Schneider rolls to dominant win at Elko

Elko, MN June 23, 2012—New Markets’ Jason Schneider saw a true “reversal of fortunes”  in a seven day time frame, as he went from the depths of despair following engine woes one week earlier to the top of the mountain as he used a new TESAR Engineering power plant to lead the final 36 laps, scoring a dominant NASCAR Super Late Model win Saturday June 23, 2012 at Elko Speedway.

Schneider began the 40 lap NASCAR Whelen All American Series headliner on the outside of row two and quickly followed Rick Burns around pole sitter Paul Paine, moving to second on lap three before the caution flew for a spinning Joe Garofalo. On the ensuing restart, Schneider drove deep into turn one and his momentum carried him around Burns for the lead, with Chad Walen and Matt Goede diving under Paine for third and fourth. With Schneider now setting the pace over the 22 car starting grid, Walen and Goede made successive passes of Burns on laps nine and ten to move into the top three, but the effort needed to make the passes only increased Schneiders advantage.

As the field neared the midpoint, Schneider led Walen by seven car lengths, before Goede charged to the runnerup position on lap 18, with Nick Barstad and Donny Reuvers joining the top five two laps later.  As the fans began to stir, it was Goede making a late, diligent charge but this was Schneiders night to shine as the Cedar View Electric Chevy crossed under the checkers 1.134 seconds in front of Goede, with Reuvers, a fast closing Adam Royle and Barstad earning top fives.

The Big 8’s featured a great early battle between Michael Beamish and Darren Wolke, with the tandem racing side by side for the first six laps before Wolke settled in at the point before  the caution flew on lap eight as Mike Pederson and Mitch Weiss locked horns entering turn three, forcing cars to scramble high and low to avoid. On the restart, Wolke again powered to the lead over Beamish, with Lawrence Berthiaume, Chris Marek and Doug Brown closing quickly. As Wolke continued to set the pace, Berthiaume reeled in Beamish and took second with five laps remaining, while Jake Ryan found room to roar from seventh to third one lap later. Ryan’s late charge would come up short however as Berthiaume continued his late race heroics bypassing Wolke for the lead on lap 22 and cruised to the win over Ryan, Wolke, Marek and Brown. With the late race charge, Berthiaume earned the MONSTER Performance of the week.

The Thunder Cars once again entertained with 20 determined starters chasing Ted Reuvers and Eric Campbell for the opening three laps, with defending divisional Champion Brent Kane sliding under Reuvers on lap four before the first of three cautions flew to slow the field. On the first restart, Kane and Conrad Jorgenson raced by Campbell to battle for the lead, with Dustin Mann and James Lindgren dropping Reuvers from the top five on lap eight.

With Kane able to regain the lead, Mann closed on Jorgenson taking second on lap 12 before the second caution flew as Greg Borchardt lost the handle on his ride after some contact. The action went back green with Kane again setting the pace over Mann and Jorgenson before the final caution flew on lap 19 as Bryan Turtle’s mount caught on fire. On the final restart, Kane held off Mann to earn the win, with Lindgren edging Jorgenson for third and Campbell holding on for a top five.

The Legends saw Michael Ostdiek and Benny Van Cleve swarm around pole sitter Alex Akey on the opening lap to move to first and second before racing contact sent Ostdiek spinning wildly in turn three on lap three to force an early caution. On the restart, with both leaders on pit road it was Todd Tracy charging to the point with Tyler Sjoman quickly on his bumper, with Pat Zandstra, Shon Jacobsen and a fast closing Tim Brockhouse in the top five by the midpoint of the 20 lapper. Once he reached second, Sjoman roared to the outside of Tracy to take the lead and from there he set sail to earn his fifth straight feature win, with Zandstra powering by Tracy for second and Brockhouse coming from 20^th to third.

Topping off the action were the Power Stocks and Shawn Evans paced the first three laps before Josiah King powered to the lead on lap four before John Lebens motor expired on lap five dropping fluids in turn three bringing out the caution. Following a brief cleanup, King led the field back to the green with Tom Doten, Darren Waltermann, Taylor Goldman and Bryan Wrolstad in tow. As the action remained “clean and green” over the final 17 markers, King was able to hold off repeated challenges to earn his second win of 2012, with Doten second, Waltermann third, Goldman fourth and Paul Hamilton fifth.

The action continues at Elko Speedway on Saturday June 30, 2012 with the popular EVE of DESTRUCTION RAW featuring four divisions of NASCAR Whelen All American Series racing plus GALAXY GIRL, the Death Defying Motorcyle Platform, Monster Trucks, Outhouse Race, Spectator Drags, School Buses and FREE FIREWORKS.