They call it the Land of 10,000 Lakes and that is no idle boast as everywhere you look there’s water in the State of Minnesota. Elko Speedway which hosted the ASA Midwest Tour race this past weekend even has two, right in its own backyard. I guess if you get bored with the racing action you can grab a pole and go fishing!
I don’t think a whole lot of folks were bored with the Tour race on this day as the 125 lap feature event was hotly contested start to finish. Up front starters Jacob Goede and defending race winner Jake Ryan set the tone early on for the finale as they battled side by side with neither wanting to give an inch. Whether there is some bad blood between the two or it was just the mood of the day, the sizeable crowd on hand was loving every minute of it! The hard racing took a toll on Goede however as he faded to a 17th place finish while Ryan kept pace up front. With too many race events these days single file, one groove follow the leader trains, it was great to see drivers passing cars and coming from deep in the field to challenge. The driver putting on the best show this way was perennial race winner and champion Steve Carlson. By setting fast qualifying time Carlson found himself starting 11th in the main and really having his work cut out for him. It didn’t faze the veteran racer as he methodically picked off positions one by one finding himself in 3rd spot at the race break with 50 laps yet to run. A quick move into 2nd and Carlson was on Ryan’s rear bumper. The two put on a side by side show for nearly 30 laps with Carlson finally edging in front with a handful of laps to go. He stretched his margin a bit at the finish as Ryan’s car finally succumbed to the relentless pressure. Ryan did hang on to 2nd at the stripe with Dan Fredrickson and Donny Reuvers who had a lengthy battle of their own going for 30 laps, settling for 3rd and 4th. Home track favorite Jonathan Eilen filled out the top five finishers. All in all a great day for racing and great weather for a change on Memorial Day weekend.
Fast Tracks … The Hoosier Tire being used on the Tour this year has baffled many a competitor. The tires don’t seem to like too many heat cycles and if run too hard you may find yourself with them down to the cords. Patience leads to perserverance in this case as saving something for the end is the answer … Eugene Gregorich Jr., has stepped up his racing program in attempts to run more of the Tour this year. Gregorich has succeeded at each level of the sport but admits the learning curve here is a tough one. “We’re racing with these guys that have so much experience. I along with my crew all average in our mid-20s in age. These other teams all seem to have a veteran guy on the team that can say, OK we did this in this situation before and it worked. We don’t have that yet to rely on.” Gregorich did qualify for the feature although he was the first out of the event … Good to see Jamie Iverson back racing after his nasty crash at the last event at Iowa Speedway. Iverson was racing one of Russ Blakely’s cars until his is rebuilt which should be in time for the next event at the Dells Motor Speedway May 30th … At the main event break it was difficult to get an interview with Rookie of The Year candidate Dalton Zehr. Reason being temps were down in the ‘50s here and the kid was cold! Minnesota is a far cry from Daytona Beach where he is from even this time of year … Recent observances … Jeff Storm, racing for Scott and Linda Dahlberg has been much more competitive running the Tour this year. While running up front at Iowa Speedway the team had the misfortune of blowing an engine. Amazingly the powerplant let go with such force that pieces were found in the intake manifold. Carl Wegner and gang had one ready for the team for Elko where Storm qualified for the feature in time trials … Opinion … When all is said and done, to succeed on the ASA Midwest Tour you must be able to qualify for the feature in time trials. With the fields at every event so closely matched it is key to put together two good laps to insure you are locked into the show. Drivers will go with some pretty radical set-ups to insure two very fast laps. The old stand by of taping all potential turbulence areas also still works as seen on feature winner Steve Carlson’s car in this photo … And, speaking of Carlson, this photo is from 25 years ago racing at Lax Fairgrounds with Dick Trickle … Brad Powell picked off a feature win at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway here recently, his first in over 4 years. In the understatement of the year Powell said, “We had a pretty good car tonight”. I’d say so as Powell was a straightaway ahead at the end of 25 laps on the big 5/8 mile oval … Fact … Truth be known, Minnesota actually has 11,052 lakes give or take a few.
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