Trey Starks Dominates Night One Of Marvin Smith Memorial Grove Classic; Justin Duty Wins Late Model Feature
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Dirt Monkey Productions)
Cottage Grove Speedway would host the first night of the Marvin Smith Memorial Grove Classic on Friday May 29th. 360 Sprints, Late Models, and Vintage Cars were all on tap. Some great racing would take place in all of the main events at the historic 1/4-mile clay oval.
Trey Starks, from Puyallup, Washington, took full advantage of the initial start to seize the lead. Starks, piloting the Starks Timber Processing/Southstar Equipment Limited/MASCO Petroleum/T&C Concepts #55 J&J, was a rocket ship setting the rapid pace. Mastering lapped traffic he would make all the correct split second decisions to get his mount though the back of the field and become literally untouchable. He would build a massive lead and lapped so many cars that only the top six retained lead lap status due to the feature going non-stop from green to checkered. Starks would win his second race of the season at CGS and his third overall of the year..
The Finley Farms/CLT Logging/Rider Racing Engines #77 Maxim of Chico, California's Kyle Hirst was second for car owners Scott and Jason Finley while the Mike Anderson owned Shaylene Raye Motorsports/Pops Enterprises/Vic's 66/Parker Racing Engines #18 A.R.T. of Jason Solowold, from Burlington, Washington, ended the night a very close third. The rest of the top five would include Justyn Cox of Clarksburg, California in his Berco Redwood/Berry Lumber/Trex Composite Decking/P.M. Truck Repair #31C A.R.T., in fourth, and Kyle Miller from Salem, in the Tim Galloway owned Myers Logging/Automotive Sheetmetal/Trifer Glass & Tinting/Machined For Speed By Craig Jensen #51 XXX, in fifth.
In the Late Models there would be some of the regulars of Willamette Speedway making a visit as Don Frank Flooring added $500.00 extra dollars to the purse to make it $1000.00 to win. The LNL Lumber/Quadel Industries/Q2I Archery #16P Rocket of Preston Luckman from Coos Bay was the early race leader.
Luckman would lose the lead on lap two to Pleasant Hill's Blaine Taylor, in his My Boy's Slate Fired Pizza/Taylor Restaurant Equipment #18 MasterSbilt, after a caution on lap one. Taylor looked to have the car to beat and paced the field for much of the race. Then on lap twenty-one the Don Frank Flooring/Mid Ohio Graphics/Metro Services/Big Sky Landscaping #15 Rocket, of Molalla teenager Justin Duty, got by Taylor for the top spot. Duty would lead the rest of the way to win his first Late Model race at Cottage Grove in his first ever start.
Blaine Taylor was second followed by the J&S Farms/Cornett Racing Engines #37 Rocket of Rob Mayea, from Bend, in third. Cottage Grove's Curtis Towns, driving Paul Culp's Superior Fuel Cells/All Pro Steel/Rapid Delivery Service/Superior Silks Screen & Embroidery #42 X-Factor, crossed the line fourth while Bricen James of Albany was fifth in his James Gang Pizza/Lebanon Auto Body #13 entry.
Cottage Grove Speedway is back in action on Saturday May 30th for the final night of the Marvin Smith Memorial Grove Classic. Classes will once again include 360 Sprints, Late Models, and Vintage Cars while IMCA Modifieds will be back in town.
Admission prices are Adults $13.00, Juniors/Seniors/Military $10.00, Youths (Ages 6-12) $5.00, and 5 & Under FREE. Pit Gates open at 2:00 PM, Front Gates 4:00, Qualifying 5:30, and Racing begins right around 6:45. Be sure and keep up to date with the latest news and information on CGS by logging on to www.cottagegrovespeedway.com or call the Northwest Track Hotline at (360)-699-RACE. Don't miss out on the Facebook fan page by logging on to your account, search Cottage Grove Speedway, and hitting “Like”.
Race Summary:
Marvin Smith Memorial Grove Classic Night #1
Friday May 29th, 2015
Cottage Grove Speedway
Cottage Grove, Oregon
360 Sprints
A Feature: 1. 55-Trey Starks; 2. 77-Kyle Hirst; 3. 18-Jason Solwold; 4. 31C-Justyn Cox; 5. 33V-Henry VanDam; 6. 7N-Jared Peterson; 7. 51-Kyle Miller; 8. 29-Willie Croft; 9. 22-Garen Linder; 10. 5N-Seth Nunes; 11. 23-Rob Lindsey; 12. 17-Cameron (Cam) Smith; 13. 87-Kyler Barraza; 14. 5D-Patrick Dills; 15. 11K-Michael (Buddy) Kofoid; 16. 70-Raquel Ivie; 17. 4-Jesse Thistle; 18. 71-Colby Carter; 19. 26F-Shane Forte
Late Models
A Feature: 1. 15-Justin Duty; 2. 18-Blaine Taylor; 3. 37-Rob Mayea; 4. 42-Curtis Towns; 5. 13-Bricen James; 6. SW-Collen Winebarger; 7. 5-John Duty; 8. 16P-Preston Luckman; 9. 88M-Randy Martin; 10. 422-Chuck Christian; 11. 20-Josh Sim; 12. 16-Rob Williams; 13. 88-Mike Peters; 14. 78-Ed Peters; 15. 03-Kevin Ropchan; DNS 77-Eric Luckman
- Ben Deatherage on May 30, 2015
- Article Date: 5/30/2015