By Jason D Searcy
September 26, 2015 - Elko, MN
With
one of the most improbable moves ever seen at Elko Speedway Ty Majeski
from Seymore (WI) passed both Dan Fredrickson and Jacob Goede in the
last three laps to win the 7th annual Thunderstruck93 ARCA Midwest tour
race presented by NAPA Auto Parts.
Dan Fredrickson won fast
time in qualifying with a lap of 13.595 seconds, Fredrickson is a four
time winner of this event, and a two time Midwest tour Champion. Jacob
Goede is the 2009 winner of this event and he dominated racing at Elko
Speedway this summer, scoring 10 wins in route to his second MN Corn
Growers Super Late Model title.
Front row starters Steve
Apel and Matt Goede battled for the top spot early, but then a spin by
Paul Paine brought out the caution at lap 20 of this 125 lap race.
Majeski was involved in the accident and put to the back of the 26 car
field. "I dug myself in a hole early, I had some contact with the 27
car (Paine), just one of those racing deals," said Majeski "I tried to
methodically make my way up through the field and I tried not to use too
much tire, I knew the two guys I had to beat were up front already."
Dan
Fredrickson and Jacob Goede were in the familiar position of racing
each other for Thunderstruck glory. In the 2012 race these same two
guys battled throughout and then had contact on the last lap with
Fredrickson pulling out the victory.
Fredrickson took the
lead from his 10th starting spot just after the restart on lap 20, he
and Goede then swapped the top spot numerous times with frequent side by
side and close racing for the lead.
The traditional 10
minute break in the race is at lap 93, the number used by Dan Ryan, an
Elko Speedway Hall of Fame member who died from A.L.S (Lou Gehrig's
disease) in 2009 and who this race is a memorial for.
At
the break and with 32 laps to go Dan Fredrickson was the leader with
Jacob Goede second, Ty Majeski had made his way back up to fifth on the
board. On the restart Goede shot to the lead and the battle with
Fredrickson continued.
Meanwhile Majeski was ready to
pounce "When I got into third they were at least a straightaway in
front, I didn't know if I would have enough time to get them but they
started battling, they got into lapped traffic and I was able to make
some ground up and make the move for the win" said Majeski.
Fredrickson
and Goede raced so hard for the lead that they both wore out their
tires and that opened up the door for Majeski to make one of the most
epic runs to the front ever seen at Elko Speedway. "I saw the top two
were sliding each other up in the 3rd and 4th groove and I got
underneath Fredrickson and cleared him and then got a good run on Goede,
I got to the inside of him, trying to get at least even with him, I
used him up a little bit in 3 and 4 and it was enough at the line" said
Majeski.
It was the closest finish in Thunderstruck93
history, Majeski beat Jacob Goede by only .054 seconds with Fredrickson a
car length behind rounding out the podium trio.
"I've
wanted this guitar (trophy) for a while, I almost had it last year and
really wanted it this year," said Majeski "I'm really thankful for the
Ryan family, its really special to win on this night, it means a lot to
me for sure."
Chris Weinkauf had a consistent run finishing
4th with veteran racer Tim Sauter in 5th and Jonathan Eilen finished
6th even though he had a tire slowly going down.
Full results can be found at
www.arcamidwesttour.com
Austin
Nason from Roscoe (IL) won the 68 lap BIG 8 Late Model series race at
Thunderstruck93 he took the lead on lap 26 and held off numerous charges
from Elko Speedway Hiway Federal Credit Union 12 time winner and BIG 8
Champion Chris Marek for the win. Michael Beamish finished third in
this impressive 23 car field.
Full results can be found at
www.Big8series.com
#99 Brent
Kane from Lonsdale (MN) held off a great challenge by Jeremy Wolff to
win his fourth Genz-Ryan Thunder Car title at Elko Speedway.
Both
drivers won their heat races, Wolff won his heat in spectacular
fashion, going three wide in the closing laps not once but twice
bringing the large Thuunderstruck93 crowd to its feet.
The
two drivers started the feature side by side in the fifth row. Kane had
a 9 point cushion so Wolff had to get to the front and hope that Kane
had problems. Wolff did his part, weaving through traffic and passing
cars left and right, but Devin Schmidt from Belle Plane (MN) ran away
from the field, took a big lead, and won his second feature of the year
by 1.978 seconds.
Wolff finished second and Kane did
the smart thing, held his position, finished 6th and won the
Championship by 5 points. Kane was emotional in victory lane thanking
his crew, sponsors and all the people who had helped him win 9 races in
2015.
Eric Campbell finished third, Tina Davis fourth and Dillon Sellner fifth in points.
15
year old Grant Brown from Prior Lake (MN) won his first ever Pepsi
Power Stock Championship at Elko Speedway. Brown finished the feature
in second place and won the title by 56 points over Tom Doten with
Taylor Goldman third, Brandon Peterson finishing fourth and Paul
Hamilton fifth.
The 20 lap and 22 car feature had a
wild ending. Joey Prusak from Hopkins (MN) was declared the winner.
Paul Hamilton led most of the race, he was caught by Brandon Peterson on
the last lap and the two had contact through turns 3 and 4. Hamilton
ended up with heavy damage and into the wall and Peterson was
disqualified giving Prusak his first ever win at Elko Speedway.
It
has been a challenging season for Prusak who has struggled with
mechanical problems and bad luck all year long, but his luck changed at
the right time. "I told my dad that I didn't care if I won a race all
year long just as long as I win Thunderstruck93!" said Prusak.
It
was a big week for #14 Grant Brown who got a phone call from NASCAR telling
him he was declared the National Champion in Division 4. "I didn't
know until Friday, during my fourth hour biology I got the call from
NASCAR that I had won." Grant and his crew will be honored by NASCAR as
National Champions at the awards banquet in Charlotte (NC) this winter.
Derek
Lemke from Shakopee (MN) won his 4th Great North Legends feature of the
year, he beat 16 year old Wil McCully by 2.044 seconds at the line, it
was a career best finish for McCully. Shon Jacobsen finished third,
Brady Fox-Rhode fourth and Jaycen Brockhouse fifth.
With
the win Lemke extended his lead to 25 points over Brockhouse in the
race for the Championship. The Great North Legends will crown their
Champion next Saturday night October 3rd at Elko Speedway.
Matt
Suhl from Richfield (MN) won his second Hornets feature of 2015. Suhl
started up front and stayed there the entire 15 lap race. Alex Vincent
gave Suhl a good run but Suhl ended up winning by .226 seconds with
Craig Allers finishing third and Ashley Bell fourth.
Justin
Schelitzche finished the race in 7th but still has a sizeable lead in
the race for the Hornets Championship. Schelitzche leads Ashley Bell by
49 points going into the final night of racing next Saturday October
3rd.
The
#Thunderstruck93 event saw a great turnout for the on-track autograph session, over 100 cars participated before the racing began at 4pm. Thunderstruck93 is in memory of Elko Speedway Hall of Fame racer
Dan Ryan who passed away in 2009, it has raised thousands of dollars to
help fight ALS, to donate go to
www.araceworthwinning.org
Up
next at Elko Speedway is the final race of the 2015 season and Eve of
Destruction presented by Leo's South on Saturday October 3rd. Champions
will be crowned in the Hornets, Great North Legends and Bandoleros
divisions plus entertainment by the Green Mamba Jet car, Burn out
contest, the world famous Figure 8 trailer race and much more. The
evening will conclude with a huge Rock n Roll Fireworks show. Gates
open at 5pm, action begins at 6pm.
Elko Speedway is
located 20 minutes South of the Twin Cities just off of I-35 and County
Road 2, get more information by calling
(952) 461-7223, go to
www.elkospeedway.com or follow Elko Speedway on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
