COTTAGE GROVE, Oregon -- Tony Thomas made a little history Saturday night at Cottage Grove Speedway.
The Mill City, Oregon driver won the first wingless sprint car race held at Cottage Grove Speedway in ten years. Thomas won aboard a Jim Helm-owned sprinter in a United Sprint Car Association event. For Thomas, it was his seventh victory of the year.
The Portland area-based USCA, featuring cars with 360ci motors, was the first wingless group to visit the ¼-mile clay oval since the California-based Sprint Car Racing Association, then a 410 series, visited in July 1995.
Thomas started the 25-lap main event in the third position, and then passed Keary Morris for second place on lap six. For ten laps, Thomas tailed initial leader Vince McDonnell, unable to get around him using the inside of the track. On lap 16, Thomas elected to go outside McDonnell entering turn one, and made it work as he took the lead exiting turn two. Thomas never looked back from there, leading the final ten laps of the race.
McDonnell and Morris would finish second and third, respectively. Mark Hinkle ran a strong race and would finish fourth ahead of Gary Davis, many-time WESCO champion Bert Johnson and Daniel Modaff. Tony Parker and Tommy Moreno rounded out the top ten.
The initial start of the race was stopped by a horrendous double-crash by Jimmy Beardsley and Tom Wyatt in turn one. Both cars hit the outside wall hard and Wyatt ended up outside the track in the trees. Both drivers emerged from their mangled cars unharmed.
Mike McCann won a 15-lap Northern Outlaw Midget Association main event, leading every lap. Dave Pugsley Jr., Steve Dickenson, Lance Hallmark, and Matt Mitchell finished second through fifth, respectively.
Winning yet again in the limited winged sprint cars was hometown racer Marvin Smith, taking his sixth point race victory and his seventh overall this season. Smith, who also leads the winged 360 sprint car point standings at Cottage Grove Speedway, led every lap and was never threatened.
Kevin Etchison, briefly coming out of retirement to race in Saturday’s event, had his night end early when his limited sprint wrecked in turn four and crashed into catch fence, tearing a large portion of it down. No spectators were hurt, but the severity of the damage to fence in that section forced that area of the grandstands to be emptied for racing to continue.
John Hagen, Rob Held, and Ryan Martinez finished second through fourth behind Smith, while point leader Shane Forte’ turned in another solid run to take fifth place. Nate Morelock, Mike Crawford, Jeff “Ozzie” Osburn, Timm Wagner, and Mike Griffith rounded out the top ten.
Smith and Hagen each picked up heat race victories.
Taking another win in modified action was Aaron Sheelar. Derek Ofenham made a late race run to take second place over Robert Hand, Joe Forsman, and Rod Turner. Hand and Chris Murphy each picked up heat race victories.
Art Hiatt was the winner of the sportsman stock main event. Heath Shelton also picked up a heat race victory in that class.
The Northern Sprint Tour will visit next Saturday, September 17 for its final appearance of the season at Cottage Grove Speedway. The season championships for winged 360 sprint cars, limited sprints, modifieds, and sportsman stocks will be held on Wes Kelley Memorial night on September 25.
Cottage Grove Speedway
Cottage Grove, OR
September 10, 2005
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Main event finishes
Sportsman Stocks: 1. 17 Art Hiatt, 2. 75 Heath Shelton, 3. 3 Johnny Stroud, 4. 55z Mike Zielinski, 5. 84 Eric Ashley, 6. 16 Frank Brewer, 7. 85 Ricky Ashley, 8. 5 Braedon Hand, 9. 14 Greg McDonald, 10. 87 Leon Scroggins, 11. 86 Gene Ashley.
Modifieds: 1. 8 Aaron Sheelar, 2. 56 Derek Ofenham, 3. 12 Robert Hand, 4. 28t Joe Forsman, 5. 7t Rod Turner, 6. 21 Richard Phillips, 7. 49x Ray Hanke, 8. 22a Justin Austin, 9. 5w Les Williamson, 10. 75j Todd McLean, 11. 23 Don Muth Jr., 12. 75 Bret Jobe, 13. 99 Dan Fox, 14. 81 Ray Elwess, 15. 7a Don Muth Sr., 16. 45 Jason Kocks, 17. 05 Chris Murphy, 18. 63 Braedon Hand, 19. 5 Lyle Laird.
Limited Sprints: 1. 41 Marvin Smith, 2. 16 John Hagen, 3. 68 Rob Held, 4. 8r Ryan Martinez, 5. 26f Shane Forte', 6. 33 Nate Morelock, 7. 8c Mike Crawford, 8. 01 Jeff "Ozzie" Osburn, 9. 7t Timm Wagner, 10. 21 Mike Griffith, 11. 55 Mike Baker, 12. 71 Hedge Carter, 13. 74 Scott Kelley, 14. 8x Kevin Etchison, DNS - 1 Kelly McDonald, 29 Dan Philpott.
NOMA Midgets: 1. 72 Mike McCann, 2. 22 Dave Pugsley Jr., 3. 99 Steve Dickenson, 4. 8 Lance Hallmark, 5. 15w Matt Mitchell, 6. 3 Glenn Bittrolf, 7. 14 Chris Peterson, 8. 15 Pete Bittrolf.
USCA Non-Wing Sprints: 1. 49 Tony Thomas, 2. 96 Vince McDonnell, 3. 11x Keary Morris, 4. 9 Mark Hinkle, 5. 47 Gary Davis, 6. 1 Bert Johnson, 7. 8 Daniel Modaff, 8. 15 Tony Parker, 9. 29 Tommy Moreno, 10. 12r Darren Rothe, 11. Earl Veeder XX, 12. 6 Steve Veltman, 13. 81 Tony Offutt, 14. 73 Mike McCann, 15. 9B Jeff Bell, 16. 39 Jimmy Beardsley, 17. 11w Tom Wyatt, DNS - 56 George Moreno.
Cottage Grove Speedway – Cottage Grove, OR - www.cottagegrovespeedway.com
