By Jason D Searcy

July 9, 2016 – Elko, MN

For many of us, nothing beats a beautiful Minnesota summer night at the racetrack and Elko Speedway was the perfect example of just that on Saturday night as Whelen Engineering presented the NASCAR Whelen All American Series racing. 

In the premiere MN Corn Growers Super Late Model division a familiar face made his way from the back of the pack to the front.  2003 Elko Champion #36 Danny Fredrickson from Lakeville (MN) did just that, starting dead last in the 16 car field and making his way to the lead with 4 laps to go in the 30 lap feature.

Chad Walen #52 from Prior Lake (MN) had a really good run, leading for a majority of the race and putting up a great fight with #27 Paul Paine and Fredrickson before finally surrendering the lead late in the race and finishing .383 behind the winner.  Jacob Goede #72 finished third followed by #15 Joey Miller and then Paine in fifth.  This was the first win of the season at Elko for Fredrickson, a three time Midwest Tour Champion.

The second Super Late Model feature of the night was won by the most veteran driver in the field, 1976 Elko Speedway Champion #26 Mark Lamoreaux of Bloomington (MN).

Lamoreaux started up front and had a huge lead before a late caution bunched up the field with four laps to go.  Lamoreaux was never taken off of his game, after the yellow Lamoreaux was just as fast, he won by .595 seconds over #50 Steve Anderson with Jacob Goede finishing third, Dan Fredrickson fourth and #8 Billy Mohn in fifth.  This was the first win of the season for Lamoreaux.

Jacob Goede continues to lead the standings, he now has a 61 point advantage over Joey Miller in his quest for a third straight Championship.

The Hiway Federal Credit Union Big 8 features were jam packed with excitement and car counts of over 20 in both events.

Michael Ostdiek #18 from Lakeville (MN) had a great night, winning one race and finishing second in the other one.  Ostdiek made his way to the front after starting 8th and holding off some big challenges from #10 Nick Beaver in the first feature.  “It was a fun race, I definitely was white-knuckling it the whole time,” said Ostdiek “this win was for Dennis with the Kulwicki Driver Development program, he passed away a couple weeks ago, and I was finally able to do a polish victory lap for Alan (Kulwicki) too.”

Ostdiek edged Beaver by only .168 seconds at the finish line with #14 Doug Brown finishing third, #40 Michael Beamish fourth and #54 Dylan Moore in fifth in the first feature.

The second 20 lap feature saw #75 Joe Neisius from Rosemount (MN) win, but it was anything but easy.  Dylan Moore #54 battled #4 Grant Brown for second before setting his sights on the leader, he finally caught Neisius with about 5 laps to go and put up a furious fight for the win right until the last corner.  Moore spun coming out of turn four and lost all of those hard fought lead lap positions, he finished 17th.  Neisius ending up winning by 1.738 seconds over Ostdiek with Grant Brown in third, Michael Beamish fourth and Nick Beaver finishing fifth.

With his win Joe Neisius made up a lot of ground in points on Dylan Moore.  The top four are all really close, Moore now his a slim 1 point lead over Neisius with Doug Brown only 5 points back and #17 Jon Lemke now 6 points behind in the Championship Standings.

Jeremy Wolff #32 from Chaska (MN) had a clean sweep, he won both 20 lap features in the Genz-Ryan Thunder Car division.  Wolff started third row outside in the first feature, he battled with #9 Adam Wiebusch for the lead before taking the top spot and holding on by .335 seconds for the win.  Wiebusch was second with #99 Brent Kane in third, #07 Dillon Sellner fourth and #25 Eric Campbell in fifth.

In the second feature Wolff started fourth row inside, it took him until lap 12 to take the top spot from Dillon Sellner who had earlier taken the lead from #48 Jeff Partington.  Wolff won by .556 seconds over Sellner with Brent Kane finishing third, Erick Campbell fourth and Michael Skaja filling in for Conrad Jorgenson in the 3 car finishing fifth.  It was the third feature win of the season for Wolff.

After the race, Brent Kane went into the crowd, on the microphone and proposed to his girlfriend Susie Powell.  The crowd cheered as she said “yes” and now the happy couple is engaged to be married.

With the two win night Jeremy Wolff moved up in the standings to a tie for the lead with Eric Campbell, Dillon Sellner is third in points just 7 behind the leaders and Brent Kane is still in striking distance, he is now 16 points out of the top spot.

Michael Stoer #08 from Prior Lake (MN) won the first of two Pepsi Power Stock main events, he got past early leader #56 Paul Hamilton for the top spot and then had to fight back numerous attempts by Hamilton to take the spot back.  Stoer ended up winning by only .378 seconds with Hamilton finishing second, #3 Ryan Varner third, #88 Nick Oxborough in fourth and #8 Taylor Goldman finishing fifth in the 17 car field.

Stoer was a two time Champion at Raceway Park and has had nothing but back luck since coming over to race at Elko Speedway last year, Stoer is admired by many of his peers for his positive attitude during adversity and his long awaited win was a popular one.

Tim Hollen #54 from Richfield (MN) led the early stages of the second Power Stock feature, he was overtaken on an aggressive inside move by #62 Tom Doten on lap five.  Doten led the majority of the race until #37 Bryce Blohm passed Doten coming into the final lap and won his fourth feature of the year, an amazing feat considering it is his rookie season of racing.  Blohm won by .443 seconds over Doten with Taylor Goldman finishing third, #7 Brandon Petersen in fourth and #6 Joey Prusak in fifth.

Even though Tom Doten has not won a feature event, his consistency has earned him the point lead, he has a 7 point advantage over Blohm and 27 points behind is Petersen in the race for the Championship.

Derek Lemke #71 from Shakopee (MN) won his fourth Great North Legends feature race of 2016.  Dirk Henry #3 from Sauk Centre (MN) a former 4 time Champion at I-94 Raceway held the early lead but was overtaken after a restart on lap 8 of the 20 lap main event.  Lemke then outran the competition and won by .67 seconds over #4 Brady Fox-Rhode with #22 Shon Jacobsen finishing third, #16 Matt Allen fourth and Henry holding on for fifth place in the 18 car field.

Lemke now leads in the point standings by 40 points over Jacobsen in his quest for a third straight title at Elko Speedway.

Brandon Olson #36 from Minneapolis (MN) won his second Hornets feature of the year on Saturday night, Olson took the lead from the start and never looked back, he won by 1.321 seconds over #55 Brandon Plekkenpol and Michael Weiss #89 finished third, #14 Justin Schelitzche was fourth and #5 Luke Geisler was fifth.

Schelitzche, the defending Champion from Lester Prairie (MN) continues to lead the standings, he now has a 12 point lead over #36 Alex Vincent and an 18 point lead over Olson.

Luke Allen #3 from Chanhassen (MN) won his third Bandolero feature in four attempts at Elko Speedway this year, he now has a commanding 42 point lead over #48 Lennon Watkins in the standings.

These results and point standings are unofficial, official results will be posted at ElkoSpeedway.com and on the ELKO racing app.

Coming up next week at Elko Speedway is racing in the NASCAR Whelen All American Series on Saturday night July 16th presented by Country Joe Homes.  Gates open at 5pm and action begins at 6pm.  Get more information by following Elko Speedway on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  Go 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 Country Road 2 in Elko (MN).