By Jason D Searcy
July 30, 2016 – Elko, MN
A story book ending for Chris Marek was almost written on Saturday night at Elko Speedway. The story starts with a guy who has come up through the ranks, and is lauded for doing things the right way. After a decade long ascension to the top of the hill, he finally achieves a dramatic win in the premiere division in front of his new baby girl, who was in attendance, after being born just three days earlier thus capping the best week of his life.
Well, it almost happened that way for #3 Chris Marek, he led the entire race, even through two intense restarts, but was passed by a hard charging #15 Joey Miller from Lakeville (MN) on the last lap in the final race of the night in the MN Corn Growers Super Late Model division. This was the fourth win of the season for Miller and he made up some ground on current point leader #72 Jacob Goede who was caught up in a wreck and finished 14th.
Marek still had a smile on his face after finishing second by .106 seconds, it seems there is yet another chapter to write in that storybook. #28 Matt Goede finished third, #26 Mark Lamoreaux fourth and #50 Steve Anderson fifth.
Chad Walen #52 from Prior Lake (MN) won the first Super Late Model feature in the NASCAR Whelen All American Series on Saturday night. Walen is a two time Raceway Park Champion and longtime racer at Elko Speedway.
Walen led all thirty laps in this caution free race and won by 1.989 seconds over Matt Goede who had a great battle with #18 Michael Ostdiek who finished third, Joey Miller was fourth and Jacob Goede fifth in the 19 car field.
The great night for Joey Miller helped him reduce the lead Jacob Goede has in the race to the Championship to only 23 points.
It was a cool sight to see on the opening lap of the Hiway Federal Credit Union Big 8 feature number one. Father and son starting side by side as #4 Doug Brown and #14 Grant Brown, both from Prior Lake (MN), raced each other to begin the 20 lap race.
Wisdom won out this time around as the elder Brown, 3 time Elko Speedway Champion Doug, took the lead and won by .238 seconds over #54 Dylan Moore in this caution-less race. Michael Beamish #40 finished third, Grant Brown had some brake issued and dropped back to fourth with #42 Ryan Kamish finishing fifth in this large 20 car field. This was the second win of the season for Doug Brown.
Kulwicki Driver Development Program driver #18 Michael Ostdiek from Lakeville (MN) won the second Big 8 feature event. Michael Haggar #19 took an early lead and then raced Ostdiek side by side for a few laps before Ostdiek took the lead and never looked back. Todd Kamish #5 moved up from his third row starting position to finish second, Michael Haggar held on for a third place finish, Michael Beamish got fourth and Ryan Kamish finished fifth for the second straight race.
Michael Ostdiek is a former Great North Legends Champion at Elko Speedway and is on a hot streak, he won the previous night at State Park Speedway in the Big 8 Late Model series. This was the second win of the season for Ostdiek at Elko Speedway.
With his win, Doug Brown is now 17 points behind Dylan Moore in the standings, Jon Lemke is currently in third place, 27 points behind the leader in the Big 8 division.
Conrad Jorgenson from Lakeville (MN) had a clean sweep at Elko Speedway in the Genz-Ryan Thunder Car division. Jorgenson started middle pack in both 20 lap features, in the first one #18 Tina Davis led for numerous laps before #48 Jeff Partington took the top spot, Jorgenson gained the lead at the halfway mark and ended up winning by 3.928 seconds. #32 Jeremy Wolff came all the way from his fifth row starting position to finish second, #8 Ted Reuvers was third, Partington finished fourth and Davis held on for a fifth place finish.
The second feature saw #99 Brent Kane and #07 Dillon Sellner, both searching for their first win of the season, battle for the top spot. Sellner ended up spun out in the grass in turn four, he eventually finished 13th in the 15 car field. Jorgenson took the lead shortly thereafter and won by 2.27 seconds over Kane with #8 Ted Reuvers getting third, Tina Davis fourth and Jeremy Wolff fifth.
Wolff leads the standings now by 26 points over #25 Eric Campbell and 28 points ahead of Kane in the race for his first Elko Speedway Championship.
The Pepsi Power Stock division is packed with cars, 22 of them raced two different 20 lap features on Saturday night at Elko Speedway.
Ryan Varner #3 led the entire race until #7 Brandon Petersen from Faribault (MN) charged up from his fourth row starting position to challenge for the top spot with four laps remaining. Petersen took the lead two laps later and won by 1.009 seconds over Varner, “I hit my marks and tried not to touch him, I basically raced him clean and drove my line and the car was pretty good” said Petersen. Tom Doten #62 finished third, #56 Paul Hamilton was fourth and #6 Joey Prusak finished fifth. This was the fourth win of the season for Petersen.
The second feature had Rookie driver #37 Bryce Blohm from Lakeville (MN) run away from the field, while everyone else was battling for position Blohm jumped ahead and just kept cruising, he won by 2.752 seconds over #8 Taylor Goldman, Brandon Petersen came up from his sixth row starting position to finish third, Tom Doten fourth and #27 Darin Patnode rounded out the top five.
The second feature had no cautions, but a lot of contact, many close calls and near wrecks. Blohm watched through his rear view mirror as the rest of the field scratched and clawed each other for every position behind him. This was the fifth win of the season for Blohm who now leads Petersen by 6 points in the race for the Championship, Doten is third in points, he is only 10 behind Blohm in the lead. A great three-way battle for the Championship is shaping up in the Power Stock division.
Matt Allen #16 won his third Great North Legends feature event at Elko Speedway. Allen started at the back of the pack, avoided the wrecks and with the help of a couple cautions, he picked and poked his way to the front of the field for the win. Cole Klien #8 crossed the finish line 1.288 seconds behind Allen for second place, #21 Hans Roschli survived to finish third, Devyn Stocker #14 fourth and #3 Dirk Henry was fighting for the win on the last lap but was spun in the final corner and ended up finishing fifth.
Two-time defending Champion Derek Lemke was involved in a bad wreck involving four cars in the heat race, he did not finish. Lemke then finished dead last, completing only one lap in the 20 lap feature event. Even with the rough night, Lemke still leads in the standings, he now has a 45 point lead over Allen in the race for the Championship.
Brandon Olson #36 from Minneapolis (MN) won his fourth Hornets main event of 2016 at Elko Speedway. Olson had to battle #22 Craig Allers side by side for over half the race before finally taking the lead, he then outran #14 Justin Schelitzche for the top spot, winning by .529 seconds. Allers finished third, Michael Wachs #3 was fourth and #55 Brandon Plekkenpol finished fifth.
Justin Schelitzche now leads the standings by 19 points over Olson with #41 Ashley Bell in third 48 points out of the lead.
Thirteen year old Lennon Watkins from Faribault (MN) won his second consecutive Bandolero main event on Saturday night at Elko Speedway. Watkins took the lead when leader #3 Luke Allen had a flat tire and spun. Watkins then fought through some slower lapped traffic and held off #01 Zachary Konop for the win, #99 Max Mabee was third, #88 Christopher Konop fourth and Allen rebounded four fifth.
Luke Allen now has a 18 point lead over Watkins in the season point standings.
All results and point standings are unofficial until mid-week. They will be updated at ElkoSpeedway.com
Coming up next at Elko Speedway will be an Eve of Destruction presented by the MN Lottery on Saturday August 6th. In addition to racing, the Green Mamba Jet Car will melt a junk car to the ground, the Wildman Clay Gallagher will perform stunts, School Bus Figure 8 racing, Spectator Drags, Flippin out Trampoline show, Freestyle stunts and much more. Hitchville will be playing a free concert for fans in Champions Event Center and a movie will be played post-race at Elko Drive-in theater. Super Late Models are off. Gates open at 5pm, action begins at 6pm, get more information by following Elko Speedway on Social Media, by downloading the free Elko Racing App, going to ElkoSpeedway.com or by calling (952) 461-7223.
Elko Speedway is located 30 minutes South of Downtown Minneapolis (MN) just off of I-35 and County Road 2 in Elko (MN).