By Jason D Searcy

August 26, 2017 – Elko, MN

The skies were dark and moisture did fall but some light rain did not stop the NASCAR Whelen all american series races at Elko Speedway Saturday night for Eve of Destruction.

Michael Ostdiek #18 from Lakeville (MN) won the first of two very competitive 30 lap Hiway Federal Credit Union Late Model feature events.  Twenty-four of the top Late Models in the country started the race.  Chad Walen #52 fought side by side with #75 Joe Neisius for the lead during the first half of the event. Meanwhile Ostdiek was moving his way up from his sixth starting position to challenge for the lead when a caution came out with about ten laps to go.  Ostdiek beat Neisius off the restart and then cruised home for his third win at ELKO this year.  Neisius finished 2nd, Chris Marek #3 was third, #72 Jacob Goede moved up from 9th to finish fourth and #6 Owin Giles rounded out the TOP 5 finishers.  Ostdiek is a former Great North Legends Champion at Elko Speedway and currently is participating in the Kulwicki Driver Development Program where the top prize is an $54,439 award. 

Once again Chad Walen #52 led laps in the second Late Model feature event, he and Justin Neisius #51 swapped the lead numerous times.  The last ten laps were exciting to watch as fifteen year old Owin Giles from New Market (MN) slipped past both Walen and Neisius to take the lead, he then had to hold off the current point leader #72 Jacob Goede who was pressuring Giles both high and low in the closing laps.  Giles made no mistakes and beat Goede to the finish line by .198 seconds, this was his second win of the year.  “ELKO is such a fun track to race at because there is just enough banking to get off the corner just right,” said Giles “it was an awesome night.”  Goede finished second, Walen was third, Nick Panitzke #22 started at the back of the pack and worked his way up to finish fourth and #3 Chris Marek was fifth.

With the two strong finishes Jacob Goede extended his lead in the race for the Elko Speedway Late Model Championship to 178 points over Grant Brown #14.

Dusty Mann #10 from Farmington (MN) was just one lap from disaster but instead he won his seventh Pepsi Power Stock main event of the year at Elko Speedway on Saturday night.  Immediately after crossing the finish line in the twenty lap feature the transmission let loose and he didn’t even get to celebrate with the traditional victory lap.  Second place finisher was defending Champion #62 Tom Doten who finished .455 seconds behind, Darin Patnode #27 has been strong as of late, he finished third, Nick Oxborough #88 was fourth and #56 Paul Hamilton finished fifth out of the fifteen cars competing in the Power Stocks.

The race for the Power Stock Championship is still very close, Dusty Mann leads Tom Doten by only seven points.

The Eternity Homes Great North Legends main event saw #71 Derek Lemke from Shakopee (MN) win his sixth feature of the year.  Lemke took the lead from #7 Jackson Lewis on lap five and then hold back the many challenges from #75 Baiden Heskett who finshed second by .443 seconds.  Cole Klein #8 finished third, #3 Dirk Henry was fourth and #47 Austin Jahr rounded out the TOP 5 finishers.  

Derek Lemke now has a 96 point lead over his dad #17 Jon Lemke in the race for the ELKO points Championship.

The Hornets feature event had as much drama in a 15 lap race as we have ever seen at Elko Speedway.  Michael Weiss #89 took the early lead and three drivers raced really hard for second position, the #55 of Brandon Plekkenpol, #36b of Brandon Olson and the #7 of Ridge Oien were all mixing it up for the runner up spot.  A caution came out with six laps remaining, on the restart Brandon Olson from Minneapolis (MN) took the lead but was forced up high and Weiss regained the point, then Ridge Oien jumped out in front and Plekkenpol was in great position to be the next leader.  The yellow flag flew again with two laps remaining and after a spin Plekkenpol, Oien and Weiss were all moved to the back of the pack.  That suddenly put the man who started the race dead last, #36v Alex Vincent, up front.  Vincent had the lead on the last lap but coming out of the final corner he got caught up with a slow car driven by #7 Oien at the back of the pack.  Vincent got collected by Oien and finished the race in fifth instead of getting the win.  Brandon Olson took home the trophy, it was his third win of the season.  Justin Schelitzche #14 finished second, #3 Michael Wachs Jr was thrid, #5 Luke Geisler fourth and Alex Vincent was a disappointing fifth out of the fifteen cars competing.

Michael Wachs Jr took over the point lead, he now leads Justin Schelitzche by four points in the Hornets division.

All results and points are unofficial at this point, the official release will be post mid-week on ElkoSpeedway.com

The die-hard fans in attendance at ELKO were treated to some great excitement during Eve of Destruction including seeing Cannon Lady get shot over 110 feet into a net, Radical Rob was blown up in a box with some dynamite, the steel wall bus crash was successfully executed by Jumping Jerry, a car was torn in half by Megasaurus and we all were treated to an exhibition by the worlds fastest Smart Car, it was powered by a jet engine.

Coming up next at Elko Speedway is racing in all six divisions on Saturday September 2nd, 2017.  Admission is reduced to only $5.  Get more information at by going to ElkoSpeedway.com, following Elko Speedway on social media, downloading the free ELKO Racing app or by calling (952) 461-7223.

Elko Speedway is a NASCAR sanctioned 3/8 mile banked asphalt oval racetrack with stadium seating located 30 minutes South of Minneapolis just off of I-35 and county road 2 in Elko (MN).