
By Ben Deatherage
WHITE CITY, Ore. (June 29, 2024) – Always consistent at Southern Oregon Speedway, Matt Sanders sped to his first Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod feature win at White City this season on night two of the Bigfoot Weekend presented by Toyota.
The Brookings hotshoe brought three top five’s and had finished no worse than sixth in four previous Southern Oregon starts during the current campaign, drew the ninth starting spot on Saturday and got the win ahead of Jorddon Braaten.
Jeffrey Hudson led on the first trip past the finish line before a caution came out with two laps complete. On the restart, Andy Freeman moved up to third just before the yellow flag returned for the second stoppage of the main event.
When things got underway again, Braaten took over third while Ethan Killingsworth was all over Freeman for fourth. Shields and Braaten battled for the runner-up position before Shields had to bow out early due to mechanical issues on lap seven.
Sanders continued an impressive run, obtaining third on lap eight with a speedy Ryan Peery following him to grab fourth.
Leader Hudson navigated through heavy traffic with 10 circuits remaining. The slower cars did not make a difference, as he built a sizable lead over the rest of the pack. Sanders’ great run didn’t slow down as he was able to negotiate Braaten to move into second.
The final caution of the feature happened with eight to go. An excellent restart allowed Sanders to get underneath Hudson to lead lap 19. However,
Hudson swept around the outside of Sanders to reclaim the position the next time around. It would be a heartbreaker for Hudson, however, as he spun out in the fourth corner of lap 21 and Sanders inherited the lead.
As Sanders took off, Braaten and Peery went after it for second. Braaten held on and began to chase down the pacesetter. Sanders kept his mount in front of everyone else to score the huge victory and earn his first win at SOS in 2024 and his second overall in the current campaign.
Braaten and Peery were the rest of the podium, finishing second and third. Jace Wright made some critical late race moves to end the race fourth while Killingsworth was fifth.
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