7/4/2021
Cottage Grove Speedway
Trenchard Repeats At Night Two Of Freedom Cup; D. Hibbard And Braaten Also Score Cottage Grove Victories
Trenchard Repeats At Night Two Of Freedom Cup; D. Hibbard And Braaten Also Score Cottage Grove Victories
By Stephanie Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Cody Reeder)
Cottage Grove, Oregon- Night two of the 2021 Freedom Cup was another exciting installment in an already incredible weekend. The Saturday, July 3rd bout featured the same divisions from the previous evening, including two Speedway Motors IMCA Weekly Racing program classes. That included the Todd's Auto Body Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, and Royalty Core IMCA Northern Sport Mods.
In Todd's Auto Body Sprint Car main event action, Justen McConnville set the pace for most of the race. The young Dundee native was relatively smooth and consistent and, at one point, looked untouchable. However, one lone caution took place, which did bring heavy lapped traffic into the picture.
As the long green-flag run developed, Dave Hibbard tried his best to reel in McConville. While most of the field elected to utilize the top shelf of the racetrack, Hibbard of Medford tried his hand on the low line. Skillfully finessing the throttle, Dave managed to complete the pass on McConville on lap twenty.
Hibbard would take off to pace the field the rest of the distance to win his first race of 2021 at Cottage Grove Speedway. Justen McConville ended his evening a respectable second with third going to Camden Robustelli of Medford in the T.J. Winningham mount. Grants Pass' Jared Hood wound up fourth over fifth, finishing Kyle Alberding, from Roseburg. Earlier in the program Medford teenager Enrique Jamie in the Dave Button owned machine.
There would be several lead changes in the first few circuits of the IMCA Modified main event. Springfield's Aaron Sheelar paced the pack on lap one only to be overtaken by Paul Culp, from Creswell, on the next time by the flag stand. However, Sheelar managed to reclaim it on lap three.
Bricen James of Albany successfully navigated his vehicle to the front by the completion of the sixth lap. Unfortunately, James would suffer mechanical problems around the halfway mark, which gave the lead to Springfield's Jake Mayden.
Mayden was quick the rest of the way but briefly went off the top of turns three and four, coming to the white flag. It allowed Nick Trenchard to storm to the front to obtain the point and eventually the win. It was his second straight feature win at Cottage Grove and in KMJ Performance action for his car owners Rich and Nicky Biehn.
Jake Mayden and Springfield's Steven Sturdevant were second and third. Coquille native Ryan Baker posted a fourth-place finish with Jesse Williamson of Coburg, claiming fifth. Jeffrey Hudson, of Keno and in the Don Roemer owned entry, was the winner of the B Main.
Chuck Carson showed the way in the first few laps of the Royalty Core IMCA Northern Sport Mod main event. Unfortunately, the Springfield chauffeur would get caught up in a multi-car incident on lap three. As a result, Lebanon's Dalton Bloom inherited the position. Bloom held on to the position until he was overtaken on lap eight.
Jorddon Bratten was the one to take on the new role as the leader of the competition. Braaten dominated the rest of the distance to win for the second time in 2021 at Cottage Grove and the fourth time in the KMJ Performance Oregon scene. It is Jorddon's sixth overall Speedway Motors IMCA Weekly Racing program win. The last trip to victory lane for Braaten was on June 5th at Southern Oregon Speedway in White City.
Brookings racer Matt Sanders ended the race second with Dustin Comer, from Springfield, getting third. Completing the top five finishers were Molalla driver Travis Pruitt and Ray Bloom, of Creswell, in fourth and fifth. Two B Mains were ran with the winners being Veneta veteran Kevin Ropchan and Matt Sanders.
The 2021 Freedom Cup wraps up on Sunday, July 4th, with fireworks going off when all racing is completed. The same three divisions that have been racing the last two nights will be on the card. For more information, log on to the track website or Facebook pages.
Submitted By: Ben Deatherage
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