¾ inches.

The Eve of Destruction night crowd was also entertained with appearances of Monster Trucks "Defender" and "Eliminator" along with the high flying antics of the Guiltee by Association Stunt Motorcycle show.

The ASA Super Late Model Midwest Tour will headline racing this Saturday at Elko Speedway. Drivers from throughout the Midwest will compete in a 125 lap feature event. Also scheduled to race will be the Thunder Cars, Power Stocks, Great North Legends and the Super Hornets. Gates will open at 3:30 with ASA qualifying starting at 4. Heat races for the local divisions will get underway at 6 with fe4atures for all the divisions starting at 7.

For more information, contact Elko Speedway at 952-461-7223 (RACE) or visit on-line at www.elkospeedway .com. Results: NASCAR Big 8 Sportsmen Fast Qualifier - Dan Ryan, Jr., Farmington, 14.601 (92.459mph) Heat One (15 laps) 1) Dan Ryan, Jr., Farmington 2) Steve Anderson, Northfield 3) Paul Neisius, Hastings 4) Nick Barstad, Prior Lake 5) Lawrence Berthiaume, Rogers Heat Two (15 laps) 1) Tom Kamish, Elko, 2) Doug Brown, Prior Lake 3) Steve Schultz, Elko New Market 4) Nick Crawford, New Prague 5) Kevin Lutz, Lakeville Feature (30 laps) 1) Dan Ryan, Jr, 2) Doug Brown 3) Steve Schultz 4) Paul Neisius 5) Nick Barstad