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Bjorklund Blasts To Win At I-94 Raceway
By Dean Reller
(SAUK CENTRE, MN) May 24th--Rookie driver Blake Bjorklund showed that he is a quick study as he won the Meilke Oil ASA Late Model Feature at the I-94 Raceway in Sauk Centre. Starting from the pole, the 17-year old driver wrestled the lead away from Rich Snyder on the opening lap. Third starting Trent Snyder moved to second shortly thereafter and the chase for the lead was on. Snyder tried numerous times to make a pass, but Bjorklund held his ground and rolled on to take the win. The win was Bjorklund’s second in a many nights, as he got his first career Late Model win a night earlier at the Fergus Falls Raceway. The pair of victories came in only his third and fourth career starts behind the wheel of a Late Model.
John Notch continued on his dominant season as he won his fourth straight Modified Feature. Dave Schafer got the race going as he led the first six laps as the action was two wide behind. Notch started in the back, but wasted no time plucking off cars as he marched to the front. On lap seven, Notch made his car stick low in turn two, allowing him to get by Schafer and take the lead. Once in front, Notch worked the car flawlessly extending his lead to a comfortable margin as he completed the distance ahead of Jerry Voigt.
Pat Maloney shook off the bad luck of this season, as he took his car number 13 to Victory Lane in the Meilke Oil Super Stock Feature. Starting outside row one, Maloney held off Molly Rhoads’ early bid he set a quick pace. Rhoads fell back as the laps tore off, but back in front, Maloney drove hard the rest of the way to snarl the win.
Rob Thurston, the three-time Champion, was back on top as he won the Great North Legends Feature. Pole sitter Rick Dubay marched out to the lead as 17 starters took the green. Tenth starting Thurston flew to the front and on lap five, he moved into the lead on the backstretch. Bryan Roach, filling in for Jon Lewerer, ran hard in second, but 14-year old Andy Hansen got by the veteran driver with seven laps remaining. Hansen cut into Thurston’s comfortable lead, but without a caution, he ran out of laps to make a run, as Thurston returned to the Winner’s Circle for the first time this year.
The Thunder Cars ran two features, as they made up the race that was rained-out a couple of weeks ago. Dirk Henry raced hard with Ace Valencour and Henry came out on top as his won the first feature by only a couple of feet. In the second feature, Jerry Messer looked posed to take the win, but Henry tapped his momentum from the first race and took the lead on the front stretch with a handful of laps remaining. Messer hung close in second, but for the second time in the night Henry proved to be the class of the field.
Ben Mayers scored his first ever win as he took top honors in the UCAR Feature. Dan Bolstad took the lead from the start, but it was Mayers who made the high groove work as he took the lead on lap three. Mayers car ran best up near the wall and he planted the car there every lap as Joe Karl searched for a way to catch up. Karl put together a run in the closing laps, but could only pull alongside as Mayers used the wall hugging line to take the win.
Leroy Nelson became the first repeat winner of the year in the TQ Stock Cars. Nelson took the lead on a mid-race restart and set the pace. Al Jacobsen threw everything at Nelson, but the kitchen sink, but could only muster a second place run behind Nelson.
I-94 Raceway Results May 24, 2003
ASA Late Models
Heat
1.) Rich Snyder (Alexandria) 2.) Clay Montella (Ottertail) 3.) Eugene Dick (Watkins) 4.) Dan Giles (Farmington) 5.) Todd Hansen (Minneapolis) 6.) Craig Peterson (Milltown, WI) 7.) Jeff Lofquist (Fergus Falls) 8.) Scott Bender (Aberdeen, SD)-DNF 9.) Chris Riley (Morris)-DNF 10.) Tim Olson (Hamel)-DNS
Fast Dash
1.) Stacy Rossell (Atwater) 2.) Bryan Roach (Becker) 3.) Blake Bjorklund (Isanti) 4.) Trent Snyder (Ironton) 5.) Gary Mueller (Chisago) 6.) Rob Thurston (Olivia)
Fast Qualifiers
1.) Bryan Roach (16.99 sec.) 2.) Gary Mueller (17.07 sec.) 3.) Trent Snyder (17.29) 4.) Rob Thurston (17.29 sec.) 5.) Stacy Rossell (17.45 sec.)
Feature
1.) Blake Bjorklund 2.) Trent Snyder 3.) Rich Snyder 4.) Gary Mueller 5.) Bryan Roach 6.) Eugene Dick 7.) Rob Thurston 8.) Todd Hansen 9.) Stacy Rossell 10.) Clay Montella 11.) Jeff Lofquist 12.) Craig Peterson 13.) Dan Giles 14.) Chris Riley-DNF 15.) Scott Bender-DNS
Modifieds
Heat
1.) Matt Anderson (Atwater) 2.) Nick Olson (Burnsville) 3.) Pat Hornick (Sauk Centre) 4.) Dave Schafer (Glenwood) 5.) Aaron Marthaler (Glenwood) 6.) Jon Olson (Hamel) 7.) Terry Merten (Sauk Centre)-DNS
Fast Dash
1.) John Notch (St. Cloud) 2.) Oren Hoeper (Dalton) 3.) Jeff Rohner (Willmar) 4.) Jerry Voigt (Cold Spring) 5.) Dave Ostendorf (St. Cloud) 6.) Brady Barker (Grove City)
Fast Qualifiers
1.) John Notch (17.64 sec. ) 2.) Jeff Rohner (17.93 sec.) 3.) Oren Hoeper (18.15 sec.) 4.) Jerry Voigt (18.269 sec.) 5.) Dave Ostendorf (18.33 sec.)
Feature
1.) John Notch 2.) Jerry Voigt 3.) Jeff Rohner 4.) Oren Hoeper 5.) Brady Barker 6.) Dave Schafer 7.) Pat Hornick 8.) Matt Anderson 9.) Dave Ostendorf 10.) Nick Olson 11.) Jon Olson 12.) Aaron Marthaler-DNF 13.) Terry Merten-DNS
Super Stocks
Heat
1.) Jim Larkin (Monticello) 2.) Pat Maloney (Alexandria) 3.) Molly Rhoads (Hastings) 4.) Dave Deters (Sauk Centre) 5.) Gordy Mason (Excelsior) 6. ) Rob Dubnecay (Maple Grove) 7.) Pat Henry (Sauk Centre) 8.) Paul Milford (Savage)-DNF
Fast Qualifiers
1.) Jim Larkin (18.05 sec.) 2.) Molly Rhoads (18.18 sec.) 3.) Pat Henry (18.38 sec.) 4.) Pat Maloney (18.45 sec.) 5.) Paul Milford (18.70 sec.)
Feature
1.) Pat Maloney 2.) Molly Rhoads 3.) Jim Larkin 4.) Pat Henry 5.) Dave Deters 6.) Gordy Mason 7.) Paul Milford 8.) Rob Dubnecay
Great North Legends
First Heat
1.) Doug Petty (Oak Grove) 2.) Clint VanHeel (Eden Prairie) 3.) Rick Dubay (Coon Rapids) 4.) Jack House (Farmington) 5.) Dan Mueller (Prior Lake) 6.) Ed Velardi (Northfield)
Second Heat
1.) Rollie Davidson (Burnsville) 2.) Zack Davids 3.) Lew Lunsman (Centuria, WI) 4.) Stan Davis (Maple Grove) 5.) Shimon Casper (Cottage Grove) 6.) Brandi Fischer (Villard)-DNF
Fast Dash
1.) Todd Tracy (Belle Plaine) 2.) Cory Lease (Pierz) 3.) Rob Thurston (Olivia) 4.) Bryan Roach (Becker) 5.) Andy Hansen (Ramsey) 6.) Jay Rickert (Brownton)
Fast Qualifiers
1.) Rob Thurston (18.82 sec.) 2.) Andy Hansen (18.92 sec.) 3.) Jay Rickert (19.00 sec.) 4.) Bryan Roach (19.03 sec.) 5.) Todd Tracy (19.05 sec.)
Feature
1.) Rob Thurston 2.) Andy Hansen 3.) Bryan Roach 4.) Jay Rickert 5.) Rick Dubay 6.) Cory Lease 7.) Todd Tracy 8.) Doug Petty 9.) Clint VanHeel 10.) Lew Lunsman 11.) Stan Davis 12.) Rollie Davidson 13.) Ed Velardi 14.) Zack Davids 15.) Dan Mueller 16.) Shimon Casper 17.) Jack House-DNF
Thunder Cars
First Feature
1.) Dirk Henry (Sauk Centre) 2.) Pat Amelung (Sauk Centre) 3.) Jerry Messer (Sauk Centre) 4.) Jonathan Olmscheid (Elrosa) 5.) Matt Miller (Glenwood) 6.) Doug Olmscheid (Elrosa) 7.) Tim Wojtowicz (Minneapolis) 8.) Daryl Harth (Glenwood) 9.) Scott Schwab Sr. (Sauk Centre) 10.) Lance Stueve (Greenwald) 11.) Ace Valencour (Sauk Centre)-DQ 12.) Bob Allen (St. Cloud)-DNS
Second Feature
1.) Dirk Henry 2.) Jerry Messer 3.) Ace Valencour 4.) Jonathan Olmscheid 5.) Pat Amelung 6.) Pat Rothfork (Melrose) 7.) Matt Miller 8.) Doug Olmscheid 9.) Scott Schwab Sr. 10.) Tim Wojtowicz 11.) Lance Stueve 12.) Dayrl Harth-DNF
UCARs
First Heat
1.) Mike Megher 2.) Joe Karl (Osakis) 3.) Billy Weyer (Sartell) 4.) Dan Bolstad (Fergus Falls) 5.) Adam Waldorf (Osakis) 6.) Kris Wensman (Elmdale)
Second Heat
1.) Andy Heying (St. Cloud) 2.) Tony Hallerman (Sauk Centre) 3.) Marc Rosenow (Grey Eagle) 4.) Ben Mayers 5.) Andy Hornick (Browerville) 6.) Jim Drager (Sauk Centre) 7.) Jamie Messer (Sauk Centre)-DNF
Feature
1.) Ben Mayers 2.) Joe Karl 3.) Mike Megher 4.) Andy Heying 5.) Billy Weyer 6.) Dan Bolstad 7.) Tony Hallerman 8.) Jamie Messer 9.) Kris Wensman 10.) Marc Rosenow 11.) Jim Drager 12.) Andy Hornick 13.) Adam Waldorf-DQ
TQ Stock Cars
Heat
1.) Al Jacobsen (Coon Rapids) 2.) Darin Nelson (Isanti) 3.) Chris Farnum (Isanti) 4.) Leroy Nelson (Isanti) 5.) Mike Farnum (Isanti) 6.) Steve Strandland (Martin Lake) 7.) John Bumgardner (Fridley) 8.) Josh Farnum (St. Francis) 9.) Nathan Johanneck (Hutchinson)-DNF
Feature
1.) Leroy Nelson 2.) Al Jacobsen 3.) Steve Strandland 4.) Mike Farnum 5.) Chris Farnum 6.) Darin Nelson 7.) Josh Farnum 8.) John Bumgardner 9.) Nathan Johanneck-DNS
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