September 27, 2025 - Elko New Market, MN
By Jason D Searcy
The 60th season Championship at Elko Speedway was held on Saturday with a huge crowd in attendance for the last traditional race night at ELKO in 2025.
The NASCAR sanctioned Late Models raced two 25 lap feature events. Hunter Covell-Paine #94 from Mound (MN) started on the pole and won the race, Paine was able to get out to a big lead early in the race then a group of cars got together in a big wreck in corner four on lap 11. Title contender #14 Grant Brown was involved and had to pit with heavy damage. Covell-Paine continued as the leader after the restart and won the race by 0.283 seconds, #50 Steve Anderson was second, #8 Colin Stocker finished third, #3 Chris Marek was fourth and #52 Chad Walen was fifth of the 13 cars competing. It was the second win of the season for Covell-Paine who missed the first half of the season with a knee injury.
The second Late Model feature event was also won by Hunter Covell-Paine but it was a much more difficult path to victory. 2016 Thunder Car Champion Jeremy Wolff #32 led a majority of the race, he had a great side by side battle mid-race with fast qualifier #10 Dusty Mann for numerous laps and then after a caution on lap 14 he raced wheel to wheel with the #8 car of Billy Mohn who eventually took the lead on lap 17. Hunter Covell-Paine raced up from his 8th starting position and took over the lead from Mohn with an inside pass coming to the white flag and won by 0.533 seconds, which made it a clean sweep of features on the night and his third consecutive win at ELKO. Billy Mohn was second, #52 Chad Walen was third, #3 Chris Marek fourth, Jeremy Wolff fifth. The fast-time in qualifying for Dusty Mann was 14.852.
Chris Marek from Elko (MN) won the Late Model Championship, his first title in 10 years at the track, he previously has won the Big8 Championship at ELKO 3 times plus a Hornets and Power Stock title. Chad Walen finished second 43 points behind and Grant Brown third in Championship points.
15 year old Ayrton Brockhouse raced in every adult division on this race night, he finished 7th and 8th in the two Late Model events.
The NASCAR sanctioned Eternity Homes Thunder Cars raced two 20 lap feature events Saturday night during Eve of Destruction at Elko Speedway.
The first race was cautionless and had #8 Taylor Goldman grabbing the lead from the outset, she held the lead until #29 Tom Sorem from Northfield (MN) raced her side by side and then took over the top spot on a high side pass with four laps remaining. Sorem was able to win by just barely holding off point leader Brent Kane by 0.129 seconds at the stripe. Kane started 7th and finished second, Taylor Goldman was third, #16 Jim OMeara fourth and #89 Allen Royal fifth of the 13 cars competing.
The second Thunder Car feature had young #3 Ayrton Brockhouse taking the lead in his first ever night racing in this division, Brockhouse had a big lead during the first half of this race until a caution came out on lap 10 of 20. After the restart #83 Julie Jorgenson was able to grab the top spot on lap 14 and then after another caution period #99 Brent Kane made a high side pass for the lead on lap 17 and he held on to win by 0.407 seconds. Julie Jorgenson finished second, #89 Allen Royle had a career best finish of 3rd in his rookie season, #3 Ayrton Brockhouse was fourth and #4 Darren Walterman returned from a long layoff from racing and finished fifth.
It was the 7th win of the season for Brent Kane from Lonsdale (MN) and his 22nd Top 5 finish out of the 23 feature events in the Thunder Cars. Kane won his 6th Championship at ELKO in his 26th year of racing, he also had 4 titles at Raceway Park. He won the Midwest region in NASCAR weekly series and finished second place in the Nation in NASCAR Div II for the second time in his career. Tom Sorem was second in points 117 points behind and #16 Jim OMeara third in points for the 2025 season.
The NASCAR sanctioned Power Stocks raced two 20 lap feature events during the season championship night at Elko Speedway. Gary Stokvis #45 took the early lead until #57 Jesse Fischer from Eagan (MN) grabbed the top spot with a high side pass on lap two. Fischer led the rest of the laps including holding on after a caution period on lap 17, he won by 0.451 seconds. It was the 5th win of the season for Fischer. Jimmie Jorgenson #3 finished second place, point leader #08 Mike Stoer was third, #88 Nick Oxborough fourth and Gary Stokvis fifth of the 11 cars competing.
The second Power Stock race was cautionless, it had #18 Alexis Montour leading the first few laps until #45 Gary Stokvis took over the top spot on lap four of 20. Point leader #8 Mike Stoer from Prior Lake (MN) went side by side with Stokvis on lap 7 and grabbed the lead on lap 8. Stoer held onto the lead and won by 0.346 seconds, it was his fourth win of the season at ELKO and wrapped up the points Championship, it was the first title at Elko Speedway for Stoer, he won two Bomber Championships at Raceway Park. Jesse Fischer #57 finished second in this race, #3 Jimmie Jorgenson was third, #88 Nick Oxborough was fourth and #53 Ayrton Brockhouse in his first ever Power Stock race was fifth of the 11 cars competing.
Mike Stoer was the Power Stock Champion, he won by 23 points over Jimmie Jorgenson with Nick Oxborough finishing third.
The Legends division raced a 20 lap feature event #46 Adam Gerlach led the opening couple laps until #41 Jason Michaud took over the top spot. After a caution period on lap four the ironman of the night #12 Ayrton Brockhouse was able to capture the lead, Brockhouse raced in all four adult divisions during the race night. Tristan Swanson #64 from Elko (MN) raced side by side a few laps and then finally took the lead with an inside pass on lap 15. Swanson had a clean sweep of the night winning qualifying with a lap of 15.733, he was also the winner of his heat race. Swanson was able to hang onto the lead and won by 0.481 seconds, it was his 7th win of the season at ELKO, almost exactly 7 years after his first win at ELKO at the age of 13. Ayrton Brockhouse finished second place and won his first Legends Championship at Elko Speedway. Ryan Johnson #97 who is a race engineer for Tower Motorsports LMP2 car finished third, #15 Tyler Sjoman won his heat race and finished fourth, #27 Riley Goodwin was fifth of the 14 cars competing.
Ayrton Brockhouse from Shakopee (MN) won the Legends cars Championship with 3 wins on the season at ELKO, he had previously won 2 Bando Championships at Elko Speedway. Tristan Swanson finished second place 56 points behind and veteran driver Jason Michaud was third in points.
The INEX sanctioned Bandlero’s raced two 12 lap feature events at Elko Speedway during the Season Championship night. The first race was a make-up race for a rainout earlier in the year. Will Smith #26 took the lead off the start, Justice Doubrava #15 took the lead on lap two, after a couple cautions half-way through the race the intensity heated up with numerous drivers going three and four wide on the ¼ mile flat inside track used as pit lane for the ARCA series at Elko Speedway. Doubrava was able to hold on for the win by 1.869 seconds, his third of the season, #5 Christopher Flynn finished second, Roman Crow #27 was third, #57 Rev Heitkamp fourth and #11 Adriana Hawes in fifth of the 17 cars competing. Point leader #32 Mason Westphal finished 15th.
The second Bando feature had pole sitter #72 Theo Crow leading the first lap with cars going four-wide behind him. We had yellow flags after both the first and second laps with some of the top contenders involved including point leader #32 Mason Westphal. Christopher Flynn #5 started 11th but raced all the way up to take the lead on lap three. Another caution period occurred on lap 5 with Flynn continuing to hold the lead. On the last lap Flynn had mechanical problems down the backstretch and slowed on the track opening the door for two drivers who raced down the frontstretch and finished only 0.002 seconds apart at the finish line. 14 year old #37 Carson Cauble from Salisbury (NC) won by just inches, Cauble has raced in over 50 different features this year all over the country, it was his first ever race night at ELKO. A very close second place went to #27 Roman Crow, #26 Will Smith was third, #32 Mason Westphal fourth, #15 Justice Doubrava fifth and a tough luck 6th place went to Christopher Flynn.
Siblings Andrew Brelje #52 and Allison Brelje #11 were the two Beginner Bando feature winners. Christopher Flynn won both of his heat races, Justice Doubrava and Mason Westphal won the other heat races on the night.
It was a close battle for the Bando points Championship with Mason Westphal from Farmington (MN) winning by just 4 points over Christopher Flynn and Justice Doubrava 12 points back in third. It was the first Bando Championship for Westphal.
All points and results are unofficial as of this posting. Get more information and stats at ElkoSpeedway.com <http://elkospeedway.com> or MyRacePass and search Elko Speedway.
Mark Chlan from Lonsdale (MN) won a hotly contested Spectator Drags competition. Wyatt Ellanson from Lakeville (MN) won both the best appearing prize and overall win during the Figure 8 Trailer race.
Josh Baumgartner and Brad Shippert entertained the crowd by crushing cars with their Monster Trucks BigFoot and Against the Grain.
A dozen top drift cars did a drifting exhibition.
Timberworks LumberJack show displayed their timbersport skills on the back concourse.
Magdatude Jet Truck finished the evening by melting a car down to the ground after the big fireworks show.
Up next is the ELKO Champions Banquet tentatively set for Dec 13th, more details to come.
The MEGA ownership group thanks race fans for your loyalty this year and looks forward to the 2026 season, our 61st season of racing in ELKO.
Elko Speedway is a NASCAR sanctioned 3/8th mile high banked oval asphalt race track with stadium seating located in Elko New Market MN.
Get more information at ElkoSpeedway.com <http://elkospeedway.com>
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