8/6/2024
Cottage Grove Speedway
Trenchard Bags $2,600.00 With Last Lap Win At Mark Howard Memorial Modified Nationals At CGS; Kocks, J. Whisler, And B. Bryant Also Earn Historical Ni
Trenchard Bags $2,600.00 With Last Lap Win At Mark Howard Memorial Modified Nationals At CGS; Kocks, J. Whisler, And B. Bryant Also Earn Historical Night Victories
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Cottage Grove Speedway)
Cottage Grove, Oregon—Cottage Grove Speedway hosted its annual Curt Deatherage Memorial Historical Night on Saturday, August 3rd, and inducted the Class of 2024 into the Wall of Fame. The historic 1/4-mile clay oval also had $2,600.00 on the line for the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds presented by Wheeless Trailer Sales Service & RV Repair for the Mark Howard Memorial Modified Nationals. Also on the card were the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods presented by Roadhouse Billiards & Brew, Late Models, and Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts presented by Kiefer.
The fifty-two-lap grand finale for the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds presented by Wheeless Trailer Sales Service & RV Repair began with Eston Whisler taking full advantage of his front-row starting position to snatch the lead from Cottage Grove's Bett Muth.
Whisler tried his best to peddle away, but Jake Mayden made things tricky. The Springfield standout, Mayden, got up to second on lap two and then began to give chase to Whisler. The two drivers went side by side for several laps before Mayden nipped Whisler at the line the fifth time around the track.
Whisler made a slight adjustment to the groove he was racing and then reclaimed the top spot. Lapped traffic came into play a dozen laps in and nobody had to worry about a caution until it waved for the first time on the twenty-third circuit.
There would be three more stoggages in the next fourteen laps. On a restart with twenty-six down, Nick Trenchard, from Klamath Falls, entered the fray as he worked the lower part of the track to get around Mayden for second. Mayden tried to rebuild momentum up high to retake the position, a feat he would perform on lap twenty-nine.
Trenchard got the necessary run to move back into the runner-up spot two circuits after falling back to third. A pair of cautions with around a dozen to go slowed things down again, setting up some key restarts. Whisler remained the alpha dog in the race, staying ahead of all other individuals.
The final yellow came out on lap forty-three. When things went back to green, Trenchard took a big shot on the inside trying to lunge underneath Whisler. The big check would be decided on the final circuit as Whisler seemed to have complete control of first place before he briefly went off the top on the final trip out of turn two and allowed for Trenchard and Eston's younger brother Ian Whisler to take evasive action to avoid colliding with him.
Trenchard would hold back a hard-charging Ian, also from Otis, to be first at the line and win his first career Mark Howard Memorial Modified Nationals dramatically after beginning the main event fifth. It is Trenchard's first win at Cottage Grove this year, and he has accumulated four wins in the Shaw Race Cars Western Region in 2024.
Despite the challenges, Ian Whisler's notable second-place finish after bouncing back from mechanical woes earlier in the night is a testament to his resilience. Curtis Towns, of Cottage Grove, claimed the third spot, with Eston Whisler being credited in fourth. Coburg's Kevin Williamson, in the Dustin Comer-fielded car, finished fifth.
When the green flag emerged for the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods presented by Roadhouse Billiards & Brew, Ray Bloom immediately got out to the front. The Creswell pilot beat out fellow Cresweller Jason Kocks at the line on lap one. Kocks edged him out on the second time past the flag stand just before the first caution.
After a few more yellows, Kocks was back to work on trying to run away from the rest of the field. Lap four saw a shake-up in the podium positions at La Pine youngster, Landyn Philpott, got in to second with Dalton Bloom, from Battle Ground, Washington, in tow.
Philpott submitted a strong challenge on the seventh circuit while Dalton's brother Aaron Bloom, now living in Creswell, battled for third. The caution on lap eight slowed things down yet again.
Philpott tried to slip past Kocks on the bottom as the brothers Bloom went back at it for third. But despite Philpott's best efforts, Kocks started to pull away again. In fact, Dalton Bloom, in the Schram Motorsports car, put immense pressure on Philpott for second before a couple more cautions happened with less than ten laps to go.
On the next to last restart, Philpott and Dalton Bloom got super close with each other, with Dalton getting into the backstretch wall and bringing an end to his night.
The green came back out one last time with a three-car battle for the runner-up position between Philpott, Aaron Bloom, and Creswell's Daniel Ray. Kocks kept his foot on the loud pedal the rest of the way to win an emotional victory on a special night with three people on his mind, no doubt looking down on him from heaven: longtime sponsor Curt Deatherage, mentor Mark Howard, and father Skip.
Aaron Bloom beat out Ray to finish second. Jasper's Eric Ashley, in his daughter Madilynn's car, was fourth while Philpott ended his night fifth.
Rob Williams grabbed the torch early in the Late Model main. The Cottage Grove veteran had some good speed and had a decent lead before the caution came out with three laps complete.
On the restart, Bellfountain's Willie Sutton began to knock on the door and got around Williams on the sixth circuit. Sutton wouldn't get too comfortable as Jim Whisler came to call.
Whisler, from Oits and the father of Eston and Ian, ran down and passed the recently crowned leader at the line on lap ten. The only thing to slow Whisler down was a caution flag on the eleventh time around the speedway.
Whisler asserted complete dominance when the green flag waved as he would win by a whopping 9.458 seconds. It is the first time that he's won this year. Nate Augustine, representing La Pine, and Albany's Randy Barley were second and third. Springfield chauffeurs Ryan Ronning and Jake Mayden, in the Chuck Christian-fielded entry, were fourth and fifth in the finishing order.
At the start of the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact feature, Oakland's Bruce Miller tamed the field on the first lap. While Miller tried to get away, Burnie Bryant, from Sutherlin, cut through the field like a hot knife through butter, getting to second on the fifth circuit. Bryant was not content with being in the runner-up spot, as he powered his way under Miller to be documented as the new pacesetter on lap six.
Bryant checked out from the rest of the pack as Randy Kuhl eventually came into the mix to move into second. Kuhl, of Springfield, battled with hometown racers Tiffany Towns and Dusten Henderson for the position, but Kuhl somehow stayed ahead of them both.
The lone slowdown of the main event happened with four to go, eliminating Bryant's massive advantage. Bryant was great on the restart and won his second race at Cottage Grove in 2024, with five total wins in the current campaign.
Henderson would grab second while Kuhl ended the night third. Cottage Grove's Kerry Cooper scored fourth, while Mark Delange of Springfield was fifth.
The event was broadcasted on IMCA TV affiliate Dirt Oval TV.
Submitted By: Ben Deatherage
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