The Champions banquet wrapped up
the 49th season of racing at Elko Speedway. It was interesting looking
at some of the 2014 season ending facts and numbers. We saw nine
different winners in the Super Late Model division, Jacob Goede won the
point title, the driver of the year and seven races, but Paul Paine had
an incredible year finishing second and was very consistent but had no
wins. 1976 Elko Point Champion Mark Lamoreaux won a race early in the
season and Kyle Hansen finished 9th in points and received the Rookie of
the Year award.
Jacob Goede (photo above) was very emotional in his victory
speech and had to pause to gather his emotions at one point. He said
"the decision to come back home to Elko was easy, I learned that racing
is not as much fun if you're not doing it with people that you love."
He mentioned to me many times during the year it was really nice to race
against his brother and with his young and expanding family nearby.
Ten
different drivers won races in the Big 8 division, proving that the
cars were evenly matched and nearly anyone could win on a given night.
Chris Marek won the point title and five races, three in a row at the
beginning of the season. Jon Lemke closed the gap in the points late in
the year finishing second, Michael Beamish was much improved and
finished the season third in points in addition to winning the
Oktoberfest race. Rookie Cole Anderson turned some heads with his two
wins and four "fast times" in qualifying, more than any other driver, he
also received the Rookie of the Year award.
The Great North Legends title
was won by Derek Lemke (photo above), he scored three wins during the season in the
Legends and one in the Super Late Models. Brady Fox-Rhode finished
second in points and won the "Most Improved Driver" award, he moved up
from 7th in points last year to 2nd in 2014. He also scored a win at
Elko Speedway, Hawkeye Downs and the Dells in addition to winning the
"race of Champions" in the Asphalt National Championships at the Bull
Ring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Eight different drivers scored a win
this year, Tim Brockhouse lead the way with 4 wins racing part-time and
Jared Duda won Rookie of the Year.
The Power Stock division
was arguably the most entertaining division all year long at Elko
Speedway. Nick Oxborough won the Championship in his rookie season at
the track, he scored three important wins, very crucial because they
were the determining factor when he tied with Grant Brown for the points
Championship. Brown finished runner-up in the Championship but he won
the UNOH Youth Achievement Award, what he accomplished at the age of 14
was astounding. Ten different drivers won races in the Power Stock
division and the 20+ car count every race night was very encouraging for
the future of that division.
The Nick Beaver race team won the Elko Speedway
Goodwill award for their efforts in helping Rylie (photo above), a young autistic girl
become their biggest fan. They made her part of the team and gave her
the trophy after a big win. Their compassion touched many people in the
audience and they got a standing ovation at the conclusion of the
program when Rylie and the Beaver team came up to accept the award.
Now
that 2014 is wrapped up time to recharge our batteries and look ahead
to next year, the 50th season of racing at Elko Speedway.