By Jason D Searcy
September 24, 2016 - Elko, MN
Danny
Fredrickson from Lakeville (MN) was presented with his fifth guitar
trophy as winner of the Thunderstruck93 memorial race at Elko Speedway
in honor of Dan Ryan and benefiting the "a race worth winning"
organization that supports families in their fight with A.L.S.
Under
cloudy skies and rain looking imminent the ARCA Midwest Tour race was
shortened to 93 laps before it began. Midwest tour point leader and two
time defending Champion Ty Majeski #91 broke a rear end in his primary
car during practice and had to switch to a back up car, he still was the
fast qualifier with a time of 13.736, and started the race 13th.
Rookie Super Late Model driver Chris Marek #3 started from the pole
position, fought back former Midwest tour Champion #77 Jonathan Eilen
and then led the first twenty laps.
Danny
Fredrickson #36 is a three time Midwest tour Champion himself and also
an Elko Speedway Champion in 2003. Fredrickson started the race 7th and
quickly moved to the front of the field, he grabbed the lead at lap
twenty and took off as Majeski and three time Elko Speedway Champ #72
Jacob Goede were making their way through this star studded field of
Super Late Models.
On lap sixty Fredrickson had a big
lead and Majeski had made his way up to second place. Then with twenty
to go Fredrickson caught some faster cars at the tail end of the lead
lap and Majeski was right on his back bumper. These two titans fought
it out until the end with Fredrickson finishing just ahead of Majeski,
the margin of victory was only .182 seconds with Goede finishing third.
The TOP 3 Podium was the same three drivers as last year, only this
year Fredrickson came out on top.
It was the fifth win
of the eight Thunderstruck93 events for Fredrickson who celebrated with
the Ryan Family in Elko victory lane. Fourteen of the 27 cars finished
on the lead lap. Only three drivers have competed in all 8
Thunderstruck events, they are Fredrickson, Nick Murgic and Joel
Theisen.
TOP 10 Finishers:
1- Dan Fredrickson
2- Ty Majeski
3- Jacob Goede
4- Nick Barstad
5- Chris Weinkauf
6- Casey Johnson
7- Billy Mohn
8- Nick Panitzke
9- Travis Dassow
10- Nick Murgic
The
Big 8 Late Model Series ran a 58 lap race during Thunderstruck93 and it
was an epic battle between #2 Michael Bilderback from South Beloit (IL)
and Michael Ostdiek from Lakeville (MN).
J Herbst #82
a former La Crosse Speedway Champion from West Salem (WI) actually had
the field covered the first half of the race before mechanical problems
dropped him from the top spot on lap 34. That's when former Big 8
series Champion and Rockford (IL) Speedway Champion #2 Bilderback took
the lead, he was closely followed by #18 Michael Ostdiek who has had an
incredible season at Elko, winning four features and finishing third in
the National NASCAR Whelen All American Series point standings for
Division II.
These two raced hard and had some
contact, more than once, on the final lap. It was an incredible run to
the checkers with Bilderback crossing the finish line just .018 seconds
ahead of Ostdiek for the win.
TOP 10 Finishers
1- Michael Bilderback #2
2- Michael Ostdiek #18
3- Joe Neisius #75 -Fast Qualifier
4- Dillon Hammond #75
5- Michael Beamish #40
6- Ryan Kamish #42
7- L.B. Berthiaume #99
8- Jon Lemke #17
9- Jeremy Miller #5
10- Bryan Wrolstad #13
Brent
Kane #99 from Lonsdale (MN) won his second feature of 2016 on the final
night of racing in the Genz-Ryan Thunder Car division. Kane jumped out
front right away and never looked back. Jeremy Wolff #32 from Chaska
(MN) finished second in the feature and secured his first ever Elko
Speedway Championship. Conrad Jorgenson #3 was third, Eric Campbell #25
was fourth and #15 Cole Neisius finished fifth in this 18 car field.
Jeremy
Wolff won a Hobby Stock Championship at Raceway Park in Shakopee (MN)
in 2008, this is just his third full season racing at Elko, he had
finished second in points the previous two years before scoring five
wins and winning the Championship this year. Wolff finished 31 points
ahead of Kane in the race for the title, Eric Campbell was third in
points followed by #07 Dillon Sellner in fourth and #3 Conrad Jorgenson
fifth.
Joey Prusak #6 from Minnetonka (MN) won the
final Pepsi Power Stock main event of 2016, it was his third win of the
season. Former Champion #88 Nick Oxborough finished second .457 behind
Prusak, #54 Tim Hollen was a strong third with #8 Taylor Goldman
finishing fourth and #62 Tom Doten from St Paul (MN) rounding out the
TOP 5.
It is very appropriate that Tom Doten would
score another TOP 5 finish in the last race, it is his specialty, he
scored 17 TOP 5 finishes in 24 races this season, the most of any driver
in the division and that helped him secure his first career Elko
Speedway Championship.
Rookie driver Bryce Blohm #37
from Lakeville (MN) had a great season, he scored five wins and was in
the hunt for the title right up until the very end. Blohm was only
eight points behind Doten coming into the final feature but had some bad
luck with a flat tire during the race, he finished 17th.
Doten
wins the Power Stock Championship by 25 points over Blohm with #7
Brandon Petersen finishing third, Taylor Goldman #8 fourth and #6 Joey
Prusak fifth in points.
Double features were raced at
Elko Speedway during Thunderstruck93. The first 20 lap race was as
close as it gets, #4 Brady Fox-Rhode from Loretto (MN) won his third
feature of the year just edging #13 Tim Brockhouse by a bumper at the
line with #71 Derek Lemke just a whisker behind. Cole Klein #8 finished
fourth in the first feature with #16 Matt Allen wrapping up the TOP 5.
In
the second nineteen car feature Derek Lemke from Shakopee (MN) was the
winner, it was his seventh win this year at Elko Speedway. Matt Berlin
#16 from Mequon (WI) finished second with #4 Brady Fox-Rhode third, #13
Tim Brockhouse fourth and #26 Will McCully in fifth.
The
Great North Legends are one of the most exciting divisions at Elko
Speedway with intense side by side action every race. The Great North
Legends are the premier division on the last night of racing at Elko
Speedway next Saturday night October 1st as they will crown a Champion.
Derek Lemke has an impressive 90 point lead going into that final
night, as long as he starts he will win his third consecutive
Championship at Elko Speedway.
Justin Schelitzche #14
from Lester Prairie (MN) won the Hornets main event. Schelitzche outran
#36 Brandon Olson for his fourth win of the season at Elko. Olson
finished second followed by #7 Ridge Oien who was in a close battle with
#55 Brandon Plekkenpol in fourth and #36 Alex Vincent in fifth.
Schelitzche now has a 27 point lead over Olson going into the final night of racing at Elko Speedway.
As always, these results and points are unofficial, the official results will be posted later in the week at ElkoSpeedway.com
Coming
up next is the final night of racing at ELKO. Its a MN Lottery Eve of
Destruction presented by Leo's South. In addition to racing in the
Bando's, Hornets and Great North Legends fans will see the much
anticipated Trailer Race, School Bus Figure 8 races, Burnout Contest,
Justin Sayne stuntman, The Green Mamba Jet Car, Rock-n-Roll Fireworks,
Spectator Drags and LIVE music from Lost Highway. Gates open at 5pm
with action at 6pm.
Get more information at
ElkoSpeedway.com, follow Elko Speedway on social media or download the
free ELKO Racing app. Elko Speedway is a NASCAR sanctioned 3/8th mile
progressive banked asphalt oval race track located in Elko (MN), 30
minutes South of Downtown Minneapolis (MN) just off of I-35 and County
Road 2.
