Elko 125 Feature Finish

By: Kevin Ramsell
ELKO, MN (Saturday, June 23, 2009) - West Salem, WI Steve Carlson held off a plethora of Minnesota drivers to win the Elko 125 in front of a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend crowd at Elko Speedway in Elko, MN. It was Carlson’s fourth overall win in the American Speed Association Kwik Trip Midwest Tour presented by ECHO Outdoor Power Equipment.

It was not an easy victory for the veteran as Carlson would hold off Minnesota drivers Jake Ryan, Dan Fredrickson, Donny Reuvers, Jonathan Eilen, and Adam Royle. Carlson patiently worked his way from his eleventh starting position to the front as he was in third at the lap 75 break.

On lap 86, Carlson would take Ryan to school as he would go high into turn three and dive down to the inside and challenge for the lead. But, it was Ryan taking the veteran driver to school as he consistently held on to the top spot. Carlson would keep pressuring Ryan lap after lap until he finally got by him on lap 99 and began to pull away to the eventual victory.

“These guys are all so good now. Jake Ryan, Fredrickson, Reuvers they are all good and its getting more difficult every year to come into somebody’s back yard and beat them,” Carlson said in victory lane. “Jake started sliding up in the corner and I got a run on him.”

“You know I actually didn’t think our car was going to be that good to run up front like that,” Ryan said after the race. “I think I may have over adjusted on the break a little bit and I got it in there a little too high one time and Steve got by me. I’ll take second to Steve Carlson anyday.”

With the crowd on its feet watching the battle for the lead, they were also keeping an eye on the side-by-side battle behind them for third as two hometown heroes, Fredrickson and Reuvers, put on another battle on the 1/3-mile oval. Which Fredrickson took with seven laps to go, and pick up his first podium of the 2009 season.

“It was awesome, super awesome,” Fredrickson said after the race when asked about his thoughts on racing Reuvers for the position. “When he was trying to get after Jake for second, I got up there and got by Donny. We started racing at the same time and we had a lot of great races together. We have good time and hopefully the fans enjoyed the show.

Jacob Goede was the leader as the field of 26 cars took the green flag. Goede would lead the first 22 laps of the race. On lap 23, Ryan would get on the inside of Goede and take over the top spot.

As Ryan was leading the field, Carlson continued to work his way to the front as he got past Chris Wimmer for third on lap 53. Three laps after the ten minute break, Carlson would go on the outside and get past Reuvers for second. He quickly chased down Ryan and the battle was on for the next 12 laps.

Reuvers would finish fourth with Eilen in fifth. Adam Royle was sixth and Nathan Haseleu was seventh. Nick Murgic moved up eight positions to finish eighth with Wimmer in ninth. Tim Schendel rounded out the top-ten.

The event was slowed for three cautions, all for spins.

Unofficially, after three events, Haseleu has an eight point lead over Schendel in the standings.

The ASAMT returns to action next Saturday night for the re-scheduled Race for the Gold Bronze Race at Dells Raceway Park in Wisconsin Dells, WI.