COTTAGE GROVE, Oregon — For the third straight year the Non-Wing Nationals completed two days of racing despite its late September date at the Cottage Grove Speedway which this year was brought to fans by Herz Precision Parts. Precipitation wasn’t the concern of the weekend due to some irregular warm weather for both days of racing. The Non-Wing Sprints and Washington Midget Racing Association were on hand for both nights of racing and the All-American Street Stocks raced on Saturday night only. All three classes in competition would be paying their final visit of 2011 to the facility.
"In the fifty lap feature it was Colin Baker taking care of business and leading early but as the laps went down Kyle Miller would show his presence right behind him."
Opening up the weekend primarily was WMRA Midgets and the Friday night main event seen a complete domination at the hands of Evan Margeson of Tacoma, WA. Margeson won his second race at the Cottage Grove Speedway in 2011 and lapped the entire field before completing the thirtieth and final lap in the caution free event. To boot to his name he is the most victorious Midget driver in the last six years at the facility as well.
Second place on Friday night was Lance Hallmark of McMinnville followed by Rob Lindsey of Wilsonville and completing the top five was Glen Bittrolf of Springfield and Tony Seidelman of Spanaway, WA. In addition to dominating the main Evan Margeson completed a clean sweep of Friday’s events by setting fast time (12.850 seconds) and winning the trophy dash as well as his heat. Pat Canfield of Ridgefield, WA won the other heat race in Midget action.
The main event for Saturday night was not a complete domination like the night before but Evan Margeson was able to lead. One caution occurred during the thirty lap event and there was even a shot of Margeson loosing the lead to teenager Garrett Johnson of Poulsbo, WA. Johnson appeared to run out of laps as he was one of the only drivers to utilize the high side and Margeson went on to sweep the feature for the weekend’s entirety.
Garrett Johnson would finish in second followed by Pat Canfield in third. Finishing in fourth was Tony Seidelman and fifth went to Glen Bittrolf for the rest of the top five. Fast time of the evening was Evan Margeson at 13.260 seconds as well as the trophy dash win. The heat race winners for Saturday night were Canfield and Bittrolf.
In the Non-Wing action night number one like the year previous feature split features meaning one half of the field would race in the first twenty-five lap race and the second half in the other. Points were also earned throughout the entire first day of racing with the top six drivers in overall points being locked into the feature on Saturday.
The first semi-feature saw a brilliant performance out of fourteen year old Justen McConville from Dundee as he led the field after taking the lead from Ventura, CA’s Steve Hix on lap three. McConville would lead till the sixteenth lap when he made contact with the front stretch wall but kept it going. Dale Smith of Cottage Grove became the third different leader until he went off the top in turn three briefly on lap twenty-two and allowed McConville to reclaim the lead briefly for the lap.
In the final stages though Evan Margeson made the key move to get around McConville and win the first feature. Justen McConville would finish in second while third would be earned by Dale Smith. Fourth place finisher was Medford’s Baba Ghanoush and fifth was Corey Estaban from Gaston.
The second semi-feature saw Mike Romig of Vancouver, WA lead out in front early only to be overtaken by Jeff Bell of Marysville, WA for the lead on the fifth circuit. By lap twelve though Bell’s lead had been reduced by a caution taking place a handful of laps earlier and brought about an opportunity for Kyle Miller of Eugene to run him down.
Miller would seize the lead on lap thirteen and would lead the rest of the event to win the race. Jeff Bell would finish in second followed by Mike Romig. The rest of the top five consisted of Cottage Grove drivers Mike Carrothers in fourth and Colin Baker in fifth.
Preliminary action saw the implementation of a different format for qualifying in three separate rounds similar to something a fan would see in Formula One with knockout/group qualifying. The first round had all cars evenly divided amongst five groups with the top two making the cut into the second round.
The second round consisted of ten cars and once they requalified the top six from round two would advance to the final round. The third round determined fast time of the night and it went to Colin Baker at a blistering 12.203 seconds. In the trophy dash Kyle Miller would be the winner while heat races were won by Dale Smith, Evan Margeson, and Mike Romig. After the first night Evan Margeson, Colin Baker, Dale Smith, Justen McConville, Jeff Bell, and Kyle Miller were the top six drivers in points earned for the night and would be locked into Saturday’s trophy dash and main event.
In the final night of action all drivers that were not locked had to qualify (one by one on Saturday) and hope to earn the two spots up for grabs to join the already locked cars in the dash. Jesse Thistle of Creswell was fastest in qualifying on Saturday at 13.345 seconds while heat race winners were Thistle, Kyle Mehner of Clackamas, and Mark Nichols of Eagle Creek.
Both Thistle and Mehner would go on to participate in the eight car eight lap dash. The dash was won Colin Baker to earn the pole for the event for the second year in a row. The B Main for the Non-Wing Sprint was twelve laps with the top five transferring and it was Cory Estaban with the win bringing with him to the feature Tim Alberding of Salem, Guy Weedman of Moro, Steve Hix, and Mark Herz of Sandy.
In the fifty lap feature it was Colin Baker taking care of business and leading early but as the laps went down Kyle Miller would show his presence right behind him. In the first eighteen laps three cautions occurred keeping the field relatively close and it seemed a yellow was thrown right when lapped traffic was coming into play. A fuel stop at the twenty-fifth lap had Baker in front leading every lap from the get go.
In the second half of the race it was go time for anyone wanting to win the most prestigious Non-wing race in the Northwest. Colin Baker continued to lead but some lapped traffic gave him some trouble and brought about an opportunity for Kyle Miller to take the lead on lap thirty-eight. Miller had his fair share of lapped cars and a handful of time before the end of it all he was losing his lead but a key pass with two laps to go allowed him to go on to win his third straight Non-Wing Nationals title.
Colin Baker finished a respectable second place and Dale Smith made the podium finishing in third. Evan Margeson, the only driver doing double duty for the weekend, finished in fourth and Zack Spaulding of Springfield recovered splendidly after a rough outing in night one.
The All-American Street Stocks final race was a great one with Russ Blum of Thurston leading the early laps only to be overcome by Andrew Langan of Jasper. It seemed like Langan had the race won until he came on lapped traffic and made brief contact and slowed off the pace and eventually came to a halt on lap seventeen. Russ Blum inherited the lead but had to fend off Josh Black of Cottage Grove as well as others but would go on to win the race, his first of the year, and all on his twenty-seventh birthday.
Darin Crooks of Cottage Grove was second place and Andrew Langan recovered to finish in third. Josh Black was the fourth place finished and initially Myshkin Ferguson of Dexter was fifth but had an illegal car so that moved T.J. Langan of Jasper into fifth. Fast time of the night was T.J. Langan at 15.980 seconds and the trophy dash was won by Andrew Langan in addition both heat races were won by Andrew and T.J. Langan. Being the last race of the season and the closeness of the point’s battle the title is under careful review to ensure no mistake is made in crowning the 2011 champion.
That does it for this week’s review the ¼ mile will take the week off but don’t miss out on the return of the Monster X Tour. They will be on hand for Friday September 30th and Saturday October 1st. Tickets are on sale at local Knecht’s Auto Parts as well as the group’s website www.monsterxtour.com. Tickets will also be on sale at the track the day of the events as well. The last race on the ¼ mile will be October 8th with the return of Interstate Sprint Car Series, Limited Sprints, and Modifieds.
