7/3/2021
Cottage Grove Speedway
Robustelli, Trenchard, And M. Sanders Open Up 2021 Freedom Cup With Wins At Cottage Grove
Robustelli, Trenchard, And M. Sanders Open Up 2021 Freedom Cup With Wins At Cottage Grove
By Stephanie Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Cody Reeder)
Cottage Grove, Oregon-
Cottage Grove Speedway kicked off their Independence Day tripleheader weekend on Friday, July 2nd. The first of three nights of the 2021 Freedom Cup would have three divisions on the bill, including two Speedway Motor IMCA Weekly Racing program classes. They included the Todd’s Auto Body Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, and Royalty Core IMCA Northern Sport Mods.
Now residing in Newberg, Scotty Fox had an incredible start in the Todd’s Auto Body Sprint Car feature. Fox paced the field in the first portion of the main event but unfortunately hit the wall and took a tumble down the front stretch on lap three. It would hand the lead over to Cottage Grove’s Justin Lemon.
Lemon did a masterful job of keeping his mount in front of the rest of the contingent. However, he did receive some pressure from Camden Robustelli in the T.J. Winningham-owned entry in the closing circuits. The two would fight it out on the final lap, with Robustelli slipping past Lemon to go on to score the victory.
It is the young Medford driver’s first win of the season at CGS. Lemon was a respectable second followed by Kyle Alberding, from Roseburg, in third. Medford’s Dave Hibbard placed fourth over fifth finishing Junction City veteran Shane Forte.
The IMCA Modified main event saw an equally exciting race. Chad Groves paced the field in the early goings. However, from Bend, Groves would bicycle hard after a lap two restart with his left side of his race car lifting into the air and then slamming down into the ground.
Under the next caution, Groves would come to a halt and would report to the pit area. Medford’s Mark Wauge would be the new frontrunner.
Despite several cautions, Mark Wauge successfully navigated the ¼-mile clay oval. But, in the closing laps, he would be caught by Nick Trenchard, of Klamath Falls. Trenchard seized the coveted top place position on lap twenty-two.
Seventeenth starting Nick Trenchard scored the feature win for his first win of the season at Cottage Grove, in the KMJ Performance Oregon State, and in the Shaw Race Cars Western Region. It is his first win since July 4th, 2020, at Diamond Mountain Speedway in Susanville, California.
Mark Wauge was a strong second, followed by Coburg’s Jesse Williamson, in third. The balance of the top five consisted of Jake Mayden from Springfield and Coquille traveler Ryan Baker in fourth and fifth. Nick Trenchard also was victorious earlier in consolation feature after starting dead last in that event.
For the Royalty Core IMCA Northern Sport Mods, it was utter domination courtesy of Matt Sanders. Before that, however, Prescott Valley, Arizona’s Timothy Allerdings, took control of first place on the drop of the initial green flag.
Allerdings was to be overtaken on the third circuit by Kevin Williamson.
Williamson, from Coburg, remained at the helm until lap nine when Matt Sanders obtained the point. From there on out, the Brookings-based chauffeur was practically untouchable the rest of the distance to win his first race of the season at Cottage Grove Speedway and in KMJ Performance Oregon State competition. However, Matt has scored three other victories in the Speedway Motors IMCA Weekly program. His most recent triumph is at Yreka, California’s Siskiyou Golden Speedway on May 30th at the Billy Geyer Memorial.
Central Point’s Jorddon Braaten ended his evening in second, followed by third-place finisher Timothy Allerdings.
Kevin Williamson was credited with fourth with fifth going to Atwater, California traveler Chase Thomas. Two consolation features were run with victories going to Yuba City, California’s Jason Ferguson and Jorddon Braaten.
Cottage Grove Speedway returns to racing on Saturday, July 3rd, for round two of the 2021 Freedom Cup. Again, the same three divisions will be on the bill. For more information, be sure and check out both the track website and Facebook pages.
Submitted By: Ben Deatherage
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