7/22/2024
Cottage Grove Speedway
Luckman, Sanders, And Henderson Collect Trophies At Cottage Grove's Christmas In July Event
Luckman, Sanders, And Henderson Collect Trophies At Cottage Grove's Christmas In July Event
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Jason Davenport Photography)
Cottage Grove, Oregon—Cottage Grove Speedway hosted their Christmas In July event on Saturday, July 20th, which also served as the makeup for their Fan Appreciation Night. This special night, originally scheduled earlier in the season, was rained out, and the organizers decided to combine it with the Christmas In July event to give fans a double dose of excitement. In addition to the historical 1/4-mile clay oval having the Dave's Home Supply Iron Head Sprints, they also had in attendance the Late Models, Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods presented by Roadhouse Billiards & Brew, the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts presented by Kiefer, and even Santa Claus made a special summer vacation stop.
The Late Model finale kicked off with Salem's young talent, Burke Elkins, taking the lead. He held on to the top spot before Jake Mayden, driving the Tim Morgan-owned entry, made a daring move to take the lead on lap five, showcasing his skill and determination.
Mayden, from Springfield, was smoothly sailing around the track before he got into some traffic. Trying his best to navigate the slower cars, he unfortunately got tangled up with a lapper in the first set of turns on lap twelve. Coos Bay's Preston Luckman became the new leader.
When the green flag came out, Luckman flexed his dominance as he constructed a massive lead of 5.260 seconds and went on to win. It was the second time Luckman had won at CGS in 2024 and his fourth overall victory of the campaign. This year, he is the first repeat winner at the facility in seven Late Model main events.
Halsey driver Brian Smith was the runner-up followed by Elkins, in third. The balance of the Top 5 consisted of Albany's Randy Barley in fourth while Mayden recovered to finish fifth.
The Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods race was a thrilling competition from the start. Creswell veteran Jason Kocks stormed into first place on the first lap, setting the stage for an exciting battle for second place in the early circuits.
Kocks was a rocket and created a healthy distance over Aaron Bloom, who was in his father, Ray's, car before Bloom was overtaken by Shandy and 2019 tack champion David Schmidt from Roseburg to fall back to fourth. Things would slow down when the caution came out for the first time with eight down.
When the action light turned back on, Bloom retrieved second with some brilliant passes on the inside line to get back around Shandy and Schmidt. Again, Kocks took off with some rabbit speed and had a healthy cushion over second.
As the race progressed, Matt Sanders showed his perseverance, charging forward to climb into third. He then put pressure on Bloom for the runner-up spot, eventually overtaking him with a lightning cross-over move on the front stretch to capture second on lap eighteen.
Sanders started to set his sights on Kocks to try and run him down, but the caution light came back on, bunching the field up with six circuits to cover.
On the restart, Kocks tried to check out once more, but Sanders stuck with him. The challenger exploited some daylight on the bottom of the backstretch with a perfect exit off the second corner, which allowed him to capture the lead on lap twenty-two.
It proved to be the winning maneuver as the coastal chauffeur scored his third win of 2024 at Cottage Grove and achieved his sixth overall victory in the current campaign. Kocks was a respectable second, while the race third was a complete melee in the final laps. Ultimately, Yreka, California's Ethan Killingsworth worked his way up into the final podium spot when the checkered flag flew. Schmidt held on for fourth, and Shandy got fifth.
In the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts presented by Kiefer, Roseburg's Melissa Bryant jetted out to first place after getting around Marcola's Roger Bell. The race for the runner-up was intense as Bell tried to keep back Cottage Grove veteran Jim Simmons. Bell eventually secured the spot with two laps complete.
Springfield's Randy Kuhl moved into third but would be under fire by Dusten Henderson from Cottage Grove. Henderson got around him on the fifth circuit. Henderson then concentrated his efforts on Bell for second and finally got around him on lap nine. The next time they all passed the flag stand, Springfield's Charles Trissell got by Bell for third.
The race's lone caution occurred with eleven circuits scoring complete, eliminating a nearly four-second advantage ahead of Henderson. Henderson kept Bryant honest on the restart, but once the green flag run developed, the Lady Eagle racer started to pull away from the challenger.
However, Henderson returned with some renewed energy, got in a good rhythm, and chipped away at Bryant's lead. He would make a sweeping pass around the high side in the second corner on lap seventeen to become the new trailblazer.
Bryant would be threatened for second by Trissel, allowing Henderson to take off from the rest of the field. Henderson was first to the line to win his third race of 2024 and second in a row. Bryant held back Trissell to finish second. Kuhl was fourth in the finishing order, and Josh Corley from Oakridge got fifth.
The event was broadcasted on IMCA TV affiliate Dirt Oval TV.
Submitted By: Ben Deatherage
Article Media
