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Some news and notes I gleaned from Elko last night.

Bad Fuel at the Track: That seemed to be the biggest issue there last night and last weekend. Several drivers who purchased fuel from the track reported problems with it. The most serious issues I have heard so far was a burned piston in the #00 Brett Allen sprinter last weekend and a motor burn down (internal damage) to Chris Graf's motor. I believe that was the last motor for Graf, so he may be sidelined until repairs can be made or if he can find another motor. I do not know the extent of the damage, as they were loaded up and gone by the time I made it that far into the pits following the races. I was told Chris and a couple of other drivers poured some fuel on the ground and lit it up. An orange flame appeared indicating the likelihood of gas in the methanol. Mark Toews got some, but he told me it did not pass his "smell test" ahead of time. He did not put any in his fuel cell. My advice to the IRA sprints racing there next weekend, be sure and bring your own fuel along. DO NOT buy any from the track based on the issues reported by those who did.

Barickman becomes first UMSS driver to record two wins in 2010: In the seventh race of the season, Brad Barickman became the first UMSS driver to earn his second feature race win. We shall see if Brad can make it three wins or if another previous winner can tie him with two. Or maybe a brand new winner will emerge on Saturday night.

Reports from a few of the DNF cars on Friday night saw Andy Jones out of the race with a broken torque tube. Andy reported they will take the A-Mod up to Ogilvie on Saturday to get some laps in before the big Como Mod show there next Wednesday, make repairs to the sprinter this week, and then return to UMSS action at Brainerd next Saturday. Dave Becker had a couple of bird cage straps in the right rear break after wall contact. Jennifer Eriksen took a nasty flip, damaging her sprinter (halo was even bent) after landing hard upside down. Fortunately she was reported to be okay. She was the only sprinter upside down last night.

Mike Luks, the second year driver from New Richmond, Wisconsin, fought a smoking motor all night long in Al Hargrave's sprinter. Johnny Parsons fought timing issues with their motor all night long with some smoke puffing out of it. Parsons and Luks were done early in the feature. Richard Smith Jr just got his car ready for the feature race after working on repairing the left front and changing gears following a crash at another track. He arrived with Jessie in the big semi hauler, but told me they had a bunch of work to do before he could race. He managed to make the main and was the last car to pull off near the end of the run. I did not get a chance to find out what put Jared Goerges and Terry Anderson out of the race.

Terry Anderson, out of Dean Brown's hometown of Springfield, was making his first appearance with the UMSS. Mark Toews from Spirit Lake, Iowa was also making his first full show of the season with the UMSS. Mark had attended the rained out Kouba Memorial back on June 5. Mark said he was planning on returning to Brainerd next weekend for the makeup show. Troy Manteufel was making his first Elko appearance of the season. Joseph Kouba also returned to action after sitting out last weekend. Anna Kouba will return to the cockpit of Joe's other sprinter next Saturday at Brainerd.

Notable Missing In Action drivers were Kevin Nickel (still making repairs from his roll-over at Elko last Saturday) and 2009 UMSS Champion Leigh Thomas. I know Leigh has been fighting motor woes recently, so it may have sidelined the #29 car last night. Sye Anderson raced last Saturday at Elko, but I was told his work on a Friday just does not allow him to make the drive down from Brainerd to be in Elko in time. Sye has supported the UMSS at Kopellah on several occasions, typically one of the last cars to arrive in the pits though.

Brandon Allen reported to me that Bruce Allen did indeed suffer a broken wrist last Saturday at Elko when the wheel of the #0 car of Luke Nagel got into the cockpit of his sprinter. As reported earlier, Brett Allen was sidelined with a burned piston in his motor. Tony Kaus had a car borrowed from Neil Stevens after Tony totalled his sprinter in a violent front stretch flip last Friday. Kaus turned in a solid effort with a 7th place finish last night. Young A J Stevens is also making repairs following a Redwood Falls crash last Thursday July 8.

Most definitely the hard charger last night was last Friday's feature winner Bill Johnson. After a dismal heat race run in fifth, Johnson started 15th in the feature and raced his way forward to a 6th place finish with an improvement of +9 positions. Nice run for Bill in his former Jac Haudenschild R19 sprinter. In fact, they still have Haud's name on the car.

The often used old addage of if there were only another five laps in the feature the outcome may have been different was uttered by several, but catching the leader is one thing and passing the leader is another whole different ballgame. It would have been interesting to see if Brad Barickman could have held off a charging Cody Hahn and Alan Gilbertson, but the checkers flew just at the right time. Hahn was right behind Barickman at the finish with Gilbertson maybe another car length or two behind Hahn just as the leaders approached lapped traffic. Very nice run for all three of those drivers. Gilbertson and Richert had a good battle for the third spot heat up after lap 15 with Richert actually getting by Gilbertson for third on lap 17. Alan charged back and retook third from Richert the next lap. Alan told me he found a little something up top when he made that move and regretted not finding it earlier.

The track was in decent condition last night, the best it has been so far. Ron B was there all day assisting with track prep efforts. In the USMTS modified feature race, I did experience a first in my 39 years of attending racing. The initial start was a good one and went off clean, but the yellow blinked on for what was termed debris turn one. There wasn't a lick of debris out there. The red Elko Speedway saftey truck drove over there, the driver got out, and stomped his foot in a pothole in turn one. Yes fans, my first-ever POTHOLE caution on a dirt track. Imagine that, a dirt track with a hole in it. LOL The next start did not go well, as 3 or 4 cars got wadded up on the front stretch. The race then ran 35 laps nonstop with Jason Krohn leading all the way. Krohn was like in another zip code from the rest of the field, as he completely dominated the race. Krohn led by as much as a half lap and won by a full straightaway. The battle for 2-5 was the race to watch.

Congrats also to Dustin Scott on his win in the Elko Mods (mostly midwest mods with some b-mods and sport mods in the mix). As Modman91 termed it, the alphabet mod race. The UMSS-IMCA sprints, USMTS mods, and alphabet (Elko) mods return for the fourth night of the AMSOIL Dirt Nationals tonight Saturday July 17. Next weekend the IRA 410 Outlaw sprint cars along with the Elko Mods and micro sprints race at Elko to finish out the three weekend run at the Dirt Nationals. I will attend next Friday again, but then it is up to Brainerd for the conclusion of the Kouba Memorial with two Challenge races and the 25 lap feature prior to another complete UMSS sprint car program including heats, challenges and the main event. Personally, I like the traditional UMSS format of heats, challenges and a feature more than what Elko has run on the two Friday night shows with heats, a B if there are enough cars, and a feature race. I like seeing the sprints on the track in two rounds of qualifying races rather than just one heat race!