By Don Martin II
WHITE CITY, Ore. (May 4) – Jeffrey Hudson and Matt Sanders opened the 2019 season with IMCA feature wins Saturday at Southern Oregon Speedway.
Hudson, the 2018 sprint car runner-up, landed a full-time ride in an IMCA Modified for this season. He took the lead from rookie Justin Foux early on and held off the rapidly approaching Mark Wauge for the win.
The last 16 laps went without a yellow flag and Hudson had a good lead, but Wauge slowly began to chip away at the advantage. The laps ran out, however, before Wauge could get close enough to attempt a pass.
Sanders beat race long leader Justin McCreadie back to the line in a photo finish to win the 20 lap Karl Kustoms Northern SportMod main, contested by 21 drivers.
McCreadie led Sanders on a lap 16 restart as Jorddon Braaten raced past Rich McCoy for third.
Sanders got a run on McCreadie on the final lap, they exited the fourth turn side by side and it was too close to call at the checkered flag. Electronic scoring showed Sanders as the winner ahead of McCreadie.
Both divisions are back on the May 25 program and will also be a part of the seventh annual Roger Haudenshild Tribute on June 1.