BOTH NIGHTS COMPLETED FOR COTTAGE GROVE SPEEDWAY DESPITE HEAVY RAIN

Miracles can happen in the most interesting ways and that is exactly what happened at the Cottage Grove Speedway last Friday and Saturday night. After a rain out the weekend before that washed away both nights of action and a week full of precipitation it was looking pretty dim that any racing would be completed at all.

But the rains held off the sun came out to help the crew at the Cottage Grove Speedway dry out the facility and prepare it for Friday’s Kage Kart race (results below) and Kid’s Night on Saturday evening. The night was full of action from the All-American Street Stocks, Micro Sprints, Limited Sprints, and Modifieds. Also at intermission several youngsters participated in two bike races in which they had to complete an entire lap around the ¼ mile clay oval.

Saturday night saw defending All-American Street track champion Andrew Langan of Jasper put on a display of dominance and got back on track to his winning ways. But it was not a complete walk as his older brother T.J. had the car to beat but had mechanical problems during the race. Once Andrew got around his brother he absolutely made it look easy as he went on to win his third race of the season.

“I got kind of lucky it would have been better if my brother hadn’t of broke but it was a good race the car handled great I’d like to thank my dad, my family, and all my sponsors,” commented Andrew Langan in victory lane.

Finishing in second would be Russ Blum of Cottage Grove and third would go to Ross Denton of Yoncalla. Rounding up the top five would see April Howard of Eugene and Robert Wullbrandt of Springfield. Fast time of the night went to T.J. Langan at 16.440 seconds while Andrew Langan won the trophy dash. Heat race winners were T.J. Hardy of Dexter and Andrew Langan.

The Micro Sprints were back in action at “the Grove” and it was the Justin McConnville show as he was able to dominate the whole night. The twelve year old from Dundee showed no mercy to the field as he was able to find success the whole night. That success lead him to a clean sweep after setting fast time, at 13.220 seconds, and winning the heat and trophy dash.

“It was pretty fun I’d like to think Eric (Perez) for building my motors and getting me here,” said the youngster McConnville.

Coming home in second would be Kady Adleman of Silverton while third and fourth went to Jeff Broadwell of Springfield and Alyssa Anderson of Snohomish, Washington. The Micros will be back this coming weekend as McConnville will look to win his second race of the season.

The Limited Sprint feature was quite exciting as Jesse Thisle of Creswell earned the lead early until he was passed by Zack Spaulding on lap seven. Spaulding dominated the race and it appeared he had it in the bag until his wing started to move about considerably after hitting some ruts on multiple occasions. Heath Shelton of Drain made the pass on Spaulding on lap fifteen but with lapped traffic in front of him it became a three-way battle between the two and Thisle. Thisle made the pass for the lead on lap sixteen but Shelton made one last charge on the high side to pick up the victory on the last lap for his first win of the year.

“It was a good race and a lot of fun everyone was pretty much running on the bottom and I was able to make it work,” Heath Shelton would say later in the night.

Jesse Thisle would come home in a respectable second place position as Zack Spaulding was able to finish in third. Finishing in fourth and fifth would be Raquel Ivie of Eugene and Orion Redmond of Roseburg in his first sprint car race of his career. Fast time of the night and the heat race win went to Spaulding at 12.109 seconds and Mike Carrothers of Cottage Grove won the trophy dash.

The Modifieds attracted the largest field of the night with several out of town teams looking to take home the $1,200 to win as well as getting important track time before the Cottage Grove Speedway Modified Nationals on June 11th and 12th. The forty lap feature seen Scott Lenz of Shady Cove put on a display of good driving while leading the field but would lose the lead just about at the halfway point on lap seventeen. Jesse Williamson of Coburg would be the new leader and would take off with the position. But as the laps wound down Lenz and Braedon Hand of Cottage Grove were bringing some heat on the leader Williamson but as the leader took the white flag he had no problems around the track to earn the extra prize money as well as his third win of the season.

“Hopefully I keep it going the track was pretty rough because of the rain but it was fast and hooked up and I was able to squeeze by Scotty there it was pretty good racing,” said Jesse Williamson.

Scott Lenz would finish in second followed by Ron Wilson of Coburg. Braedon Hand would finish in fourth and Gus Cooper of Creswell would round up the top five. Fast time of the night went to Jon DeBenedetti of Rogue River as well as the trophy dash win. Heat races were won by Wilson, Jesse Williamson, and Lebanon’s Casey Vitale. The night’s car count was enough for a consolation main that transferred five cars to the twenty car forty lap feature. DeBenedetti won the race followed by C.J. Putnam of Medford, Jesse Bailey of Medford, Eric Ashley of Jasper, and Greg McDonald of Cottage Grove.

Well race fans that does it for this week’s recap be sure and make it out this Friday and Saturday night as the Kage Karts will be in action on Friday night for the third race pit gates open at 4 PM and racing begins around 6:45 PM.. Saturday night will be Dutch Bros. Coffee Night and will feature 360 Sprints, Micro Sprints, Modifieds, and All-American Street Stocks. Also race fans Saturday morning the Dutch Bros. Coffee Sprint Car will be on display at the River Road and Irving location in Eugene from 8-10 A.M. and at the Gateway location in Springfield at 11 A.M. On Saturday night admission will be Adults will be $12, Senior/Students $10, Kids from ages 6-11 for $5, and Children ages 5 and under are for free. Times for Friday and Saturday’s events will have the pit gate open around 3 PM, Ticket Gate 4 PM, Qualifying at 5 PM, and Racing scheduled to begin around 6:45 PM, for more information log on to cottagegrovespeedway.com.