Big 8 Championship preview at Elko

September 16, 2016 - Elko, MN

The Hiway federal credit union Big 8 Championship will be decided on Saturday night at Elko Speedway.  The racing is sure to be intense with three different drivers in the spotlight not only locally but also on a National stage.

The point leader is Dylan Moore #54 from Northfield (MN) who is looking for his first ever Big 8 Championship but he is accustomed to being up front in 2016, he has topped the point standings for a majority of the year, Moore has scored four wins and has twelve Top 5 finishes in 22 starts. 

Moore has raced in the Big 8 division since 2008 and has been oh-so-close to winning a season Championship twice before, finishing second in both 2011 and 2013. 

Winning races is what Moore does best, he scored a division best "most wins" in both 2009 and 2011.  Dylan also can step up when the pressure is on, he won the Big 8 Late Model series invitational event during Thunderstruck93 in 2012.

Dylan Moore has an 11 point advantage coming into Saturday night.

Jon Lemke #17 from Shakopee (MN) is a respected long time racer with incredible credentials, he is currently second in points.

Lemke already has two Late Model Championships at Elko Speedway, in 1991 and in 2004, he also spent some time racing the regional touring series circuit.  Lemke won two races in the NASCAR Midwest Series at Pikes Peak (CO) in 2001 and at Gateway (MO) in 2002.

Lemke has come close to winning a Big 8 Championship in the past as well, he finished runner up to Chris Marek in 2014.

Jon Lemke has had a great season at Elko, just like Dylan Moore, he has Twelve TOP 5 finishes in 22 starts but only one win.  Which might be important if it all comes down to a tie-breaker.

On Saturday night at Elko Speedway the Big 8 cars will go five laps in group qualifying, with times being scored off their transponders.  The fastest car will score 15 points, second fastest 14 points and so on... all the way down to 15th getting 1 point.  So qualifying is very important in the point standings.

The Big 8 cars then will race two separate twenty lap features.  The winner of each race will get 51 points, 48pts for second, 46pts for third, 44pts for fourth, 42pts for fifth, 40pts for sixth, 38pts for seventh, 36pts for eighth, 34pts for ninth, 32pts for tenth.  Then the points go down by 1 per position.  Eleventh 31pts, Twelfth 30pts, Thirteenth 29pts, Fourteenth 28pts, Fifteenth 27pts, Sixteenth 26pts, Seventeenth 25pts then Eighteenth place and everyone else all gets 24pts.

So the point standings can change rapidly from lap to lap on Championship night.  Two incredibly deserving drivers will both be racing hard in search of their first Big 8 Championship at Elko Speedway.

Another person the entire NASCAR scene will be watching is #18 Michael Ostdiek a former Great North Legends Champion from Lakeville (MN).  Ostdiek missed a double feature race night early in the year but is still in contention for the Big 8 Championship at Elko, he sits only 37 points out of the lead coming into the final points night.

Maybe an even bigger story is that Ostdiek is tied for the lead in the National NASCAR Whelen All American Series Hometrack point standings for Division II. 

Ostdiek is a college student currently enrolled at Iowa State University, he has had an incredible 2016 season scoring 4 wins at Elko Speedway and knocking out fourteen TOP 5 finishes in only 20 races at Elko. 

Ostdiek is also part of the Kulwicki Driver Development program, he has traveled to many tracks in the Upper Midwest and done very well.  Scoring a Fast Time in the TUNDRA series at Golden Sands and winning a BIG 8 Late Model series event at State Park Speedway.  He is currently second place in the Big 8 Late Model series point standings.
Here is our Speed Talk on 1360 interview with Michael https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/speed-talk-9-17-16-michael-ostdiek-interview

A NASCAR National title is in reach for both Ostdiek and Moore, if that were to happen it would be the second straight year that an Elko Speedway driver would win a National title.  Grant Brown from Prior Lake (MN) won the NASCAR Division IV (Power Stock) Championship in 2015.

The NASCAR points are slightly different than Elko Speedway local point standings.  NASCAR only counts feature events (not qualifying).  In order to get maximum points, you need a minimum of 18 NASCAR licensed drivers to start the feature, a driver will score 2 points for every car he/she finishes ahead of plus a 3 point bonus for winning the race or a 5 point bonus if he/she started the feature in 10th place or further back.  NASCAR only takes a drivers top fourteen finishes to determine the point standings.  (Top 18 finishes for Division I).

Michael Ostdiek is tied for the point lead and Dylan Moore is currently tied for second only 6 points behind Ostdiek.  Jon Lemke is currently seventh and Joe Neisius #75 is now in ninth place in the NASCAR Hometrack point standings.  The reason Elko has four drivers in the TOP 10 in points is because of the consistent high car counts every race night of NASCAR licensed drivers enabling maximum points in every feature event.

Not only will a National NASCAR title be up for grabs in the Hiway federal credit union Big 8 division, but also in the MN Corn Growers Super Late Model division.

Ty Majeski #91 from Seymore (WI) will be racing at Elko Speedway in hopes of securing the NASCAR Whelen All American Series Division I title.  Majeski is currently in third place only seventeen points behind the leader who has almost twice as many NASCAR starts as Majeski.  With two really good finishes on Saturday night Majeski could score enough points to come home with a NASCAR National title as well.  Plus, Jacob Goede #72 and Joey Miller #15 are battling for the Elko Speedway points Championship in the Super Late Model division.  (see separate story)

Expect to see high car counts and some extra big name drivers at Elko Speedway on Saturday night (September 17th) as drivers will want to prepare for the upcoming Thunderstruck93 ARCA Midwest tour and BIG Late Model series events on September 24th.  Also racing in the Genz-Ryan Thunder car, Pepsi Power Stocks, Hornets, Great North Legends and the Bandoleros.

Gates open at 5pm, action begins at 6pm at the 3/8th mile asphalt oval at Elko Speedway located 30 minutes South of Downtown Minneapolis just off of I-35 and County Road 2 in Elko (MN).  Get more information by calling (952) 461-7223, follow Elko Speedway on social media or go to ElkoSpeedway.com

Eve of Destruction at Elko Speedway

By Jason D Searcy

August 29, 2015 - Elko, MN

Billy Mohn from Elko (MN) won his first MN Corn Growers Super Late Model feature since 2010 during Eve of Destruction at Elko Speedway.

Mohn started the 30 lap NASCAR Whelen All American series race in the second row and capitalized early when the front row of Jason Schneider and Michael Ostdiek had contact and dropped out.  Mohn then had an intense battle with Bryan Syer-Keske for the lead "after the wreck I started inside of Keske and we ran each other about as hard as you can run anybody" said Mohn, "I think we touched a couple times, but it's not often that you have races like this, we both really respect each other."  Mohn ended up winning by .458 seconds over Keske with Jacob Goede finishing a close third in the 19 car field.

Here is the audio interview with Billy Mohn https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/billy-mohn-super-late-model

The huge crowd was thrilled by the great racing in the second Super Late Model feature, Matt Goede from New Germany (MN) won for the third time this year but it did not come easy.  Nine time Elko Speedway Champion Donny Reuvers swapped the top spot with Goede numerous times during the race, Goede finally took over the lead for good with five laps to go.  Matt Goede won by only .173 seconds over Reuvers with Paul Paine finishing third.  

Defending point champion and current point leader Jacob Goede had to come from the back of the pack during a late race caution and could only work his way up to 14th position at the finish.  Jacob Goede still has an impressive lead in the points, he has an 82 point advantage over his brother Matt Goede in the race for the Championship.

Michael Ostdiek from Lakeville (MN) avoided a first lap wreck, took the lead and never looked back in the first Hiway Federal Credit Union BIG 8 division feature.  This was the second win of the season for Ostdiek, who just recently was enrolled at Iowa State University.  Jamie Farrell finished a close second and Dylan Moore was third in the 17 car field.  Point leader Chris Marek started 16th and worked his way up to 5th at the finish.

Chris Marek from Lakeville (MN) took advantage of a much better starting spot in feature number two, he lead all 20 laps and won his 11th race of the season by 1.392 seconds.  The battle in this feature was for the runner-up position, teenager Cole Anderson and veteran Doug Brown raced side-by-side for most of the race, Anderson edged Brown by .304 seconds at the finish line.

Marek now has a 70 point lead over Ryan Kamish in the race for the Championship.

Three time Champion Brent Kane from Lonsdale (MN) started and ended up front in the first 20 lap Genz-Ryan Thunder Car main event.  Kane had a good battle with Dillon Sellner early in the race and then held off another three time Champ Conrad Jorgenson by .175 seconds for the win, his 8th of the season.

Jeremy Wolff was a winner for the 3rd time this season in the second Thunder Car feature, "Eric Campbell was right there waiting for me to make a mistake," said Wolff "I made a few mistakes and he was right there."  20 cars raced in both the ultra competitive 20 lap main events, "very good car counts and very good cars, so its been a good year," said Wolff.  Point leader Brent Kane started dead last and worked his way up to 11th at the finish.

Here is the audio interview with Jeremy Wolff https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/jeremy-wolff-wins-thunder-cars

Brent Kane continued his slight point lead over Wolff in the standings, Kane is now 7 points ahead of Wolff in the race for the Championship,

Brandon Petersen from Fairbault (MN) won his second Pepsi Power Stock main event at Elko Speedway in a very dramatic fashion.  Mike Stoer lead every lap of the race except for the final one, Brandon Petersen just edged ahead coming out of corner number four and won a drag race to the finish line.  Petersen won by only .181 seconds over Stoer and 20 other drivers.  

Current point leader Grant Brown finished third in the feature and held on to his lead in the standings, he is now 23 points ahead of Tom Doten in the race for the Championship.

Alex Vincent from Owatonna (MN) won his third consecutive Hornets main event by 3.517 seconds but the race was behind him.  Michael Wachs Jr beat Ashley Bell and Justin Schelitzche to the finish line for the second position by .081 and .132 seconds in a great battle to the checkers.  This was the fourth win of the season for Vincent.  Schelitzche lost the battle in this race but he is still winning the war, he is leading the point standings by 21 over Bell and 50 over Wachs.

For full results and point standings go to www.ElkoSpeedway.com/results

Elko Speedway was honored to have a film crew from NASCAR Home Tracks in attendance shooting racing and crowd footage as well as interviewing drivers who are contending for a NASCAR division National point title.

The Eve of Destruction Spectator drags are always a crowd favorite, Paul Brisson from Bloomington (MN) driving a 1991 Honda CRX and Brian McMenomy from Rosemont (MN) driving a hopped up 1979 Cadillac won their divisions.

Megasaurus put on a great car crunching show as a finale and a Jet powered golf cart melted a car during intermission (this is not a misprint).  It had to be seen to be believed.

  

School bus races entertained the crowd and for the third year the steel wall school bus stunt went perfectly as a bus resting on its tail was crashed into by another bus resulting in the buses resting on top of each other.

Up next at Elko Speedway is racing in the NASCAR Whelen All American Series on Saturday September 5th, gates open at 5pm and action begins at 6pm.  Johnny Holm will entertain for free after the races in Champions Event Center.  Get more information by following us on social media, go to ElkoSpeedway.com or by calling (952) 461-7223.  Elko Speedway is located 20 minutes South of the Twin Cities just off of I-35 and County Road 2.