By Jason Dale Searcy
The much talked about and highly anticipated first race of the revamped NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Premier division at Elko Speedway was rained out on Opening night but it finally occurred Saturday night (6/10) during an Eve of Destruction presented by Minnesota Lottery.
The newly created Highway Federal Credit Union Late Model division raced two complete thirty lap features and only saw one caution flag and close side by side racing throughout. Twenty-four cars started both of the races a few drivers dropped out with mechanical problems, but in those sixty laps of green flag racing only one car was lapped on the track, showing the quality of drivers and machines in this division.
Ryan Kamish #42 started on the front row and led the first half of the first feature event, then with fourteen laps remaining #75 Joe Neisius from Rosemount (MN) took the lead. Two of the 2016 Champions battled near the front, #72 Jacob Goede and #54 Dylan Moore were putting on a show for the fans. As laps were counting down Goede moved up to the second position and finished there with Kamish dropping to third and Moore finishing in fourth, #40 Michael Beamish had the fastest time in qualifying and started 9th on the grid after the inversion, he moved his way up to fifth at the checkers.
“The car was pretty good tonight, we were working real hard on it all winter, from last year nothing real major changed for us except for all the new competitors,” said Neisius “I enjoy the competition, the better the guys you race against the better you become.”
The second 30 lap main for the Hiway Federal Credit Union Late Models had three-time Big 8 Champion #3 Chris Marek leading the majority of the race. Behind him two veteran drivers were side by side for over a dozen laps #26 Mark Lamoreaux and #41 Donny Reuvers. Nine-time ELKO Champion Reuvers from Dundas (MN) finally moved up to second place at the half-way mark and then overtook Marek for the lead with seven laps to go.
Reuvers won the race with Marek in second and Lamoreaux third, first feature winner Joe Neisius finished fourth and former Power Stock Champion #14 Grant Brown rounded out the Top 5.
The Genz-Ryan Thunder Car division had lots of excitement as #75 Keith Paulsrud and #19 Michael Hanson raced side by side at the front of the field. Paulsrud finally took the lead just before a caution came out on lap eight. During the caution three-time Champion #3 Conrad Jorgenson from Lakeville (MN) took advantage of the lane choice, he chose the high side and moved up four positions. On the restart Hanson took the lead but was quickly gobbled up by Jorgenson at the half-way mark of the 20 lap feature, he then held on for his second win of 2017. Brent Kane #99 finished second, #8 Ted Reuvers third followed by #37 Bryce Blohm and #15 Michael Gilomen.
The second Thunder Car feature had #28 Michael Homan holding down the early lead, then defending Champion #32 Jeremy Wolff from Chaska (MN) took over the top spot and never gave it up. Wolff extended his lead to over 10 car lengths at one point, #07 Dillon Sellner moved his way up to second place with Homan dropping to third, #8 Ted Reuvers finished fourth and #3 Conrad Jorgenson came up from his sixth row starting position to finish fifth in the fifteen car field.
In the Pepsi Power Stock main event it was #08 Michael Stoer taking the early lead, he held the top spot until the defending Champion #62 Tom Doten made a daring move on the high side passing numerous cars and taking the lead on lap four. Doten then had to fight back the #10 car of Dusty Mann from Farmington (MN), Mann finally got past Doten on lap 8 and held on for the win. Tom Doten finished second, former Champ #88 Nick Oxborough was third, opening night winner #54 Tim Hollen was fourth and #8 Taylor Goldman finished fifth in the fourteen car field.
Sixteen cars raced in the Hornets fifteen lap main event. #2 Aaron Reimers took the early lead until the black #36 of Alex Vincent from Waterville (MN) grabbed the top spot. There was lots of contact mid pack and Vincent was able to out-run all of the trouble. Defending Champion #14 Justin Schelitzche finished second, the blue #36 of Brandon Olson finished third with #7 Ridge Oien fourth and #41 Ashley Bell in fifth.
The high winds early in the night made it very challenging for two of our stunt teams to perform but Flippenout Extreme Trampoline and Big Air ATV and Motorcycle stunts both did a great job conquering the elements and putting on a great show for the big Eve of Destruction crowd. The Grand Finale was North Dakota volunteer fire fighter Travis Dockter driving the Raging Inferno Jet Powered Fire Truck, he melted a car with his US Navy J-34 Banshee fighter plane Jet Engine.
Full results photos and point standings will be posted by mid week at ElkoSpeedway.com and on our free Elko Racing app.
Up next at ELKO will be a NASCAR night sponsored by K&N engineering with racing in the Late Model, Thunder Car, Power Stock, Legends, Hornets and Bando divisions on Saturday June 17th. Spectator Gates open at 5pm with action beginning at 6pm. A movie will be shown at ELKO Drive in theatre 20 minutes after the races end. For more information download our free app, search Elko Racing, follow Elko Speedway on Social Media, go to ElkoSpeedway.com or call (952) 461-7223.
Elko Speedway is located 30 minutes South of Downtown Minneapolis just off of I-35 and County Road 2 in Elko (MN).