Mark Howard Memorial A Smashing Success

By Ben Deatherage

As every year approaches all of the teams in all the classes really look forward to the running of the Mark Howard Memorial at the Cottage Grove Speedway.  Each year we take one weekend and dedicate to a man that was so passionate about the sport he would help anyone out that would ask for it.  That man was Mark Howard who we dearly miss and are glad that the fine people of Cottage Grove Yamaha sponsored the race to remember a man we untimely lost.  The night featured the Late Models, Limited Sprints, the Brook’s Cut Rate Auto Parts Modifieds, and of course the class that Mark helped create the All-American Street Stocks.  Also last Friday’s Kage Kart results are down below.

Late Models:

To start the night off the first class of the evening seen Mark Carroll of Redmond set fast time of the night at 13.264 seconds.  In the trophy dash Trent Elliott of Redmond was able to hold off the rest of the competition to pick up the victory.  In heat race action Carroll won the first heat despite one caution while heat two was won by Casey Vitale of Albany despite two cautions.

In the twenty six lap main event Paul Culp of Springfield was able to take the initial race lead and it seemed that he had the race won.  But trouble would plague him as cautions filled the race with seven total occurring during the feature.  This allowed Casey Vitale to get a shot at challenging for the race lead which he would take over eventually on a restart. 

Vitale would have no problems for the rest of the race as he would be able to win his third points race of the year at the Cottage Grove Speedway but his fourth overall as he won the Northwest I-5 DIRTcar Series Opener on May 22^nd.  Finishing in second was Craig Hanson of Albany followed by Paul Culp, Trent Elliott, and Dustin Comer of Springfield.

Limited Sprints:

In the only sprint car class of the evening Jake Waddell of Roseburg set fast time of the night at 11.728 seconds.  Despite only one caution occurring in the trophy dash Zack Spaulding of Springfield was able to finish on top after a devastating wreck the week earlier.  Both heat races had something as only one caution occurred in each of them.  They yellows didn’t stop the likes of Ozzie Osburn of Springfield winning the first heat and Steven Horner of Cottage Grove winning heat two.

In the twenty six lap feature Heath Shelton of Drain took off and had almost a half of a lap interval between himself and second place.  That would go away as Mike Baker of Dorena got upside down on lap fifteen which would bunch the field up.  Throughout the night there was a lot of scrambling and passing throughout the field but none of the competitors were able to get up and challenge Shelton.  Shelton would go on to win it and picked up his first win of the year finishing behind him was Mike Carrothers of Cottage Grove, Ozzie Osburn, Dan Philpot of Glide, and Brent Hoover of Eugene.

Brook’s Cut Rate Auto Parts Modifieds:

In the Modifieds fast time of the night went to Cottage Grove’s Curtis Towns with a time of 14.521 seconds.  In the trophy dash despite two false starts sending himself to the second row Gus Cooper of Creswell was able to pick up the victory. In heat race action Curtis Towns was able to win the first heat while Cottage Grove’s Braden Hand won heat two despite one caution each occurring in each race.

In the twenty six lap feature only two cautions occurred and both were before the halfway mark.  This meant a lot of time for green flag racing and Cottage Grove’s Braden Hand did just that by taking the lead and extending it to a safe interval.  The interval would be large enough so that he would not have to worry about challengers as he went on to win his second race of the season.  The real challenges occurred in the top five as they diced it up lap after lap and eventually Brett Muth of Cottage Grove finished in second followed by Mark Carroll in third, Curtis Towns in fourth, and rounding up the top five Don Muth Jr. of Cottage Grove.

All-American Street Stocks:

In the final class of the night it was special because of course Mark Howard’s involvement of developing a cost efficient beginners class, which unfortunately would not see a race, but also that it was the annual Wallbanger Cup in memory of Mark.  In qualifications Daniel Ray of Springfield was able to pick up fast time of the night at 16.551 seconds.  In the trophy dash April Howard of Eugene, Mark Howard’s oldest daughter, was able to pick up the victory despite being under the weather and battling the flu.  In heat race action Russ Blum of Cottage Grove was able to win the first heat race while heat two was won by April Howard and only one caution occurred in both heat races and that was in the first.

In the main event Joe Davis of Springfield was able to lead the field for the opening laps till the rest of the field was able to catch up with him.  April Howard was able to take the lead and stayed in front of the rest of the field as the majority of the pack battled hard for positions the whole way.  Eventually though Jasper’s Andrew Langan was able to catch up with Howard and a good battled ensued but unfortunately Howard got sideways on lap twenty one.  Four cautions occurred during the whole race as Langan was able to go on to win his seventh straight victory followed by Gene Ashley also of Jasper, Ross Denton of Yoncalla, James Morris of Molalla, and Kevin Williamson of Coburg.

Well that does it race fans as next week will be busy as well as action will occur on Friday the 3^rd, Saturday the 4^th, and Sunday the 5^th. On Friday on the schedule will be 360 Sprints, Limited Sprints, All-American Street Stocks, Pro 4’s, and Late Models which will the only class not running for points.  On Saturday there will be 360 Sprints, Limited Sprints, All-American Street Stocks, Pro 4’s and Modifieds as Fireworks will on the fourth only.  And on Sunday it will be the last time you will be able to see the Northwest I-5 DIRTcar Series in action at the Grove as the WRS 4 Cylinder Late Models will be on hand as well.  Special discount rates to attend for all three days are available for more information on tickets and times log on to cottagegrovespeedway.com.

Kage Kart Results

6/26/2009

(Kage Karts do not qualify but run two heat races with the average finishes of each driver lining the main event)

Pee Wee:

Heat One-

Group A Mitchell Jamison, Junction City

Group B Conner Robustelli, Jefferson

Heat Two-

Group A Jamison

Group B Robustelli

Main-

1. Robustelli

2. Jamison

3. Tyler Goss, Eugene

4. Haley Forté, Junction City

5. Tyler Thompson, Harrisburg

5HP Intermediate:

Heat One-

Group A Matt McDowell Roseburg

Group B Bennett Bray, Roseburg

Heat Two-

Group A Tyler Kirkpatrick, Myrtle Point

Group B Jordan Ross, Harrisburg

B Main-

1. McKenzie Thompson, Harrisburg

2. Austin Emmanuel, Junction City

A Main-

1. Bray

2. Kirkpatrick

3. Ryan Baker, Coos Bay

4. Josh Spaulding, Springfield

5. Kyle Fitch, Eugene

125cc:

Heat One-

Group A Spencer Desbiens, Dallas

Group B Travis Thorne, Halsey

Heat Two-

Group A Brady Senger, Roseburg

Group B Tra. Thorne

Main-

1. Tra. Thorne

2. Tanner Morrison, Roseburg

3. Orion Redmond, Roseburg

4. Senger

5. Ricky Perry, Winston

Micros:

Heat One-Jeff Broadwell, Springfield

Heat Two-Broadwell

Main-

1. Jay Chambers, Cottage Grove

2. Broadwell

250cc:

Heat One-

Group A  Tra. Thorne

Group B  Mike Florence, Roseburg

Heat Two-

Group A  Chris Thompson, Roseburg

Group B  Florence

B Main- Tyler Thorne, Halsey

A Main-

1. C. Thompson

2. Matt Enos, Silverton

3. Tra. Thorne

4. Florence

5. Jeremy Werner, Creswell

Open Kage:

Heat One-

Group A  Jake Claasan, Bend

Group B  Kyle Miller, Eugene

Heat Two-

Group A  Claasan

Group B  Robert Venner, Crabtree

B Main-

1. Marena Starr-Ferguson, Eugene

2. Chris Allmendinger, Pleasant Hill

A Main-

1. Claasan

2. Venner

3. Josh Such, Roseburg

4. Andrew Burzynski, Bend

5. Josh Sim, Albany