Elko Speedway Eve of Destruction

May 23, 2015 - Elko, MN

By Jason D Searcy

It was a night full of racing and wrecking at Elko Speedway for the first Eve of Destruction of 2015 presented by KQRS.

MN Corn Growers Super Late Model Defending Champion Jacob Goede from Carver (MN) won the first of two thirty lap feature events in the NASCAR Whelen All American Series.  Goede finished ahead of Joel Theisen by .962 seconds for the win.

Nick Panitzke from Sauk Centre (MN) won the second Super Late Model feature of the night.  Billy Mohn lead most of the race until a late caution.  2013 TUNDRA series Champion Panitzke then took the lead with five laps to go, and held on for the win by .933 seconds.  Nick Murgic finished 2nd and Mohn third in the twenty-one car field.

Goede now leads Panitzke by 9 points in the standings with nine time Champion Donny Reuvers in third, 19 points behind.

Joe Neisius from Rosemount (MN) won the first of two Hiway Federal Credit Union Big 8 Main events.  Neisius beat four time Champion Doug Brown by .404 seconds at the stripe. 

Defending Champion Chris Marek from Lakeville (MN) won the second Big 8 feature, he

passed Dylan Moore with a few laps to go and won by .359 seconds.

Marek leads Moore by 12 points in the standings with Neieius 15 points back.

Brent Kane from Lonsdale (MN) had a great night in the Genz-Ryan Thunder Car division.  He won the first race by edging Jeremy Wolff by .554 seconds.  His car then had motor problems and he was forced to change cars and start at the rear of the field for feature number two.  2014 Champion Conrad Jorgenson is not running for points this year so he loaned Kane his car and Kane drove all the way up through the field to finish second.

Devin Schmidt from Belle Plaine (MN) took the win in feature number two, he bested Kane by 2.470 seconds at the line. 

Brent Kane now leads Jeremy Wolff by 5 points in the standings with opening night winner Tina Davis in third, 17 points behind.

The Pepsi Power Stock main event went to fourteen year old Grant Brown from Prior Lake (MN) he beat Matt Ryan by 2.723 seconds to win his first ever Power Stock feature.  Brown tied for the point Championship last year but lost out on the tie-breaker of most wins.

"Its nice to have the security of a feature win," said Brown "I don't want to possibly lose because of that, it's a big relief off my shoulders."

Here is an interview with Jason and Grant Brown https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/grant-brown-win-at-elko

Opening night winner Cole Neisius finished third and holds onto the point lead by 2 over Tom Doten with 2012 Bandolero Champion Grant Brown only 4 points out of the lead.

Brady Fox-Rhode from Loretto (MN) won the Great North Legends main event.  Rhode started sixth in the twenty-two car field, he battled with Michael Ostdiek for many laps and eventually beat out 2009 Champion Jaycen Brockhouse by 1.320 seconds for the win, his third in a row at Elko Speedway.

"We raced each other pretty hard, I was able to get out in front and set the pace, it was a lot of fun," said Rhode. 

Fox-Rhode leads the season standings by 3 points over Shon Jacobsen and 9 points over Jon Lemke.

Here is an interview from Saturday night with Jason and Brady Fox-Rhode https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/brady-fox-rhode-at-elko

Ridge Oien from Bloomington (MN) won the 15 lap Hornets main event, he finished the race 1.791 seconds ahead of Brandon Olson for the win in the twenty car field.

Justin Schelitzche finished third and moves into the point lead by 5 over Ashley Bell with Michael Wachs Jr in third 19 points behind.

The new Hornet Figure 8 divison debuted at Elko Speedway and the drivers and crowd both responded in a positive way.  An impressive field of sixteen cars dared to race each other and cross in the X.

Two veteran Figure 8 divers won, Todd Tacheny from Mankato (MN) and Troy Tuma from Waseca (MN) were the two winners.  Tacheny has spent countless hours building cars for other people to race and pushing for the addition of Figure 8 racing to the Elko Speedway race program. 

Troy Tuma is no stranger to the figure 8 division, he won a figure 8 championship at Elko Speedway in 2005 when the cars and rules were much different.

Brian Adams finished second in both the Figure 8 races and he leads the point standings, with Tacheny in second and Tuma in third.  The racing was exciting and the collision in the X never did happen even though it seemed inevitable numerous times during the feature events, the crowd loved it.

Monster Truck driver Jim Bendzick in Thunder 4x4 from New Prague (MN) won both the Wheelie Contest and Freestyle Competition over Devin Jones from Miami (OK) driving the Barbarian truck.  Both drivers put on a great show for the crowd.

Jason Vanberg from Red Wing (MN) won the Spectator Drags portion of the show, he drove a 2015 Polaris Slingshot.  Brian McMenomy from Rosemount won the Outlaw Drags, he drove a modified 1979 Cadillac.

The Timberworks Lumber Jack show entertained the crowd, the Figure 8 Bus races were a big hit as per usual and Scott Turkewitz refered to as the Demolition Devil performed three incredible stunts to thrill the crowd at Elko Speedway.

 

Turkewitz jumped his street car into a stack of cars standing up vertically in a domino formation, then he jumped over another car while his stunt ramp was moving in various directions.  For the finale he jumped 80 feet over a tipped over bus and landed nose first into a pile of crushed cars, amazingly he emerged unhurt.  For video of these amazing stunts follow Elko Speedway on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and search Elko Speedway.

Here is a video of his crazy Bus Jump at Elko Speedway  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hE2njdhGeo

 

Next up is NASCAR Whelen All American Series racing at Elko Speedway, just 20 minutes South of the Twin Cities, Saturday night May 30th, gates open at 5pm and action begins at 6pm.  Get more information at ElkoSpeedway.com or by calling (952) 461-7223.