Fourth of July EVE at Elko Speedway

July 4th, 2015 - Elko, MN

 #72 Jacob Goede from Carver (MN) continued his drive for another MN Corn Growers Super Late Model Championship at Elko Speedway during the Independence Day Eve of Destruction Double feature night.

 Goede won his 6th feature in 9 races in the NASCAR Whelen All American Series racing at Elko Speedway.  Derek Lemke lead most of the 30 lap main event but Goede made his move and passed for the lead with 2 laps remaining, Goede eventually won by .719 seconds over Mark Lamoreaux who got past Lemke on the final lap.

 #27 Paul Paine from Mound (MN) won the other 30 lap Super Late Model race.  Paine started up front in the 18 car field but raced Steve Anderson side by side for 7 laps before taking control of the race.  Paine held off Anderson by .752 seconds at the finish line for his first win of the season "I figured this would be my last year racing," said 49 yr old Paine "but maybe I won't quit yet!"



Here is an audio interview with Paul Paine https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/paul-paine-winner-at-elko

 Jacob Goede started 13th and made his way up to 5th at the finish.  Goede now has a 58 point lead over Nick Panitzke in the race for the Championship.

 Two travelers joined the strong field of Super Late Models, TUNDRA Rookie of the Year Reagan May from DePere (WI) finished 13th and 16th and TUNDRA Champion Dalton Zehr from Boise (ID) finished 9th and 8th in the two feature events.

 Brent Kane from Lonsdale (MN) had a roller coaster week, he crashed out of the feature last Saturday night in the Genz-Ryan Thunder Car divsion.  He ended up in the hospital and spent much of the week nursing a concussion.  With Kanes' car beyond repair the Scott King team loaned their car to him before the races, the three time Elko Speedway Champion then took that unfamiliar car with a new Duct Taped Number 99 to victory lane.  Kane beat Eric Campbell to the finish line by 1.003 seconds to claim the win with point leader Jeremy Wolff taking third.  It was the fourth win of the season for Brent Kane.

 Conrad Jorgenson won for the 2nd week in a row in the other 20 lap Thunder Car feature.  Tina Davis lead until lap 3, then Jorgenson took off and won by an impressive 3.954 seconds.  Dillion Sellner finished 2nd with Davis in 3rd in the 16 car field.

Jeremy Wolff still leads in the Point Standings, but by only 9 points over Brent Kane.

 Dusty Mann from Farmington (MN) won for the 2nd time in the Pepsi Power Stock division, he had a great side by side battle with Tim Hollen for much of the race, Mann eventually bested the 20 car field by 1.219 seconds at the finish line in Feature number 1.

 The Second Feature was won by Taylor Goldman from Minnetonka (MN), she raced defending Champion Nick Oxborough early in the race but then extended her lead to 1.399 seconds at the finish line.  "I'm thankful that I got a win early this year, and I hope I can get some more," said Goldman "I really have to give this one to my Dad, our starter went out in the first feature, we didn't know if we could fix it, luckily my Dad had a spare one, if he wouldn't have put that starter back in we wouldn't have raced the second feature."


Here is an audio interview with Taylor Goldman https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/taylor-goldman-winner-at-elko

 Tom Doten had some bad luck and lost some of his cushion in the Point Standings, Taylor Goldman is now only 9 points back and 15 yr old Grant Brown is 11 points behind Doten.

 16 year old Matt Allen from Chanhassen (MN) won his second Great North Legends feature event.  Allen lead flag to flag and won by .459 seconds in this 20 lap and 20 car main event.  Derek Lemke finished second and moved into the point lead, he is 10 points ahead of Allen in the Standings.  Previous leader Brady Fox-Rhode did not race and moved back to 7th in the Standings.

 Matt Allen is a Type 1 Diabetic but that has not slowed his racing career one bit, he scored his first career win 3 weeks ago at Elko Speedway and was promptly congratulated by his racing idol NASCAR Xfinity driver Ryan Reed on Twitter.  Reed is also a Diabetic, the two met last year at Iowa Speedway.

 Blake Dorweiler from Montgomery (MN) won the Hornets feature event.  Dorweiler and Ashley Bell raced door to door for much of the 15 lap event, Dorweiler eventually won by .69 seconds over Bell.

 Justin Schlitzche finished 5th in the 18 car field and still holds onto the points lead, he is 20 points ahead of Bell in the race for the Championship.

 Troy Tuma won his third Hornet Figure 8 feature event, he shot low on the last lap and just got past Brian Adams for the win. 

For Full Results go to www.ElkoSpeedway.com and click RESULTS

Mark Goddard in a 2006 Dodge Charger and Brian McMenomy in a 1979 Cadillac won the Spectator Drags.

 Larry and Shannon Quick from Aledo (IL) had a great competition that thrilled the capacity crowd in their two Monster Trucks.  Ghost Ryder driven by Larry won the Free Style Competition over Shannon in her truck named La Chica Loca.

The J.J. Romans Motocross stunt team took big air doing tricks 30 feet over the crowd.

 The RentMyPartyBus.com Figure 8 School Bus races were crazy as usual and were a great lead-in to the awesome Fireworks show to end the Eve of Destruction night at Elko Speedway.

 Next up at Elko Speedway located just 20 minutes South of the Twin Cities will be NASCAR racing in the Whelen All American Series on Saturday night July 11th, gates open at 5pm and action begins at 6pm.  A movie will follow the races at Elko Drive in Theater.  Get more information by going to ElkoSpeedway.com or call (952) 461-7223.

For interviews with Elko Speedway drivers each week, listen to Speed Talk on 1360 Saturdays 10-11am on www.KRWC1360.com

Elko Speedway ready to begin its 50th season

Saturday night May 9th will be opening night of the 50th race season at Elko Speedway. 

The pit area was filled with vehicles and optimistic drivers on Practice Day May 2nd with 94 different cars taking to the track in preparation for the 2015 Season Opener. 

2014 Super Late Model Champion Jacob Goede was practicing right along side of his brother Matt Goede.  Jacob will be defending his first ever Championship at Elko Speedway. Paul Paine did not have his car at the warm up event, "we just got the motor last night and we just did not want to push it," said Paine "it seems to work better if we just show up on opening night!"  Paine finished 2nd in points in 2014, he did not have a win but he did finish runner up 7 times during the season.  "We were going to travel around last year," said Paine "we did so well at the beginning of the season we decided to stay and actually I think it was more fun staying at Elko, Saturday night racing, you can't beat it" said Paine.  Nine different Super Late Model drivers won races last year with Jacob Goede winning 7 events and the Championship.  Steve Anderson, Matt Goede, Dan Fredrickson, Bryan Syer-Keske, Mark Lamoreaux, Joey Miller, Chad Walen and Derek Lemke all won feature events in 2014.

Chris "cruiser" Marek won the Big 8 Championship in 2014, he was back at practice day with his new white colors on the #3 car.  The field of Big 8 cars were very evenly matched, ten different Big 8 drivers won races at Elko Speedway last year.   Marek had 5 wins, four time Champion Doug Brown had 3 wins, Cole Anderson, Nick Beaver and Jon Lemke all had two wins, with Michael Beamish, LB Berthiaume, Ryan Kamish, Joe Neisius and Michael Ostdiek all scored a trophy in victory lane as well.  2015 looks to be just as competitive in the Big 8 division, look for some new young faces as both Dylan Warner and Jared Duda will be moving up from the Great North Legends division.

The Power Stock division was hotly contested all year long in 2014, two drivers actually tied for the Championship with Nick Oxborough edging Grant Brown on the tie breaker.  The Power Stock division was the fastest growing division last year with 20 or more cars racing every week.  Nick Oxborough scored 3 wins last year, Tom Doten and Taylor Goldman each had two wins, Paul Hamilton, Dustin Mann, Cole Neisius, Paul Neisus, Brandon Peterson, Shawn Prins and Ryan Varner all took home one victory in 2014.   Fans can look for an influx of even more new Power Stock cars in 2015.  "Even at the end of last year I knew cars were ramping up and getting faster," said Oxborough "I am anticipating a lot more cars this year, I hope to defend my title on the 50th year at Elko Speedway."  

Conrad Jorgenson became a three time Elko Speedway Thunder Car Champion in 2014, twenty years after his first title.  Conrad had three wins and seemed to score a top 5 every race night.  His main rival was Brent Kane who is also a three time Elko Speedway Thunder Car Champion, he scored 8 wins in 2014.  Jeremy Wolff finished 2nd in points with two wins, Ted Reuvers had 3 victories and Michael Gilomen scored two wins in 2014.  Jorgenson says he plans on racing a limited schedule in 2015 but don't be surprised if you see him back in victory lane.

The Great North Legends car counts just seem to continue to rise every year.  Derek Lemke won the title in his number 5 car in 2014, he will be back but with a new car number, he will be number 71 this year with his father Jon in the 17.  Tim Brockhouse will run a limited schedule again, he had 4 wins last year, Derek Lemke and Robby Carter both had 3 wins, Tyler Sjoman had two victories.  Brady Fox-Rhode was named "most improved driver of the year" at the Elko Speedway awards banquet last fall, he only scored one win but he moved up to second in points and had some great battles with Lemke on a nightly basis.  Michael Ostdiek, Shon Jacobson and Jon Lemke also scored wins in 2014.  2009 Champion Jaycen Brockhouse is planning on racing the full schedule and many new drivers appeared at the practice day.

The new Hornets division is sure to be the fastest growing division in 2015, twenty drivers showed up on practice day.  This division was called the Mini-Stocks in 2014, Brain Adams won 6 races and the Championship, he will be back to defend his title.  Ridge Oien, Justin Schelitzche and Michael Wachs Jr won two races each with TJ Christenson, Brandon Olson and Todd Tacheny all winning one race.  The drivers in this division will also be legal to race in the new Figure 8 Division racing 7 different times in 2015.  I will not be surprised if the fans are treated to as many as 30 Hornets drivers racing on a weekly basis at Elko Speedway, lets just say the flat turns 1 and 2 will be very interesting and the Figure 8 races will be something you don't want to miss.

The Bandolero's will also be back racing on most non Eve of Destruction nights, a great place for future Elko Speedway stars to get their start.

Judging by the number and quality of drivers in 2015, the future of Elko Speedway in its 50th season looks very bright.