7/12/2021
Cottage Grove Speedway
Forte, Williamson, Luckman, Henry, Osborne, And Dickenson Gets Cottage Grove Wins During Ladies Night
Forte, Williamson, Luckman, Henry, Osborne, And Dickenson Gets Cottage Grove Wins During Ladies Night
By Stephanie Deatherage
Cottage Grove, Oregon- Saturday, July 10th, was Ladies Night at Cottage Grove Speedway. The historical ¼-mile clay oval had six divisions on hand, including three Speedway Motors IMCA Weekly Racing program classes. They included the Todd’s Auto Body Sprints, IMCA Modifieds, Late Models, Royalty Core IMCA Northern Sport Mods, Street Stocks, and IMCA Sport Compacts.
In the Todd’s Auto Body Sprint Car feature, Tyler Thompson took control on the opening start. The Harrisburg pilot, racing for car owner Brian Crockett, stayed there until mechanical problems sidelined him on lap three. Sutherlin’s Pat Desbiens took over control of the top place position. Desbiens remained there until the sixth trip past the flag stand.
The leader of lap six was Junction City veteran Shane Forte. Forte checked out from the rest of the field and went on to win his first feature of 2021 at CGS. He is the ninth winner in eleven shows at the track.
Pat Desbiens was a respectable second, followed by Roseburg teenager Brenden McMaster in the Vern Scevers owned mount, in third. Tim Minter, from Cottage Grove, was scored fourth while fifth went to Dundee’s Justen McConville.
Steven Sturdevant paced the field for the majority of the IMCA Modified main event. The Springfield chauffeur paced the field by a healthy margin until a late caution bunched everyone up. Sturdevant came under some heavy fire on the restart and eventually was overtaken by Jesse Williamson on lap eighteen.
Williamson ran off into the sunset the rest of the distance to scored his second win of the 2021 campaign. It is also his second consecutive victory in Cottage Grove, KMJ Performance Oregon State, and Shaw Race Cars Western Region competition.
Otis teenager Eston Whisler came across the wire in second over third, finishing Steven Sturdevant. Albany’s Matthew Drager and Jake Mayden, from Springfield, were fourth and fifth.
The Late Model class went into Saturday night with there yet to be a repeat winner in feature action. Scio’s Rob Campos paraded the field around on lap one only to be passed the second circuit by Preston Luckman. Luckman, from Coos Bay, received pressure late in the race with just a few laps to go, only for a caution to come out.
Preston would master the restart and collected his first win at Cottage Grove this season. He makes it seven different drivers in as many Late Model races that have won at CGS in 2021. Jimmy Whisler, from Otis, was the runner-up while third at the line being Randy Barley, from Albany. Rob Campos ended his evening in fourth over Eugene’s Chuck Christian, who got fifth.
K.C. Scott took control of the Royalty Core IMCA Northern Sport Mods field at the drop of the first green flag. Scott, of Springfield, remained the pacesetter until lap five. After that, Roseburg’s Jordan Henry was the new driver to pace the competition.
Henry would experience several slowdowns due to cautions, which put him under a massive amount of pressure to keep his lead on the restarts. Five total stoppages occurred in the first thirteen trips around the track. Despite the yellows, Jordan Henry kept his composure and kept blazing the trail even though he briefly lost the lead on one occasion but was rescued by a stoppage.
Jordan Henry held on to win his first career feature victory at Cottage Grove Speedway and in KMJ Performance Oregon State action. Henry is the seventh winner in thirteen events at “The Grove” in 2021.
Dustin Comer of Springfield and Creswell’s Ray Bloom were second and third. Prescott Valley, Arizona pilot Timothy Allerding posted a fourth-place result while Springfield’s Daniel Ray wrapped up the top five in fifth.
For the Street Stocks, Dexter-based driver Taunton Swaim led the opening legs. However, Graig Osborne overtook Swaim on the eighth circuit and didn’t look back once he obtained the position. Osborne, of Creswell, dominated the rest of the distance to win his fifth Street Stock win at Cottage Grove this season.
Taunton Swaim held on to second, with third being credited to Troy Chamberlain from Junction City. Keizer’s Anthony Prather and Mike Swaim, from Dexter, were the balance of the top five finishers in fourth and fifth.
Lastly, the IMCA Sport Compacts had a thriller of a race. Cottage Grove’s Kerry Cooper took the reigns on in the first few laps of the feature. Andrew Langan maneuvered his way around Cooper by lap five. However, by the time lap traffic came around Langan, of Jasper and in the Randy Kuhl entry, tried to get by the slower cars but was in the process of getting passed by Bradley Martin.
Martin, from Dexter, shot the gap to get by Langan, but the two cars briefly got together, resulting in Martin getting upside down. On the restart, Langan could not continue for much longer as he was down power due to damage sustained from the earlier incident. Roseburg’s Ryan Dickenson obtained first place by the completion of the fourteenth circuit.
Dickenson conquered the field for the first time in Cottage Grove competition in 2021 and KMJ Performance Oregon State action. The IMCA Sport Compacts have had ten races with five different victors. Opie Donaldson, from Dexter, wound up second, with third going to Kerry Cooper. Rex Eckley, also from Dexter, and Cottage Grove’s Tiffany Towns put in fourth and fifth place efforts.
Cottage Grove Speedway returns to racing on Friday, July 16th, and Saturday, the 17th, for the final two rounds of the 2021 Speedweek Northwest for 360 Sprints. Support divisions on Friday are IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sport Compacts, while Saturday is IMCA Modifieds and Street Stocks. For more information, log on to the track website or Facebook page.
Submitted By: Ben Deatherage