By Jason D Searcy

August 19, 2017 – Elko, MN

Racers and fans payed tribute to two race car drivers who are gone but not forgotten with racing in the NASCAR Whelen all american series at Elko Speedway on Saturday night.

An impressive field of 26 cars raced in the 24th Dwain Behrens memorial in the Hiway Federal Credit Union Late Model division.  Behrens was a ELKO Hall of Fame driver who passed away in a snowmobiling accident in 1994.

Three events were combined to determine an overall winner of the traditional clock trophy.  Jacob Goede #72 from Carver (MN) was the overall winner, he was third in Qualifying, third in the first feature and he won the second feature event.  “It’s really cool to race in the memory of a great guy, great competitor and he was great off the race track so to win a race in his name means a lot” said Goede who has now won this memorial event three times.

Goede passed seven time ELKO Champion #41 Donny Reuvers with five laps to go in the thirty lap finale, he won by 1.131 seconds.  Reuvers held on for second, he beat #14 Grant Brown by .006 seconds for the runner up position.  Early leader #52 Chad Walen finished fourth and #40 Michael Beamish was fifth out of the 26 cars competing.

Michael Ostdiek #18 from Lakeville (MN) is the nephew of Dwain Behrens, he won the first feature event in the Late Model division.  Derek Lemke #71 led until a caution period on lap 18, Ostdiek took the lead on the restart and held off Lemke by the smallest of margins, winning by only .116 seconds.  Lemke was second and #72 Jacob Goede came up from his ninth starting position to finish third, #02 Joey Garofalo was fourth and #40 Michael Beamish finished fifth. 

Jacob Goede now has a 126 point lead over Grant Brown in the race for the Late Model track Championship at ELKO.

Jeremy Wolff #32 from Chaska (MN) was the overall winner of the 5th annual Scott Kingery memorial Genz-Ryan Thunder Car event at Elko Speedway.  Scott Kingery was a racer and car owner who passed away from cancer in 2013.  Wolff and #3 Conrad Jorgenson actually tied in overall points, but Wolff was declared the winner because he beat Jorgenson by one spot in the tie-breaker, the final feature event.

Wolff avoided a big wreck with eight laps to go in the second Thunder Car feature and then outran #3 Conrad Jorgenson off the restart and held on for the trophy and the overall win.  “I’ve been trying to win this race for so many years, I’ve never won a big race, something bad has always happened,” said Wolff  “to win this race and beat Conrad, one of the best guys out here, was really cool.”  Jorgenson’s car did sustain some damage in the late caution, after the race his steering wheel was a quarter turn off but he still finished second with Ted Reuvers #8 moving up from his 17th starting position to finish third, #99 Brent Kane came up from 19th to fourth and #19 Michael Hanson finished fifth out of the 21 cars racing.

The first feature event was won by #3 Conrad Jorgenson from Lakeville (MN), Jorgenson raced up from his seventh starting spot to win his 8th feature event of the year.  Keith Paulsrud #75 drove a great race, led many laps and just edged #32 Jeremy Wolff by .015 seconds at the finish line in the race for the runner-up position.  Mike Homan #28 finished fourth and #13 Colin Neisius finished fifth.  Three of the top competitors were involved in a wreck on lap eleven spoiling the night for #99 Brent Kane, #37 Bryce Blohm and #07 Dillon Sellner all finishing out of the TOP 10.

Jeremy Wolff was the fast qualifier on the night, saving that one extra point that helped him become the overall winner of the Scott Kingery memorial trophy.  Jorgenson now has a 22 point lead over Wolff in the race for the ELKO season Championship in the Thunder Car division.

Paul Hamilton #56 from Hastings (MN) got his first Pepsi Power Stock feature event win of 2017.  Joe Prusak #66 held the early lead and then a big wreck happened sending #08 Mike Stoer and #16 Maddie Larson up into the tire barrier in turn two, both cars sustained serious damage.  After the restart Prusak led until #27 Darin Patnode took over the top spot on lap 9, Hamilton and Patnode then battled side by side until Hamilton finally grabbed the lead with only 5 laps remaining.  Hamilton won with Patnode finishing second, defending Champion #62 Tom Doten finished third, #8 Taylor Goldman was fourth and #10 Dusty Mann was fifth. 

Nick Oxborough from Lakeville (MN) won his third Power Stock trophy of the year in the first feature event.  Oxborough dominated the event, he won by 5.864 seconds.  The race was for second place as a gaggle of cars fought over the second position, eventually #62 Tom Doten finished runner up followed by #10 Dusty Mann in third, #66 Joe Prusak in fourth and #8 Taylor Goldman in fifth out of the seventeen cars competing.

Dusty Mann is the point leader but he now only has an 11 point margin over Tom Doten in the race for the Power Stock track Championship at ELKO.

Fourteen year old Cole Klein #8 from Rogers (MN) scored his first career win in the Eternity Homes Great North Legends main event on Saturday night at Elko Speedway.  Austin Jahr #47, Cole Klein and Derek Lemke all led laps in the race but everything changed on lap 18 of 20.  Lemke and #75 Baiden Heskett had contact while battling for the lead, both cars spun causing a caution and sending both to the back of the field.  That set up a great finish with young Cole Klein just edging veteran driver #17 Jon Lemke for the win by only .102 seconds.  Austin Jahr finished third, #29 Tim Brockhouse fourth and #16 Matt Allen was fifth, Lemke and Heskett both finished out of the TOP 10.

Derek Lemke now has an 80 point lead over his father Jon Lemke in the race for the ELKO points Championship in the Legends division.

The Hornets raced two features and #55 Brandon Plekkenpol from Shakopee (MN) won the first one.  With cars racing side by side in front of him Plekkenpol made a bold move in the outside groove on the last lap to go from third to first and take home the trophy, it was his second win of the year.  Michael Wachs Jr #3 finished a hard fought second, #36 Alex Vincent third, #36b Brandon Olson fourth and #14 Justin Schelitzche crossed the line fifth.

Alex Vincent in the black #36 car was declared the winner in the second Hornets main event, he was in a great battle with #14 Justin Schelitzche early in the race and then he edged Brandon Plekkenpol by only .327 seconds at the finish line to take home his third win of 2017.  Ridge Oien was the winner on track but his car was disqualified post-race during technical inspection.  Vincent was the winner, Plekkenpol second, Michael Wachs Jr third, Brandon Olson fourth and Justin Schelitzche rounded a very hard fought TOP 5.

Schelitzche now has a 12 point lead over Michael Wachs Jr in the race for the Hornets points Championship at ELKO.

Collin Stocker #8 from Farmington (MN) won the Brock’s Flooring Bandolero main event at Elko Speedway.  He and #14 of Kody King tangled early in the race causing some slight damage and putting both cars at the back of the pack.  Stocker then rebounded, drove through the field and won for the fourth time in five races at ELKO.  Zachary Konop #01 was second and #56 Clayton Dorner finished third out of the 12 cars racing.   Stocker now has a 32 point lead over #88 Christopher Konop in the race for the points Championship.

All results and point standings are unofficial at this time, official results will be posted mid-week at ElkoSpeedway.com.

Coming up next at ELKO is an Eve of Destruction on Saturday August 26th, in addition to NASCAR racing fans can see a woman being shot out of a cannon, a steel wall bus crash, a car eating robot dinosaur, figure 8 bus racing, spectator drags, a movie at Elko Drive-in and much more.  Gates open at 5pm and action at 6pm get more information at ElkoSpeedway.com, follow Elko Speedway on social media, download the free Elko Racing app or by calling (952) 461-7223.

Elko Speedway is a NASCAR sanctioned 3/8th mile asphalt oval race track with stadium seating located 30 minutes South of Minneapolis or St Paul just off of I-35 and County road 2 in Elko (MN).