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Hibbard, Towns, Ashley, And Dubisar CG Chamber Night Winners; Dan Jenkinson Victorious In The Salute To Melvin Walker

Hibbard, Towns, Ashley, And Dubisar CG Chamber Night Winners; Dan Jenkinson Victorious In The Salute To Melvin Walker
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy Dirt Monkey Productions)
Cottage Grove Speedway would host Cottage Grove Area Chamber Of Commerce Night on Saturday April 18th. Classes in action included the Clark Printing Extreme Sprints, Late Models, IMCA Sport Mods, Street Stocks, and the Quality RV Repair Hornets. For the Hornets their main event was a special one and appropriately named the Salute To Melvin Walker in tribute to one of the division's important figures.

The Clark Printing Extreme Sprints would put on a great display of racing. Dave Hibbard from Medford would take full advantage of his front row starting position to get out in front of the field on the opening start. Hibbard would set a rapid pace but when lapped traffic came into play he would have his hands full with Cottage Grove's Patrick Dills looking to overtake him. However a caution on lap eleven would allow Hibbard to restart with some open track.

Hibbard would have a good restart and the next time he hit lapped traffic he would have no issues getting around them. Hibbard would stay out in front to put his C&H Motorsports/Dave's Carpet and Vinyl Liquidators/Tangible Real Estate Investments #3 Zeitler Brothers entry in Huddle Automotive Repair victory lane. For the second straight season he would win the first race of the season in the Clark Printing Extreme Sprint division.

In the last few laps a fantastic battle for second would be waged with Cottage Grove native Colby Carter, in the Huddle Automotive Repair/Royal Flush Environmental Services/Oregon West RV #71 XXX, finishing ahead of Roseburg's Orion Redmond, piloting his Redmond Trucking/Umpqua Sand and Gravel/Double R Powdercoating #12 J&J. The Jacob Daniels Attorney at Law/Devine Continuous Gutters/All Seasons Equipment #5D KPC of Patrick Dills was fourth followed by Michael Kofoid, from Penngrove, California, in his Dan Simpson Racing/DES Inc./Red Line Oil #3K Maxim.

Patrick Dills was fastest in time trials earning the Jim's Tire Factory Quick Time Award while Colby Carter was the winner of the Dot's Trophy Shop Trophy Dash. Heat race winners were Michael Kofoid and the Three Rivers Casino/Bi-Mart/Brook's Cut Rate Auto Parts #70 XXX of Raquel Ivie from Eugene.

Kevin Ropchan of Veneta was the car to beat in the Late Model main event for the majority of the race. Ropchan, in his Eugene Gutter Service/E.B.M. Pro Floors/BK Engineering #03 Swartz, set a wicked pace but his large lead would be cut down due to a lap eleven caution. On the restart he would keep all challengers in check but lapped traffic began to come into the picture.

Ropchan, with just laps to go, would have his hands full with Cottage Grove's Curtis Towns. Towns would finally find a way around Ropchan in traffic on lap twenty-one. Towns would lead the rest of the way, despite a late race caution, to visit Huddle Automotive Repair Victory Lane. It would be the second straight win for Towns and car owner Paul Culp as the Superior Fuel Cells/All Pro Steel/Rapid Delivery Service #42 X-Factor is perfect in Late Model competition at CGS in 2015.

Kevin Ropchan would be a respectable runner-up while Blaine Taylor, of Pleasant Hill, was third in his My Boy's Slate Fired Pizza/Taylor's Restaurant Equipment #18 MasterSbilt. The rest of the top five would consist of Lebanon's Josh Sim in fourth, driving the M.G. Construction/Code Green Head/Mid-Columbia Diesel Services #20 Swartz, and the LW Motorsports/Metalworks Classic Auto Restoration #02A MasterSbilt of Tom Lawson from Veneta in fifth.

Curtis Towns was fastest in time trials earning the Jim's Tire Factory Quick Time Award while Kevin Ropchan was the winner of the Dot's Trophy Shop Trophy Dash. Heat race winners were Curtis Towns and Mike Peters of Cottage Grove in the Lucas Oil Products/Sierra Ridge Cabinetry/Ron Peters Cabinets #88 Swartz.

In the 2015 IMCA Sport Mod debut it would be Gene Ashley of Jasper the car to beat all night. However Cottage Grove's Jimmy Owen put up a valiant effort in the main event. Owen would keep his Steelhouse Metal Roofing Supply/Quality RV Repair/Devine Continuous Gutters #38 machine out in front for the majority of the feature.

But on lap eleven Gene Ashley would seize the lead and began to pull away from Owen. Ashley would put the Furniture Options/A-1 Auto Supply #85 mount in Huddle Automotive Repair Victory Lane after capturing the win. It would be a clean sweep for Ashley as he was the Jim's Tire Factory Quick Time Award, Dot's Trophy Shop Trophy Dash winner, and heat race victor. Jimmy Owen would be second while the Quality RV Repair/Pro Auto Works/Springfield Tire Factory #51N BMS of Jayson Nelson, from Springfield, was third.

The Street Stocks would have one heck of a race for their first race of the season. The first four cars would put on a great main event from start to finish without any incidents. Eugene's Chris Sine would take over the early race lead on lap one in his Quantum Mechanics/Pro Auto/Pure Romance-April Sine #24 Camaro.

Sine would try to retain the lead as long as he could but defending champion Evan Britton, of Cottage Grove, would get the lead on lap ten. Britton, in the Robert Howell Logging/Todd's Auto Body/Clark Printing #85 Nova, would be under constant pressure by the Kytola and Luscombe Construction/Lil' Stinker Portable Toilets/Denny's Pizza #10 Monte Carlo of Steve Dubisar from Coquille. Dubisar would grad the lead on lap twelve and would manage to stay out in front the rest of the way to park his ride in the Huddle Automotive Repair Victory Lane.

Evan Britton was second followed by Chris Sine in third. Fourth would go to the Casto Racing #3 Monte Carlo of Cottage Grove's Jeff Casto while John Crabtree, of Gold Beach, was fifth in his Buggy Boys #58 Camaro.

Steve Dubisar was fastest in time trials earning the Jim's Tire Factory Quick Time Award while Chris Sine was the winner of the Dot's Trophy Shop Trophy Dash. The winner of the one and only heat race was Dubisar.

Last but not least the Quality RV Repair Hornets would be in action with a total of thirty entries signing in on the registration sheets. The main event would be the “Salute To Melvin Walker” who was in attendance watching the races with several of his family members racing throughout the night. In fact Melvin's wife, Teresa, would win the Froggy Family Dash in her Froggy's Towing/Big B Tire/Dan's Automotive #31 Chevrolet Cavalier.

In the main event the Junction City Muffler Shop/Twisted Bit Arena/Guaranty Chevrolet #23F Nissan Centra of Junction City's Marcel Forte would be the early leader. Forte would lose the lead on lap two to the Rapid Delivery Service/DT Machine & Fab/Bigg Dogg Recycling #48 Toyota Celica of Dexter's Mike Swaim. Swaim would have a good battle with Josh Corley from Westfir for the top spot.

Unfortunately Swaim and the Burnett Builders #7C Nissan 200SX, of Corley, would get together around lap four resulting in both being put out of contention for the win. The lead would be inherited by the Quality RV Repair/AP Media/Froggy's Towing #28 Acura Integra driven by Chris Pierce from Cottage Grove, driving for car owner Jayson Nelson.

After several stoppages Pierce would lose the lead to Veneta's Joe Maricle, chauffeuring his Royal Refuse Services #11 Toyota Celica, following a restart. Unfortunately those two would get together and crash on the front stretch with heavy damage to both entries on lap twelve.

The AP Media/Trackside Auto Repair #14 Volvo Wagon of Casey Johnson, from Eugene, would get the lead after the mishap but would lose it on lap thirteen to Dan Jenkinson of Marcola. Jenkinson would stay out in front the rest of the distance to park his Dan's Automotive/South Valley Automotive #4 Nissan 200SX in Huddle Automotive Repair Victory Lane to become the winner of the Salute To Melvin Walker.

Marcel Forte ended the night in second while the Dan's Automotive #9 Dodge Neon of Marcola's Dale Jenkinson was third. The balance of the top five would consist of Joe Maricle in fourth, recovering from the early incident, and Pleasant Hill's Justin Austin in fifth piloting the Mike Swaim owned Rapid Delivery Service/DT Machine & Fab/Bigg Dogg Recycling #22A Toyota Tacoma.

Josh Corley was fastest in time trials earning the Jim's Tire Factory Quick Time Award and was also the winner of the Dot's Trophy Shop Trophy Dash. Heat race winners were Josh Corley, Taunton Swaim of Dexter driving the Randy Kuhl owned More of Everything Racing Collectibles, DT Machine & Fab/Bigg Dogg Recycling #17 Toyota Tacoma, Mike Swaim, and Springfield driver Daniel Ray in the Randy Kuhl owned DT Machine & Fab #71 Mitsubishi Mirage. The Dr. Vape Products/Quantum Mechanics/Big B Tire #30 Mazda Protege of K.C. Scott from Springfield won the consolation feature.

Cottage Grove Speedway will be in action for two nights of racing on both Friday April 24th and Saturday the 25th for the Spring Showdown. Both evenings will feature the Western Sprint Tour which is the premier touring 360 Sprint series in the Pacific Northwest region. You do not want to miss these two nights of racing.

360 Sprints will be on tap for both nights while Late Models and Street Stocks will be the support class on Friday and the IMCA Modifieds and the Quality RV Repair Hornets will take over that role on Saturday.

Admission prices for both nights are Adults $15.00, Juniors/Seniors/Military $13.00, Youths (Ages 6-12) $8.00, and Children 5 & Under FREE. Both nights the Pit Gates will open at 2:00 PM, Front Gates 4:00, Qualifying 5:30, and Racing begins right around 6:45. For more information log on to www.cottagegrovespeedway.com.

Race Summary
Cottage Grove Area Chamber Of Commerce Night
Saturday April 18th, 2015
Cottage Grove Speedway
Cottage Grove, Oregon

Clark Printing Extreme Sprints
A Feature: 1. 3-David Hibbard; 2. 71-Colby Carter; 3. 12-Orion Redmond; 4. 5D-Patrick Dills; 5. 3K-Michael (Buddy) Kofoid; 6. 85-Ricky Ashley; 7. 21-Mike Griffith; 8. 28-Mark Herz; 9. 10K-Don Waddell; 10. 57-Dusty Redmond; 11. 70-Raquel Ivie; 12. 77-Brian Lemon

Late Models
A Feature: 1. 42-Curtis Towns; 2. 03-Kevin Ropchan; 3. 18-Blaine Taylor; 4. 20-Josh Sim; 5. 02A-Tom Lawson; 6. 5-Britton Donahoo; 7. 88-Mike Peters; 8. 16-Rob Williams; 9. 22-Mike Linder; 10. 40M-Murry Sim; 11. 78-Ed Peters; DNS 22C-Chris Linder

IMCA SportMods
A Feature: 1. 85-Gene Ashley; 2. 38-Jimmy Owen; 3. 51N-Jayson Nelson

Street Stocks
A Feature: 1. 10-Steve Dubisar; 2. 85-Evan Britton; 3. 24-Chris Sine; 4. 3-Jeff Casto; 5. 58-John Crabtree; DNS 01-Randy Dunlap

Quality RV Repair Hornets
A Feature: 1. 4-Dan Jenkinson; 2. 23F-Marcel Forte; 3. 9-Dale Jenkinson; 4. 11-Joe Maricle; 5. 22A-Justin Austin; 6. 27-Dusten Henderson; 7. 28-Chris Pierce; 8. 14-Casey Johnson; 9. 71-Daniel Ray; 10. 80-James McClure; 11. 00-Scott Sprague; 12. 48-Mike Swaim; 13. 7-Josh Corley; 14. 18-Josh Linville; 15. 41-Jim Simmons; 16. 63B-Bart Pulse; 17. 31-Teresa Walker; 18. 23-Brandon Letson; 19. 30-K.C. Scott; DNS 17-Taunton Swaim

B Feature: 1. 30-K.C. Scott; 2. 00-Scott Sprague; 3. 31-Teresa Walker; 4. 22A-Justin Austin; 5. 7-Andrew Mathers; 6. 56-Gary Richards; 7. 70X-Samantha Perkins; 8. 5-Kayla Simmons; 9. 23T-Torrey Carroll; 10. 77-Mike Simmons; 11. 29-Scott Britton; DNS 13-Steve Moore; DNS 30-BreAnne Walker; DNS 19-Tony Perkins

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