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 22nd. 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 3rd,
Saturday the 4th, and Sunday the 5th.
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
