FREDRICKSON WINS THE RACE, HOLZHAUSEN TAKES THE GOLD AT ELKO

Carlson and Wimmer close in on Haseleu for the Championship

By: Kevin Ramsell
ELKO, MN (Saturday, September 26, 2009) - It was a night of great racing and many story lines at Elko Speedway. Dan Fredrickson finally returns to victory lane in the American Speed Association Kwik Trip Midwest Tour presented by ECHO Outdoor Power Equipment, Steve Holzhausen wins the Race for the Gold Championship and there will be a battle for the championship at the season finale.

Dan Fredrickson started on the outside of the front row for the 125-lap main event and he quickly got the lead over current ASAMT point leader Nathan Haseleu, who started on the pole.

Haseleu, who had a top-ten in every event so far this season, would see his streak end on lap 37. As he was battling with Chris Wimmer and Jason Schneider for second place coming down the frontstretch, Haseleu had something happen in his transmission causing him to spin going into turn one. The point leader’s night ended as it went off on the hook and he would finish 26th.

This would become a golden opportunity for Steve Carlson to decrease Haseleu’s 61-point leading that he had coming into tonight. Carlson spent most of the event battling with Jonathan Eilen for the fifth spot.

Back up front, Chris Wimmer also saw this as an opportunity to put himself in position for the championship and he worked his way to the front after starting seventh. Wimmer would get the second spot after Haseleu’s caution and would spend the rest of the race trying to get around Fredrickson for the lead. Lap after lap Wimmer would go on the inside of Fredrickson but Fredrickson’s car was too strong on the outside and he would on to the spot.

While this was going on, Steve Holzhausen who started ninth was making his way through the field and would get past Jason Schneider for third on lap 63. He would stay there all the way to the checkered flag.

The fans in attendance were on the edge of their seats as Wimmer continued to try to get around the defending ASAMT champion. As the checkers fell, it was Fredrickson finally reaching victory lane for the first time this season and Holzhausen would take home a brick of gold valued at $4,000.

“I would have liked to drive off but he was good and I would get him there for three to four laps and he would get me back for three to four laps. When he came up to me I gave him a full lane, cause he is a buddy of mine, and the bottom was a little tighter here and he wasn’t able to get by me on the bottom,” a smiling Fredrickson said in victory lane. “I had a decent car on the top and the bottom which is just about the best you can hope for here. Ours was a neutral car and it was good enough to stay up front.”

Wimmer was hoping for his second win of the season but was satisfied with his second place run, “I am happy to finish second, the last thing I wanted to do was wreck him and then having both of us going to the back. I am happy to finish second, I would have loved to have won,” Wimmer said after the race.

Holzhausen, who raced at Elko for the first time in over 20 years, came home with a third place finish and would win the overall Race for the Gold Championship by 35 points over Fredrickson. “Actually, I thought how the car ran in the first part of the race, I thought I would have something for them but we ended up a little short,” Holzausen said afterwards. “But, I will tell you what this is a racer’s racetrack and its been so long since I have been here I forgot how nice it was. I had blast tonight and everything went really good. Its pretty groovy to finish third.”

Holzhausen was also excited about the unique prize he received for winning the overall title, “Most of the time you just get a trophy and they collect dust. But, this here is a pretty cool piece.”

Schneider would come home fourth. Jacob Goede raced his way back from an early altercation to finish fifth as he got past Carlson for the position at the finish.

In the final Race for the Gold Standings, it was Holzhausen with 415 points with Fredrickson in second with 380 points. Steve Carlson was third with 349 points Chris Wimmer was in fourth with 317 points. Haseleu rounded out the top-five with 307 points.

Carlson’s sixth place run unofficially puts him only 10 points behind Haseleu in the standings. Wimmer’s second place run puts him unofficially 52 points behind the leader going into Oktoberfest on Sunday, October 11 at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway in West Salem, WI. Those three drivers are the only ones mathematically eligible to race for the championship.