By Jason D Searcy

July 2, 2016 – Elko, MN

Perfect weather on the long Holiday weekend and a desire for action brought a sold-out capacity crowd to the Eve of Destruction presented by the MN Lottery on Saturday night at Elko Speedway.

A record 23 cars raced in the NASCAR Whelen All American Series Hiway Federal Credit Union Big 8 division. Four time Champion Doug Brown #14 from Prior Lake (MN) led the first half of the first 20 lap feature until a multi-car wreck reset the field. Dylan Moore #54 from Northfield (MN) took the top spot from the high side on the restart. Moore never looked back, he held off Doug Brown for the win. #7 Tony Brewer had his career best finish of 3rd in the Big 8’s, #17 Jon Lemke finished 4th and Kulwicki Development Driver #18 Michael Ostdiek moved up to 5th after starting 11th on the grid. This was the third win of the year for Moore.

The second Big 8 feature had #10 Nick Beaver from Rosemount (MN) lead the race from start to finish, but it wasn’t easy. Beaver held off challenges from first #75 Joe Neisius from Rosemount (MN) and later a hard charging #5 Todd Kamish from Farmington (MN) to secure the victory, the first win of the season for Beaver. Jon Lemke finished fourth and Michael Ostdiek finished 5th for the second consecutive time. Dylan Moore started 9th and finished 9th in the second feature of the night.

With the two 4th place finishes Jon Lemke has now tied Dylan Moore for the lead in points. Both Moore and Lemke have earned 387 points, Joe Neisius is 16 points behind in 3rd place.

Conrad Jorgenson #3 from Lakeville (MN) won the 25 lap Genz-Ryan Thunder Car main event. Jorgenson started 6th in the 19 car field, he made his way past #55 Don Whitebear and #18 Tina Davis, a father and daughter racing for position, and then the caution came out for the #14 car of Tony Holm. Jorgenson was able to pass the leader #48 Jeff Partington from Farmington (MN) on the restart and hold on for the win, this is his third trophy of 2016.

Eric Campbell #25 started 8th and finished 2nd followed by #32 Jeremy Wolff who started 10th and finished 3rd. Three time winner #8 Ted Reuvers finished 4th followed by #07 Dillon Sellner in 5th.

With the win, Jorgenson extended his lead to 15 points over Campbell and 20 points over Reuvers in the standings.

Matt Ryan #93 from New Market (MN) won the Pepsi Power Stock 20 lap main event. Joey Prusak #6 from Minnetonka (MN) held the early lead, but Ryan fought him side by side for over half the race. Ryan finally took to the high side and made the pass for the lead with two laps to go even though he had a tire slowly leaking from contact earlier in the race. Rookie driver Bryce Blohm #37 from Lakeville (MN) jumped in front of Prusak for 2nd place with #54 Paul Hamilton finishing 4th and #62 Tom Doten rounding out the Top 5 in the 17 car field.

Tom Doten from St Paul (MN) held onto the point lead, he now leads Bryce Blohm by 6 points and #7 Brandon Petersen by 25 points in the race for the Championship.

Matt Allen #16 from Chanhassen (MN) won his second Great North Legends main event of the year Saturday night at Elko. Allen has had some bad luck in 2016, first his ball joint broke in practice, he hit the wall and destroyed the car earlier in June and then last week he car lost power on the last lap costing him a win and some substantial body damage. Allen’s fortune turned for the better just as the calendar turned to July, he won even though some of the top drivers in all of the North were on his tail. “I saw Tim (Brockhouse) #13 in my mirror and I thought, this is going to be a long race,” said Allen “Tim always wants to win, he makes that clear, but I also want to win and I had to hold him off.”

Matt Allen won for just the third time in his career on the same night that his younger brother Luke made his first career start, #3 Luke Allen finished 18th. Tim Brockhouse started 8th on the grid and finished 2nd, #71 Derek Lemke finished 3rd, #4 Brady Fox-Rhode 4th and #7 Jackson Lewis finished 5th of the 21 cars in the race.

Derek Lemke extended his lead to 33 points over #22 Shon Jacobsen in the race for his third consecutive Championship.

Alex Vincent #36 from Owatonna (MN) won the Hornets main event. Vincent held off #41 Ashley Bell for the win, #14 Justin Schelitzche finished 3rd, #55 Brandon Plekkenpol 4th and #7 Ridge Oien 5th.

Brandon Olson had a tough night, he finished 9th in the 14 car feature and lost the point lead. Schelitzche now is the leader by 15 points over Vincent with Olson 18 points out of the top spot.

All of these results are unofficial, as they become official they will be posted on ElkoSpeedway.com and on the Elko Racing app.

Stuntman “the Wildman” Clay Gallagher and his son nicknamed “Captain Crash” thrilled the overflowing crowd with two car crashing stunts. One knocking a SUV off the top of another car and the other was a like a scene in a movie with Gallagher driving his car straight through an RV Camper not once, but twice and getting stuck halfway inside the Camper on the third try.

Monster Trucks “Girl Power” and “Ghost Ryder” driven by Larry and Shannon Quick from Aledo (IL) put on a great show of power and car crunching ability.

The Spectator Drags and School Bus Figure 8 races were entertaining as always and the night was capped off by a 15 minute salute to America Fireworks show.

Next up at Elko Speedway is racing on Saturday night July 9th sponsored by Whelen, gates open at 5pm and action begins at 6pm.

Get more information by following Elko Speedway on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, by downloading the all new and free Elko Racing app, by going to ElkoSpeedway.com or by calling (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).