Steve Carlson Wins Rain Shortened Great Clips 300 At Elko

Elko, Minnesota
September 29, 2002
by Greg McKarns

Steve Carlson took the lead on lap 245 and went on to win the RE/MAX Challenge Series, NASCAR Touring Great Clips 300, Sunday afternoon at Elko (Min) Speedway. The win was Carlson's fourth of the year and allowed him to stretch his season-long point lead to 102 markers over Brian Hoppe with just two races remaining on the year.

Rain on Saturday caused Saturday's program to be run in conjunction with the Great Clips 300. Jeff Martin squeezed past Steve Murgic to win the NASCAR NorthStar 150, the Mid-American Truck Series race went to Gary Fredrickson and Mike Tuma recorded the Modified feature win. The Midwest Sportsman feature saw 2002 Elko Speedway Thunder Car Champion Jonathan Eilen cruise to victory lane, Scott King and Ray Sandgren shared Bomber feature wins and Charlie Jacobson hustled his American Short Tracker to the checkers. In the final event of the weekend, Donny Reuvers picked up a $3,420 check for his win in the Twin Cities Featherlite Shootout.

Carlson took the lead after he and leader Jon Lemke touched exiting turn four, sending Lemke around.

"I feel really bad about Jon and me touching," said Carlson. "We were racing pretty hard there and this is a pretty small place. It certainly wasn't intentional."

The race was stopped 17 laps short of the scheduled distance due to rain.

Bud Pole fast qualifier Ron Breese, Jr started 10th after the series mandatory invert. Breese steadily worked his way to the front, but had to settle for runner-up honors. Lemke recovered from his spin to finish third with rookie Josh Vadnais and Eddie Hoffman rounding out the top five.

The Great Clips 300 headlined the 12th annual, three-day, Fall Festival of Speed. Minnesota favorites Lemke and Kevin Cywinski led 26 starters to the green flag. The pair ran virtually side-by-side for the first few laps before Lemke took command with Justin Diercks, Jeremy Lepak and Carlson quickly falling in line behind Cywinski.

The laps clicked off fast as Lemke set a torrid pace around the .375-mile, high-banked Elko Speedway oval. The first yellow flag did not appear over the speedway until lap 208. The long green flag run allowed Lemke to put several good cars down a lap to the leader, including championship contender, Hoppe.

Carlson tracked Lemke down while the leader was working lapped traffic.

"Lapped traffic was tough today," said Lemke. "They all have a right to be on the race track, and I've been a lapped car myself, but lapped traffic was a bear today. They used me up."

On lap 130, Carlson used the cars of Paul Menard and Tim Schendel, both of whom were fighting to stay on the lead lap, to gain an advantage on Lemke and snuck into the lead.

The event's first caution flew on lap 208 for the spinning mount of Larry Hunter. The amber allowed everyone a trip down pit lane for tires and fuel.

When the field was sent back under way on lap 225, Carlson led Lemke, Cywinski, Vadnais, Breese, and Hoffman. Those six were the only drivers still on the lead lap after Lemke's early race tear.

On lap 235, Lemke made a strong outside move on Carlson and took over the point. But 10 laps later, with Lemke running a slightly higher groove than Carlson, the pair touched, sending Lemke around.

"At the end there, Steve and I were racing hard," said Lemke. "I don't know if it's just Elko Speedway where Steve and I have a problem, but it was just racing. This K.C. Colors car was awesome today. They sure knew we were here."

Lemke was referring to an incident at the track, one year ago, involving he and Carlson. The pair got together while fighting for the lead in a preliminary race to the RE/MAX Challenge Series event. That incident took Lemke and Carlson out of contention for the win.

Breese took advantage of Lemke's spin to move up one position in the final run down, but with the rain, never got a good opportunity to test Carlson.

"I would have loved the chance for one final shot at Steve," said Breese. "I haven't run this series full-time this year, so I haven't got a chance to race a lot of these guys, and I really love doing it. Mother Nature just didn't hold up her end of the deal."

Sixth through tenth were Cywinski, Menard, Lepak, Diercks and Schendel. After qualifying second, Hoppe struggled all race and finished 11th and lost 50 more points to Carlson in the hunt for the championship.

The Elko Speedway 2003 NASCAR Weekly Racing Series presented by Dodge is slated to begin on April 26. The RE/MAX Challenge Series next travels to the LaCrosse (Wis.) Fairgrounds Speedway, October 5-6, for the running of the Oktoberfest 250 presented by All-Tel. The Oktoberfest 250 will be tapped for airing on the Speed Channel, Monday night, November 18.

RE/MAX CHALLENGE SERIES, NASCAR TOURING
Great Clips 300
Elko Speedway, Elko, Min. .375-mile oval
finish with starting position, driver, hometown, car make, laps, average speed, money won
1. (5) Steve Carlson, West Salem, Wis., Chevrolet, 283, 78.985 mph, running, $6,950
2. (10) Ron Breese, Jr, DeKalb, Ill., Chevrolet, 283, $3,725
3. (1) Jon Lemke, Greenfield, Min., Chevrolet, 283, $2,575
4. (11) Josh Vadnais #, White Bear Lake, Min., Chevrolet, 283, $2,150
5. (8) Eddie Hoffman, Wheaton, Ill., Chevrolet, 283, $2,050
6. (2) Kevin Cywinski, Wausau, Wis., Chevrolet, 283, $1,600
7. (13) Paul Menard, Eau Claire, Wis., Chevrolet, 283, $1,750
8. (4) Jeremy Lepak, Wausau, Wis., Chevrolet, 282, $1,600
9. (3) Justin Diercks, Davenport, Iowa, Chevrolet, 282, $1,600
10. (6) Tim Schendel, Sparta, Wis., Chevrolet, 282, $1,450
11. (9) Brian Hoppe, Madison, Wis., Chevrolet, 281, $1,550
12. (18) Brian Johnson, Lakeville, Min., Chevrolet, 281, $1,050
13. (7) Ryan Hanson, Beloit, Wis., Ford, 281, $1,275
14. (14) Jason Schneider, New Market, Min., Chevrolet, 280, $950
15. (26) Bruce Yackey, Greeley, Col., Chevrolet, 280, $950
16. (19) Jeff Way #, Burlington, Wis., Chevrolet, 279, $1,075
17. (22) Bryan Roach #, Becker, Min., Chevrolet, 279, $1,100
18. (17) Les Ferris, Northfield, Min., Chevrolet, 277, $1,050
19. (15) Mark Kraus, Stratford, Wis., Chevrolet, 275, $700
20. (25) George Prentice, Jr, Milwaukee, Wis., Ford, 274, $900
21. (23) Dave Bean, Westby, Wis., Chevrolet, 268, $700
22. (12) Pete Moore, McFarland, Wis., Chevrolet, 223, Engine, $900
23. (24) Larry Hunter #, Parker, Col., Chevrolet, 206, Suspension, $900
24. (20) Tony Bagstad, Cashton, Wis., Chevrolet, 113, Transmission, $700
25. (16) Todd Hansen #, Minneapolis, Min., Chevrolet, 98, Engine, $850
26. (21) Tim Rothe, Appleton, Wis., Chevrolet, 44, Brakes, $900

# rookie of the year competitor
MARGIN OF VICTORY: .683 seconds
TIME OF RACE: 1 hour 20 minutes 37 seconds
AVERAGE SPEED: 78.985 mph
LAP LEADERS: Jon Lemke 1-129, Steve Carlson 130-234, Lemke 235-244, Carlson 245-283
CAUTIONS: 3 for 38 laps
BUD POLE WINNER: Ron Breese, Jr, EWT. Inc./Kar Korner Chevrolet, 14.047 seconds (96.106 mph)
GATORADE FRONT RUNNER AWARD: Steve Carlson, Phillips 66/Trop Artic Chevrolet
ROOKIE OF THE RACE: Josh Vadnais, Discount Taxi/General Repair Chevrolet
30-LAP LAST CHANCE RACE: 1) Les Ferris; 2) Brian Johnson; 3) Jeff Way; 4) Tony Bagstad
FAILED TO QUALIFY: (4) David Finney, Russ Blakeley, Barry Tanner, Jr, Ronnie White
NEXT EVENT: Oktoberfest 250 presented by All-Tel, October 5-6, LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway, W. Salem, Wisconsin

NASCAR NorthStar Late Models
Qualifying (1-3) Jeff Martin, Jon Lemke, Justin Diercks
Last Chance (1-10) Mark Nesheim, AJ Rhoads, Rick Burns, Scott Kingery, Jeff Choban, Tom Morrison, Jimmy Robertson, John Paul Odegaard, Jerrick Johnson, Gary Petrash
Feature (1-10) Martin, Steve Murgic, Diercks, Dean Cornelius, Lemke, Dan Fredrickson, Brian Johnson, Jason Schneider, Tony Bagstad, Charlie Menard (11-20) Jacob Goede, Darren Giles, Adam Royle, Tom Sorem, Kyle Estes, Nesheim, Steve Schultz, Burns, Darren Wolke (21-26) Tom Quade, Rhoads, Kingery, Dick Partington, Steve R. Anderson, Steve W Anderson, Brad Powell

Modifieds
Feature (1-10) Mike Tuma, Jack Paulson, Chad Walen, James Kulseth, Wade Roggeman, Jack Maas, Randy Waibel, Roger Bongers, Mike Pederson, John Paul Odegaard (11-13) Rodney Rocarek, David Latham, Chad Willett

Midwest Sportsman/Thunder Cars
Feature (1-10) Jonathan Eilen, Kevin Lutz, Brent Kane, Mike Felixberger, Michael Crilly, Ted Reuvers, Greg Gernentz, Chris Cooley, Joel Knickel, Bruce Wuollett (11-20) Andrew Ruthenbeck, Randy White, Molly Rhoads, Andy Anderson, Jennifer Eriksen, Shannon Ericksen, Troy Maas, Jeff Williams, Conrad Jorgenson, Laurel Viera (21-30) Curt Barfknecht, Mark Marshall, Lucas Grosinger, Pete Ingelbritson, Bryan Turtle, Mark Storlie, Stephen Bovee, Ben Boyum, Jerry Ziemieki, Corey Butler

Elko Bombers
Feature 1 (1-10) Scott King, Corey Butler Jr, Robert Clinginsmith, Kerry Estes, Donny Reuvers, John Norris, Tim Graff, Tim Hollen, Mat Marschall, Eric Montour (11-20) Erik Pentz, Dan Johnson, Steve Cheever, Jeff Bratland, Jimmy Welton, Randy Kotek, Joshua Gernentz, Jeanne Erickson, Robert Stewart, Jon Hoes (21-24) Clint Hagstrom, Danny Weber, Eric Proehl, Luke Sexton
Feature 2 (1-10) Raymond Sandgren, Josh Emerson, Nate Kane, Jeff Cook, Chase Weber, Todd Wilson, Chris Cooley, James Rhoades, Jered Olson, Kevin Novotny (11-20) Jason Novak, Paul Lally, Andrew Kodada, Dusty Parrott, Adam Radiske, David Nogle, Bob Hasert, Timm Morvec, Brock Weber, Eric Prindle (21-23) Randy King, Matt Edwards, Aaron Toby

Twin Cities Featherlite Shootout
(1-8) Donny Reuvers, Jeff Martin, Jon Lemke, Steve Murgic, Dan Fredrickson, Adam Royle, Jacob Goede, Kyle Estes

American Short Trackers
Qualifying (1-3) John Vig, Jr., Joey Garofalo, Andrew Bestler
Feature (1-10) Charlie Jacobson, Garofalo, Andrew Bestler, Mark Hawes, Paul Berg, Derald Larson, Terry Larson, Mike Dimmick, Matthew Shaar, Terry Krupich (11-15) Dan Arneson, John Heinbuch, Vig, Jr., Chris Angrimse, Brandon Bestler


 

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