By Ben Deatherage
COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (June 1, 2024) – After getting those vision issues taken care of, Jesse Williamson kept his eyes on the prize and raced back to the front of the field and all the way to the Ralph Bloom Memorial checkers Saturday at Cottage Grove Speedway.
The Coburg chauffeur had taken the lead from the initial start of the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod 50-lapper but would have problems after part of his hood folded back and began to give him visibility issues.
Williamson retired to the pit area following a lap five caution, had the hood removed and came back out restarting dead last. Ethan Killingsworth became the new leader.
Several cautions prevented him from getting a significant lead but at the same time also prevented heavy lapped traffic. Around midway, Williamson was back in the top five and on lap 27, a three-car battle for second was waged between Williamson, Jorddon Braaten and Matt Sanders.
Williamson secured second on the 28th circuit and before long had his sights set on Killingsworth. The two fought hard for the lead, which Williamson gained on the 35th trip past the flag stand.
Williamson did his best to pull away but a late race incident on lap 45 stacked things up. Sanders was in pursuit mode but got into the back straightaway wall on lap 48, bringing out another caution after his right rear tire went down.
On the final restart, Killingsworth tried to throw a Hail Mary but had a flat left front tire himself. Williamson went on to cruise to sweep the weekend of the Ralph Bloom Memorial, earning $3,333 and becoming the fourth different winner in as many seasons.
Trevor Points rallied to finish second while Killingsworth was third. The rest of the top five consisted of Brayden Brookshire and Jordan Henry.
Aaron Sheelar was the Friesen Performance IMCA Modified winner and Kerry Cooper ruled in the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact main event.
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