Modified

Mayden, Points prevail in Midweek Mayhem at Cottage Grove

By Ben Deatherage COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (July 17, 2024) – Wednesday provided the second installment of the brand-new Midweek Mayhem series at Cottage Grove Speedway, with IMCA feature wins going to Jake Mayden and Trevor Points. When the green flag dropped for the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds, it was Paul Rea who led the pack. He soon found himself in a heated battle with Mayden, who was determined to challenge for the race lead. Rea got some breathing room, but before too long, Mayden worked the bottom of the racing surface brilliantly to beat Rea to the wire on lap four by a mere three hundredths of a second. Mayden pedaled hard to separate from the runner-up and the race for second erupted into a complete melee. Carter Patterson threaded the needle under Rea on the eighth circuit, but Rea was able to get back around him on the following lap. As Rea and Patterson battled, it brought Kevin Williamson into the fold to create a three-car contest for second 11 laps into the contest. [Read More]

Modified

Cottage Grove wraps up 2024 Freedom Cup

By Ben Deatherage COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (July 6, 2024) – Cottage Grove Speedway was in action for the third and final night of the 2024 Freedom Cup mini-series on Saturday. Feature winners during the evening were Curtis Towns in the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds and Jesse Williamson in the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods. The Modified main got off to a thrilling start as Steven Sturdevant and Braedon Hand battled in the opening corner and Kevin Williamson made it a three-wide tussle for first place in turns three and four.   Hand was first at the line on the opening lap while Towns made a blitzing move to grab second just before a lap two yellow. Towns pursed Hand after the restart with several challenges underneath the leader. As the frontrunners squared off, Paul Rea stayed close behind waiting for his own opportunity. The caution came out again with nine circuits completed. Hand had have issues shortly after the green flag returned, allowing Towns to take over the top spot and Jake Mayden made a [Read More]

Modified

Night two Freedom Cup wins to Muth, Sanders

By Ben Deatherage COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (July 5, 2024) – Night two of the Freedom Cup holiday special at Cottage Grove Speedway saw Brett Muth race to his first Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature win. The hometown hero, third in the opening night main event, led every lap of the non-stop feature and took the checkers ahead of Thursday winner Jake Mayden and Kevin Williamson. Muth started on the outside of the front row, kept Kevin Williamson and Bennett Bray of Roseburg in check when the green flag waved and promptly started to check out. Williamson, with a busted component on his right front, fought hard to maintain second but was soon challenged by Mayden, who in turn had his hands full with Aaron Sheelar. Mayden finally broke through on the 18th circuit with a double overtake. He had a lot of speed and began chomping into Muth’s advantage but ran out of time to run down the leader. Sheelar and Zane Miner chased Muth, Mayden and Williamson across the stripe. After racing from 11th to [Read More]

Modified

Freedom Cup openers go to Mayden, Sanders

By Ben Deatherage COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (July 4, 2024) – Cottage Grove Speedway celebrated Independence Day and the facility’s sixty-eighth birthday while Jake Mayden and Matt Sanders celebrated IMCA feature wins on the first of three nights of Freedom Cup action. The Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature began with a pair of CGS champions battling it out as Mayden and Braedon Hand tussled. Hand led the opening stanza but was overtaken by Mayden on the next trip around the track. Mayden started to check out by a healthy margin, and behind him was a firecracker of a run from Brett Muth, who quickly moved from sixth into third on the 11th circuit. Two laps later, Muth climbed into second while Paul Rea made a surge to secure third place. Things cooled down briefly for the lone stoppage of the main event with 18 laps complete. When the green flag waved again, the competition heated up for the second position between Rea and Muth. Rea eventually secured the runner-up spot and Curtis Towns made an excellent restart [Read More]

Modified

Henderson flies to finish at Froggy 44

By Ben Deatherage COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (June 29, 2024) – Cottage Grove Speedway paid tribute to the late Melvin Walker and Dusten Henderson went home with the $444 payday from Saturday’s Froggy 44 special for Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts. Henderson made his way to the front from sixth starting, taking the double checkers ahead of Burnie Bryant. The Froggy 44 finale started with Kerry Cooper building a big lead as Michael Kennerly and Melissa Bryant battled over second. As the race stayed green, Burnie Bryant got around daughter Melissa for second on lap eight and tried to catch up with Cooper while Henderson started to knock on the door for third. The caution waved on lap 10 and on the restart, Kennerly bounced back to fourth and obtained third with a pass around Melissa Bryant. Henderson rebounded to third with 32 laps to go. While all this happened, Cooper and Burnie Bryant were a close first and second. After a multi-car pile-up in turn two, the yellow flag returned on the 14th circuit. On the [Read More]

Modified

Mayden, Shandy, Kennerly are Midweek winners at Cottage Grove

By Ben Deatherage COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (June 26, 2024) – Cottage Grove Speedway hosted its first of six Midweek Madness shows with Wednesday night IMCA feature wins going to Jake Mayden, Jacob Shandy and Michael Kennerly In the Friesen Performance IMCA Modified main, Braedon Hand and Curtis Towns battled for the top spot with Towns grabbing the early lead as Mayden got into the mix. Mayden tried unsuccessfully to slip underneath Towns on laps two and three. Lapped traffic came into play on the eighth circuit and Mayden saw his persistence pay dividends with a sweeping move to the front on lap 11. As the race progressed without any interruptions, the field began to spread out. Mayden drove to a dominating win, his first of the season, by a margin of 6.826 seconds.  Kevin Williamson caught Towns for second on lap 19. Shandy led the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods into the first set of turns but Matt Brown was the leader when the opening circuit was scored. The first of three cautions came out [Read More]

Feature

IMCA Wild West Speedweek sees repeat winners at Cottage Grove

COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (June 20, 2024) – After taking a night off, the Wild West Speedweek returned to action and Collen Winebarger, Ethan Killingsworth and Chase Berkeley all returned to victory lane following their Thursday IMCA feature wins at Cottage Grove Speedway. Winebarger won his second Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature of the week, Killingsworth collected a second straight Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod checkered while Berkeley topped a third consecutive IMCA Sunoco Stock Car main event. The night three winner at Coos Bay, Winebarger pocketed his second $1,000 of the week after winding his way to the front following a lap three restart. He hit lapped traffic the 25th time around the track but that did not slow down his quick pace. Winebarger dominated what became a 33-lap green run to win by more than four seconds. The victory was the 13th of his Wild West Speedweek career and came ahead of Geoff Morris, Paul Rea, Kevin Williamson and Tyler Smith. Berkeley drew the fourth starting spot in the Stock Car feature, taking over up [Read More]

Modified

Williamson wows Bloom crowd at CGS

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. [Read More]

Modified

Towns dominates in IMCA Modified triumph at Cottage Grove

By Ben Deatherage COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (May 18, 2024) – Cottage Grove Speedway was abuzz with excitement on Saturday, May 18 for Armed Forces Night, a special event presented by Shriner’s.  When the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds took to the track for their finale, Curtis Towns made the most of his front row starting position. Known for his quick starts, Towns shot off like a cannon and stayed in control despite an early caution. An early caution slowed things down but couldn’t dampen the intense competition. Defending Oregon State champion Carter Patterson pushed hard to overtake Towns couldn’t quite find a way to the front and the leader continued to pull away.  This intensified the second-place race as Jake Mayden battled hard with Patterson. Mayden eventually obtained the runner-up spot and then began to chase down Towns despite a big gap separating the two.  Towns managed to put some lapped traffic between himself and Mayden to secure a dominating victory, his first of the season. Mayden was followed by Patterson in third. Jimmy Owen led the [Read More]

Northern SportMod

Patience pays off at Cottage Grove for Schmidt 

By Ben Deatherage COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (May 11, 2024) – Patience paid off Saturday night for David Schmidt. The Roseburg racer kept things close before finally finding his way to the front of Saturday’s Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod main event at Cottage Grove Speedway. Jason Kocks took control of the top-place position early on. The Creswell pilot had to deal with four straight restarts but maintained the top-place position each time. However, when the field came back to life after the sixth caution, he was challenged and overtaken by Aaron Bloom on lap eight. Bloom then tried to separate from the rest of the pack, but the persistent Schmidt kept things close. Schmidt tried to make the pass numerous times but couldn’t until finally on the 21st circuit. Unfortunately, shortly after being passed, Bloom had mechanical problems that forced him to retire early. Schmidt had no issues once in first and picked up the win. La Pine teenager Landyn Philpott rallied to finish second, with Kocks wrapping up the podium in third.