July 13, 2019 - Elko, MN
By Jason D Searcy
Chandler Smith #20 from Talking Rock (GA) won the ARCA Menards series Menards 250 presented by MatrixCare Saturday night at Elko Speedway. This was the 6th ARCA race in the history of Elko Speedway.
Christian Eckes #15 from Middletown (NY) was the fast timer in qualifying and started on the General tire pole. Chandler Smith qualified 7th on the grid and had to work his way through heavy traffic to move up to the lead by lap 92, on lap 145 Smith slid through oil on the track and spun bringing out a caution and putting him to the back of the lead lap cars. Series point leader #25 Michael Self, #18 Ty Gibbs, grandson of NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs, and Sam Mayer swapped the lead back and forth until Chandler Smith charged up and took back the lead on lap 209. Smith then extended his advantage and won by an impressive 4.147 seconds, it was his third series victory of 2019. Ty Gibbs from Huntersville (NC) finished second, Sam Mayer from Franklin (WI) was third, Michael Self from Salt Lake City (UT) was fourth and NASCAR rising star Hailie Deegan #55 finished on the lead lap in 8th place. Get more details on the race at ARCARacing.com
ELKO local cars also raced on Saturday night, they raced 40 laps in the premier NASCAR Late Models division sponsored by The Car Lot in New Prague. Owin Giles #6 took an early big lead, Jacob Goede #72 from Carver (MN) diced his way through the field to move up to second place by mid-race. With fourteen laps remaining a caution period occurred and Giles pulled into the pits with mechanical problems handing the lead over to five time defending Champion and fast-timer on the night Jacob Goede. Goede then ran to the checkers and won by 1.028 seconds over #3 Chris Marek who was battling with #13 Bryan Wrolstad who finished third, #42 Ryan Kamish was fourth and #18 Michael Ostdiek finished fifth of the 21 cars entered in the race.
Jacob Goede now has a 41 point lead over Chris Marek in the race for the 2019 Late Model Championship.
The Genz-Ryan Thunder Cars had Rookie of the year #6 Robert Michaels take the early lead until #75 Keith Paulsrud took over the top spot on lap 9 of 30. Bryce Blohm #37 from Prior Lake (MN) then challenged Paulsrud and overtook him for the lead with 9 laps remaining in the race. Blohm beat Paulsrud to the finish line by 2.034 seconds for his 7th win of the season. Fast-timer #3 Conrad Jorgenson was third, #25 Eric Campbell fourth and #23 Steve Schultz was fifth of the 11 cars entered in the race.
Five time ELKO Champion Conrad Jorgenson still leads in the standings by 6 points over defending Champion Bryce Blohm in the race for the 2019 title.
The Pepsi Power stocks raced 30 hard laps and had #56 Paul Hamilton lead early until #66 Joe Prusak took the point, then fast-timer and defending Champion #8 Taylor Goldman charged up from her fourth row starting spot to take the lead on lap 8 with an impressive high-side pass. Goldman had a big lead until a caution with 6 laps to go bunched up the field. Goldman and #08 Michael Stoer from Prior Lake (MN) then had a furious fight for the top spot, they raced side by side for numerous laps and had a clean drag race to the finish line. Stoer won by just .065 seconds, it was his 2nd win of the season. Goldman finished second, Joe Prusak third, #88 Nick Oxborough fourth and #27 Darin Patnode fifth.
Oxborough still leads in the race for the 2019 Power Stock Championship, he holds a 35 point advantage over Michael Stoer.
All results and points are unofficial at time of this release.
Up next at Elko Speedway is a NASCAR night sponsored by Safety Kleen and Performance Plus motor oil Saturday night July 20th, gates open at 5pm and action begins just before 6pm. Get more information at ElkoSpeedway.com
Elko Speedway is a NASCAR sanctioned 3/8th mile asphalt oval race track with stadium seating located 30 minutes South of the Twin Cities in Elko-New Market (MN).