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Schneider Steals Elko Show
by Gregg McKarns
August 31, 2002
ELKO, MN- A season of ups and down looked up for Jason Schneider Saturday night at Elko Speedway as he held off a late race charge by Jon Lemke to win the Miller Lite 40. The win continued a streak of thirteen consecutive years with a feature victory for Schneider at Elko. Duane Halvorson recorded his first feature triumph in Miller Lite Sportsman competition, Super Truck honors went to defending division champion Jamie Farrell, Modified action saw Randy Waibel visit victory lane. Ted Reuvers passed Dave Franek during the closing laps for the Coca-Cola Thunder Car feature crown while James Weeks wheeled his machine to victory in Impact Printing Bomber competition.
Schneider and Mark Nesheim battled from their front row starting positions for the opening five circuits with neither driver gaining the upper hand. The outside lane worked to Schneiders advantage as he was able to pull away from Nesheim until the first caution of the race waved for an incident involving Donny Reuvers and Dean Cornelius. Nesheim would again work to the inside of the former track champion pulling even with him on the straight aways. Again Schneider would prevail and was able to build a comfortable lead by lap twenty.
Meanwhile Reuvers and Cornelius clawed their way through the field gaining on Jeff Martin, point leader Brian Johnson, Lemke and Steve Murgic. Lemke powered past Nesheim with a dozen laps left to determine the outcome. Schneider soon had his hands full of Lemke who had pulled within a car length as the scoreboard showed four laps remaining. Schneider ran a smooth line to victory leaving Lemke in second, Johnson moved to third, Martin finished fourth, Murgic and Reuvers completed the top six. With his third place finish, Johnson increased his point lead to twenty six over Reuvers
Defending Super Truck champion Jamie Farrell proved to be the class of the field leading the feature wire to wire. Farrells win propelled him back into the point lead, two markers ahead of Danny Johnson. Bob Sellner earned a highly contested second place finish, Andy Jirik, Johnson and Tony Holm rounded out the top five. The Super Truck Championship will be decided next Saturday night at Elko Speedway.
With three laps remaining in the Modified feature, Randy Waibel shot past Jack Paulson on his way to victory. Paulson who had led the event from the opening stages settled for the runner up honors. Wade Roggeman recovered from an opening lap incident in turn one to claim third, Steve JoHanneck and James Kulseth also posted top five runs. A point battle that was already tight got even tighter as Kulseth, Paulson and JoHanneck will go into the September 14th Championship Night in a three way tie for the top spot.
Miller Lite Sportsman action was fierce as Duane Halvorson and Mike Skaja went door handle to door handle for six laps with Skaja fading into second. Skajas night went up in flames as a stuck throttle sent the rookie driver hard into the turn one concrete and then into the infield grass while on fire. Rescue crews quickly attended to Skaja who was able to walk away from the accident. When racing resumed Halvorson had to contend with Jeff McClintock to his inside. As the field accepted the white flag McClintock had inched ahead of Halvorson, but the checkered flag saw the roles reversed with Halvorson back in front by inches. Jeff Partington was third, Kent Eastlick fourth and Shane Huth finished fifth. A tough night for point leader Ricky Martin and second place Steve Schultz benefited Schultz who now sits just four points out of the lead.
After an earlier heat race win, Dave Franek looked to be on his way to a clean sweep on the evening. Franek looked strong throughout the Coca-Cola Thunder Car feature as his machine led the field. A late race caution bunched the field together, giving Ted Reuvers a shot at Franek. Reuvers capitalized on the opportunity going on to victory. Franek fought off Jeff Choban for second while Greg Gernentz and Kevin Crawford each had impressive top five runs. The win propelled Reuvers five points ahead of Jonathan Eilen in the Championship Points race.
James Weeks bested twenty-nine of his foes to win the Impact Printing Bomber feature. Tim Hollen gave Weeks a run for his money in the closing laps but would be the runner-up at feature end. Clinton Grandel had an impressive third place finish, Robert Clingingsmith clung to fourth and Corey Butler, Jr. completed the top five. Both point leader Scott King and second place point man Dusty Parrott started the race near the rear of the field, leaving both drivers a long road to the front. King would fare better with an eleventh place showing with Parrott dropping out of the feature with a cut tire, dropping him to twenty-seventh in the final rundown. King now sits sixty-two points ahead of the rookie Parrott who is just nine points up on Danny Weber.
NASCAR Weekly Racing Series presented by Dodge action continues next Saturday night as Cedar View Electric hosts the Super Truck Championship Night. Also on the card are the Budweiser Late Models, Miller Lite Sportsman, Coca-Cola Thunder Cars and Impact Printing Bombers. For more information call the Speedway Box Office at 952-461-RACE or visit
www.goelkospeedway.com.
Budweiser Late Models
Qualifying (1-3) Donny Reuvers, Kyle Estes, Dean Cornelius
Heat 1 (1-3) Jason Schneider, Brian Johnson, Mike Tuma
Heat 2 (1-3) Steve Murgic, Steve Anderson, Mark Nesheim
Fast Dash (1-3) Jeff Martin, Jon Lemke, Adam Royle
Feature (1-10) Schneider, Lemke, Johnson, Martin, Murgic, Reuvers, Royle, Nesheim, Anderson, Cornelius (11-20) Estes, Tom Sorem, Tuma, Jacob Goede, Gary Petrash, John Odega, Jay Halbert, Matt Kern, Rick Burns, Scott Kingery (21-23) Darren Wolke, Dick Partington, Roger Kubes
Miller Lite Sportsman
Qualifying (1-3) Mike Skaja, Ricky Martin, Steve Schultz
Heat 1 (1-3) Schultz, Skaja, Duane Halvorson
Heat 2 (1-3) Martin, Lynn Peterson, Jeff McClintock
Feature (1-10) Halvorson, McClintock, Jeff Partington, Kent Eastlick, Shane Huth, Steve Schultz, Doug Brown, Thomas Boisvert, Martin, Josh Larsen (11-16) Daniel Whitehead, Dean Erickson, Skaja, Peterson, David Griffith, Gregory Hakala
Super Trucks
Qualifying (1-3) Bob Sellner, Andy Jirik, Gordy Swanson
Heat 1 (1-3) Harm Alken, Jamie Farrell, Sellner
Heat 2 (1-3) Jirik, Swanson, Danny Johnson
Feature (1-10) Farrell, Sellner, Jirik, Johnson, Holm, Swanson, Alken, Mark Sorenen, Gary Fredrickson, Michael Schmitz (11-13) Tony Jirik, Larry Fitzsimmons, John Froelich
Modifieds
Qualifying (1-3) Chad Walen, James Kulseth, Jack Maas
Heat 1 (1-10) Walen, Roger Bongers, David Latham
Heat 2 (1-3) Jack Paulson, Wade Roggeman, Steve JoHanneck
Feature (1-10) Randy Waibel, Paulson, Roggeman, JoHanneck, Kulseth, Bongers, Latham, Maas, Mike Pederson, Curt Barfknecht (11-12) Walen, Mike Tuma
Coca-Cola Thunder Cars
Heat 1 (1-3) Jeff Choban, Greg Gernentz, Kevin Crawford
Heat 2 (1-3) Dave Franek, Ted Reuvers, Kevin Lutz
Heat 3 (1-3) Mark Storlie, Michael Crilly, Shannon Ericksen
Feature (1-10) Reuvers, Franek, Choban, Gernentz, Crawford, Crilly, Brad Kubes, Kristopher Moreland, Shannon Ericksen, Dave Sorem (11-20) Matt Carlander, Kevin Lutz, Niel Peterson, Storlie, Brent Kane, David Sellner, Eilen, Jeff Williams, Troy Maas, Randall Petrash (21-24) Marv Vincent, Mike Felixberger, Stephen Bovee, Andrew Ruthenbeck
Impact Printing Bombers
Heat 1 (1-3) Robert Clingingsmith, Randy Kotek, Corey Butler, Jr.
Heat 2 (1-3) Chase Weber, Tim Hollen, Clinton Grandel
Heat 3 (1-3) Jason Novak, Brock Weber, Danny Weber
Heat 4 (1-3) Joe Fierst, James Weeks, Randy King
Last Chance (1-10) Dusty Parrott, Matt Edwards, Jon Hoes, Michael Meszaro, Nathan Wefel, Dennis Warnke, Luke Sexton, Nate Kane, Kevin Novotny, Brent Johnson (11-14) Randy Pfluger, Jered Olson, Kevin Priebe, Scott Powers
Feature (1-10) James Weeks, Hollen, Grandel, Clingingsmith, Butler, Jr, Roger Meyer, Jeff Cook, Tom Nordwall, Novak, Chase Weber (11-20) Scott King, Danny Weber, Joshua Gernentz, Wefel, Matt Marschall, Brock Weber, Fierst, Edwards, Timm Morvec, Daniel Meszaros (21-30) Michael Meszaros, James Rhoades, Raymond Sandgren, Warnke, Kerry Estes, Kotek, Parrott, Randy King, Josh Emerson, Jon Hoes
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