Despite a Shower on Friday Speedway Races Last Saturday

The latest racing roundup from Cottage Grove.

File photo courtesy: WorldofOutlaws.com

COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. - As the season winds down for 2009 at the Cottage Grove Speedway the action and competition has definitely done so.

Last Friday the Kage Karts were scheduled to be in action but unfortunately an afternoon shower on their race day forced the race to be canceled their next and final race of the season in September 18th. Luckily the weather cooperated enough Friday night and Saturday morning so that cancellation of Saturday’s show was not in question.

The night was brought to the fans by the fine of Dutch Bros. Coffee featuring Late Models, Modifieds, All-American Street Stocks, and the Cascade Hardtops. Also on hand were the 360 Sprints running not one but two features; the first being twenty laps and the second being thirty laps thus dubbed the 20/30 Challenge.

Cascade Hardtops:

In the first class of the night the Cascade Hardtops put on some great racing throughout the night. They were the only cars that did not qualify so they would make their debut in the trophy dash. In that race Dave Bax of Beaverton was able to come from the back to take over the lead and pick up the win as he did the same later on in his heat race.

In the main event a great battle ensued between Stanley Garboden of Eugene and Dave Bax. It looked like Garboden had the race won until Bax made a late race charge to lead the rest of the distance. Stanley Garboden would finish in second followed by Scott Garboden of Eugene in third.

Late Models:

In the Late Models Don Muth Sr. of Cottage Grove turned a good lap of 12.746 seconds around the ¼ to get fast time of the night. In the trophy dash Rob Campos of Redmond was able to get out in front and stay there to pick up the victory in the four-lap race.

In the first heat race two consecutive false starts put the original front row to the back. Don Muth Sr. was able to take advantage of the outside pole starting position and got the lead early and took off to cross the finish line first. In heat two disaster struck in turns one and two after a restart on lap one collected five cars and sending several on the hook in the pits. Despite the big wreck it didn’t stop Trent Elliott of Redmond from winning the heat race, as he was able to cruise to the win.

In the thirty-lap feature Jake Mayden of Cheshire surprised everyone by simply taking of with the lead in the early stages leading the first nine laps. But Rob Campos was able to run him down and take over the lead on the tenth lap. Four cautions occurred during the feature but it didn’t stop Campos from earning his first Late Model victory in several years and his first at the Cottage Grove Speedway. Finishing in second was Don Muth Sr. after coming from twelfth place due to the invert, in the third spot it was Mayden followed by Kreg Britton of Cottage Grove and Trent Elliot rounding up the top five.

360 Sprints:

In the 360 Sprints it was a little different format for the night. In qualifications Roger Crockett of Medford was able to set fast time of the night at a very quick 10.534 seconds time. There were two trophy dashes ran the first with the fast four qualifiers and the second with the four slowest qualifiers. In the first trophy dash Dale Smith of Cottage Grove was able to make a last corner pass on Gary Davis of Salem to pick up the victory. In the second trophy dash Heath Shelton of Drain was able to finish first in the four-lap race. What really made the format interesting is that there were no heat races and just the two main events.

In the first main event of the night Ozzie Osburn of Springfield impressed several people by leading and staying out in front of the field. Dale Smith was able to close in on Osburn and overtake the lead on lap five. Smith in turn would lead for a couple of laps until Roger Crockett was able to take over the lead which would be on lap seven. Crockett would not give up the top spot, as he would win the first feature of the 20/30 Challenge. Dale Smith would finish in second followed by Colin Baker of Cottage Grove at the line over Osburn and Heath Shelton rounded up the top five.

After the twenty-lap feature the teams and drivers were given some time to rest and work on their cars and would have the Modified main event in between their first and second main events. By the time the second main event was rolled out on the track the lineup was pretty interesting with the finishing order of the first main event inverted to make up the starting order of the second main.

In the start of the thirty-lap feature Kyler Barraza of Myrtle Creek and Gary Davis battled it out early with both of them spending some time in the lead. Davis was able to seal off the lead eventually and would try and separate himself from the field until Roger Crockett had worked his way up to the front. Crockett was able to take the lead before the tenth lap was turned and like in the first main event once out in front had no problems leading, in fact Crockett had lapped all the way up to fifth place in the running order. Crockett would win the second main event brining his total of main event wins this season to twenty as it was at eighteen going into the night. In second Dale Smith was able to rally and finish in a great position while like in the first main event as well Colin Baker was able to finish in third. Rounding out the top five for the feature was Kyler Barraza and Gary Davis.

Modifieds:

In the Modifieds Braedon Hand of Cottage Grove was able to set fast time of the night at 13.586 seconds, which was a very fast time compared to the current track record. In the trophy dash Don Muth Jr. of Cottage Grove was able to lead the entire distance as he continues to have a break out year.

In the first heat race Aaron Sheelar of Springfield utilized his front row starting position to go on and win the eight-lap race. In the second heat race a good battle for the lead occurred between Casey Vitale of Lebanon and Gus Cooper of Creswell. Cooper eventually was able to seal of the lead and pick up the victory.

In the thirty-lap feature Austen Bloom of Lowell and Cottage Grove’s Nate Morelock battled for the lead in the early stages until lap three when Greg McDonald of Cottage Grove was able to take it over. McDonald would retain the lead for a handful of laps as Casey Vitale was able make the move for the lead on the fifth lap.

Vitale was not out of the woods yet as Gus Cooper tracked him down and the two stayed side by side for several circuits. Lapped traffic really became a factor as it went down to who could get through it the fastest. Cooper was able to use some key passes with the lappers to get some breathing row and would eventually cross the stripe first to pick up his first win of 2009 at “the Grove.” Unfortunately Vitale would drop out due to a flat tire before the finish so finishing in second was Don Muth Jr., in third Curtis Towns of Cottage Grove was able to come across the stripe ahead of Greg McDonald and Austen Bloom rounding out the top five.

All-American Street Stocks:

In the final class of the night Andrew Langan of Jasper was able to set fast time of the night and break his older brother T.J.’s track record of 14.95 seconds lowering the time to 14.81 seconds. In the trophy dash Ross Denton of Yoncalla was able to finish in front of the field to win the four-lap race.

In heat race action Andrew Langan found his way to the front of the field and was able to stay out of trouble to get the win in the first heat race. In the second heat race everyone was surprised to see that Kasi Comer of Springfield in his first All-American Street Stock performance was able to not only lead but also go on to win his heat race.

In the twenty-five main event late arrival T.J. Langan, in his first race of the year, utilized his pole starting position to take the initial lead but found himself battling Russ Blum of Cottage Grove for the lead. As the two were battling for the lead it gave an opportunity for the rest of the field to close in on them and bring more challengers for the lead.

As lapped cars came into the picture it gave an opportunity for one of the challengers to take over the race lead. That challenger was Andrew Langan getting by first his older brother T.J. then Russ Blum. Andrew Langan would go on to win the race followed by Blum, T.J. Langan, Don Frisbie of Vancouver, Washington finishing in fourth followed by Jeff Casto of Cottage Grove.

Well race fans that does it for this week’s edition of action at the Cottage Grove Speedway. Next week will be Fan Appreciation Night at the track where admission is three dollars a person and one dollar sodas and hot dogs will be on sale so definitely take advantage of the bargain. On the card will be Limited Sprints, Late Models, and All-American Street Stocks but also there will be the first ever visit of the Big Rig Trucks which will do battle around the ¼ mile. Don’t forget the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series will be in town on Tuesday September 8th and good seat are still available and can be purchased at cottagegrovespeedway.com. For additional information on times and tickets be sure and visit the listed site.

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