Reuvers, Royle split Twin 30’s at Elko Speedway

On a night billed as “Racing and Rock”, Elko Speedway fans were treated to two wildly exciting NASCAR Super Late Model features that saw Donny Reuvers and Adam Royle each roll to a victory, but in completely different fashions to highlight the NASCAR Whelen All American Series action Saturday July 21, 2012.

In the opening 30 lapper, the front row tandem of Nick Barstad and Jason Schneider led the 21 starters to the green and thrilled the crowd with great side by side action through the opening six laps battling for the lead, with Joel Theisen, Matt Goede and Adam Royle in the top five. As Schneider edged out to a slight advantage over Barstad, Donny Reuvers rolled by Bryan Roach and then Royle to join the top five at the midpoint. As Schneider continued to pace the action, Barstad kept his determined run alive on the inside line before Theisen went high in turn one on lap 17 allowing Goede to dive underneath for third.

The action remained caution free and as the laps clicked away, the top five broke free from the field to set up what would be a wild finish. Over the final five laps, Schneider and Barstad were side by side as Reuvers looked inside of Goede with Royle trying to remain patient and as the white flew, they all raced hard yet clean through turn three before slight contact from Barstad sent Schneider high in turn four opening the door for Reuvers to charge through to edge Schneider by inches for the win, with Royle third, Barstad fourth and Goede fifth.

The second 30 lapper for the NASCAR Super Late Models saw Theisen pull away from Chad Walen, Royle, Goede and Reuvers to take the early lead, but a determined Royle would mount an early charge working by Walen for second on lap five with Reuvers following suit powering by Goede and then Walen for third on lap six. Once in second, Royle quickly dispatched with Theisen to take the lead on lap seven with Reuvers matching the move one lap later and then moving to Royle’s outside looking to take the lead to no avail. As the field reached the midpoint, Royle led Reuvers by four car lengths with Theisen, Goede and Joe Garafolo in the top five before the caution flew on lap 20 as Greg Gernetz spun in turn one. On the restart, Royle dictated the tempo to take the lead and power on to his third Feature win of 2012, with Reuvers, Goede, Theisen and Bryan Roach earning top fives, with Garafolow earning a season best sixth.

The Big 8’s saw Jon Lemke bolt to the early lead with Chris Marek charging around pole sitter Travis Stanley for second on lap four, with Doug Brown and Jake Ryan joining the top five. As Lemke continued to set the pace, Brown tracked down Stanley for third on lap eight of 25 with Ryan also working the outside line by Stanley for fourth at lap 13. With the action remaining “clean and green”, Marek made a steady charge to close on Lemke, trying the leader on the outside on lap 20 without success. The lead tandem pressed each other hard over the final five markers with Marek getting a big run off of turn two on lap 24 to take the lead enroute to the checkers, with Lemke, Stanley, Brown and Ryan earning top fives.

The Thunder Cars chased pole sitter Conrad Jorgenson from the drop of the green, with Scott King, Ted Reuvers, Dick Partington and Brent Kane his closest pursuers before contact sent Dillon Sellner spinning wildly on the main straight, but amazingly the action stayed green with Kane going down pit road with a cut tire. As Jorgenson continued to increase his lead over King, Reuvers was the next victim of tough luck as cooling issues sent him to the infield with Steve Anderson charging around Partington to move from sixth to third in two laps. Once in third, Anderson quickly caught and passed King for second but his charge would come up a bit empty as Jorgenson led wire to wire to earn the dominant win, with Anderson second, King third and Dustin Mann and Michael Gilomen making late charges to earn top fives.

The Great North Legends saw Brandon Elmer lead the field to the green with Shon Jacobsen ducking under Trevor Bradley for second, putting immediate pressure on Elmer as Kyle Hansen and Michael Ostdiek closing quickly. As Elmer fended off Jacobsen’s challenge, Ostdiek rolled by Hansen for third on lap seven before working around Jacobsen for second on lap 10. As Ostdiek started to close on Elmer, the caution flew on lap 12 as Greg Erhardt spun in turn one. On the restart, Ostdiek charged to the lead only to have Hansen roar off of turn two on lap 14 to take the lead and despite a determined effort from Ostdiek, Hansen earned the win. In related action, kudos to Derek Lemke who did a 360 on the back straight on lap six, falling to the back of the 18 car field before regrouping to charge back to finish third, earning the MONSTER Energy Performance of the Week.

The Power Stocks saw Josiah King and David “the Legend” Goldman battle for the early lead, with Taylor Goldman, John Lebens, Paul Hamilton, Tom Doten and Rob Schnickels in the lead pack.  As King settled in to the lead, Lebens roared around the “Goldman family” to move to second, before reeling in King on lap nine of 20. Once at the point, Lebens cruise to the checkers, with Doten bypassing King for second, with Taylor Goldman and Schnickels rounding out the top five.

Topping off the racing action were the Mini Stocks and Montgomery’s Blake Dorweiler bolted out to the early lead and despite late charges by Jack Purcell and Justin Schelitzche rolled to the win, with John VanDen Heuvel and Aaron Hopkins earning top fives.

The NASCAR Whelen All American Series action resumes Saturday July 28, 2012 with a Luau Party beginning at 5pm with roast pork from Divine Swine, games for the kids and the BEST in NASCAR Short Track Racing. Spectator Gates open at 5pm, with qualifying at 6pm and green flag action at 7pm.