By Jason D Searcy
June 15, 2019- Elko, MN
A brief rain shower at the beginning of the race night couldn’t dampen
the spirits of the hearty Eve of Destruction fans at ELKO on Saturday
night.
The first Late Model feature event sponsored by The Car Lot in New
Prague (MN), had Ryan Varner #31 lead lap one, he was quickly passed
by veteran driver and former MN state NASCAR Champion Chad Walen #52
from Prior Lake (MN) on lap 2. Walen then shot to a huge lead and
never looked back, Walen won the 30 lap cautionless race by an
impressive 2.578 seconds over #51 Justin Neisius, #32 Jeremy Wolff
finished third, Varner was fourth and #21 Adam Bendzick was fifth of
the 16 cars competing. Defending ELKO Champion #72 Jacob Goede
started 12th and finished 8th. Qualifying was rained out. Walen was
the 7th consecutive different Late Model winner to start the 2019
season at Elko Speedway.
The second NASCAR Late Model feature had 17 entries as LaCrosse (WI)
champion Nick Panitzke joined the field. Devyn Stocker #14 led the
entire race until #72 Jacob Goede from Carver (MN) made a bold pass on
the high side and took the lead on lap 19. Goede then checked out and
won by 1.086 seconds over #13 Bryan Wrolstad, #21 Adam Bendzick moved
up 6 positions to finish third, Stocker was fourth and #6 Owin Giles
was fifth. Goede was the first two-time winner of the season in the
Car Lot Late Models.
Jacob Goede is looking for his 6th consecutive point title at Elko
Speedway, he is the current leader by 21 points over #3 Chris Marek.
The Great North Legends had 18 racers competing the twin 20 lap
features at ELKO. The first feature had #31 Greg Erhardt lead early,
he was passed by #8 Cole Klein who moved all the way up from his 11th
starting spot to take the lead on lap seven. Defending Champion #75
Baiden Heskett from Shakopee (MN) then came up from his 14th starting
spot to take the lead from Klein on lap 14 and just barely held on for
the win. Heskett edged Klein by only .253 seconds at the finish line,
it was already his fourth win at ELKO this year. Robby Carter #03 was
third followed by #71 Jon Lemke and #26 Will McCully.
The second Great North Legends feature had two-time Bando Champion #8
Colin Stocker take the lead until #11 Jessie Mahoney took over the top
spot. Fifteen year old Austin Jahr #47 from Farmington (MN) then
grabbed the lead on lap 6 and fought back tough challenges by #8 Cole
Klein for the rest of the race. Jahr beat Klein by just .088 seconds
at the line to win his first ever ELKO feature race. Baiden Heskett
#75 finished third, #16 Matt Allen was fourth and #03 Robby Carter was
fifth.
Heskett leads Klein by 16 points in the race for the 2019 Championship
at Elko Speedway.
The Pepsi Power stocks raced twin 20 lap features and #27 Darin
Patnode led the first half of the first feature. Defending Champion
#8 Taylor Goldman from Minnetonka (MN) moved up from her third row
starting spot to take the lead on lap 13 and ran away with a big lead
as a great battle ensued behind her. Goldman won by 2.221 seconds
over #08 Michael Stoer with #83 Julie Jorgenson, #88 Nick Oxborough
and Patnode all finishing within .53 seconds of each other in that
order. It was the first win of 2019 for Taylor Goldman.
The second feature had #41 Ben Gannon lead a few laps until #88 Nick
Oxborough from Lakeville (MN) jumped to the front and took off for a
huge lead. 2016 Champion Oxborough beat #08 Michael Stoer by 3.57
seconds at the finish line, Taylor Goldman #8 was third followed by
#27 Darin Patnode and #83 Julie Jorgenson. It was the second win of
the season for Oxborough.
Nick Oxborough is the current point leader at ELKO, he has a 43 point
advantage over Michael Stoer.
All points and results are unofficial until posted midweek at ElkoSpeeway.com
The large Eve of Destruction crowd was treated to great Monster Truck
action from Brandan Tulachka in Just Git R Done II and Josh
Baumgartner in Mechanical Mischief. Talachka was the ELKO fan vote
winner.
Four incredible drifters put on a great show of skill for the crowd.
Austin Matta from Shakopee was the ELKO fan vote winner.
Twin brothers Sawyer and Shannon did motorcycle stunts for the fans
and kids enjoyed the animals from the Farm in the concourse area.
The Figure 8 School bus races are a crowd favorite and Kari Miller #6
was chosen the winner by the post-race ELKO fan vote.
Next up at Elko Speedway is NASCAR Whelen all american racing on
Saturday June 22nd. Get more information at ElkoSpeedway.com or
download our free app, search ELKO racing.
Elko Speedway is a NASCAR sanctioned 3/8th mile asphalt oval racetrack
with stadium seating located just 30 minutes South of the Twin Cities
in Elko-New Market (MN).
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