8/12/2024
Cottage Grove Speedway
Godard Goes Back To Back At Wallbanger Cup; Points, Kennerly, And Simmons Also Get CGS Wins
Godard Goes Back To Back At Wallbanger Cup; Points, Kennerly, And Simmons Also Get CGS Wins
By Ben Deatherage
Cottage Grove, Oregon—Saturday, August 10th was one of the biggest Street Stock races on the West Coast, as $1,826 was on the line for the winner in the prestigious 2024 Wallbanger Cup at Cottage Grove Speedway. The winner's share got a boast on the day of the race by Kelly McDonald, Rick Daniels, Adam Applebee, and some additional CGS race officials. It was the big moment for the Cottage Grove locals to take on the regulars of the Iron Giant Series. Also in attendance were the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods presented by Roadhouse Billiards & Brew, Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts presented by Kiefer, and Junior Compacts.
The fifty-two-lap feature for the Street Stocks started with Dexter veteran Taunton Swaim getting ahead of the rest of the field when the race went green. Swaim was good in the open, but could only get a little ahead of the rest of the pack due to four stoppages between the seventh and eleventh circuits. They proved to be the only times the field had to slow down before the finish.
The forty-one lap green flag run had Swaim out in the lead, but as the race progressed, the excitement mounted as defending race winner Dakota Godard from Corvallis started reeling him in, setting the stage for a thrilling finish.
Godard made the necessary pass on the twenty-fifth trip around the 1/4-mile clay oval. Godard had to deal with some hefty traffic two laps after the overtake. But when it seemed that lapped traffic would hinder Godard, Swaim was preoccupied with dealing with a charging Andrew Langan from Jasper and piloting the Josh Linville entry, trying to take second away from him.
However, Godard managed to keep his mount ahead of all other parties to win his second straight Wallbanger Cup. Godard is the second driver in history, the only other driver being Kyle Yeack in 2015 and 2016, to go back-to-back at this event since it started in 2007.
In the end, Swaim held off Langan to finish second. Sam Potter, of Monmouth, was the driver to finish fourth, followed by fifth-place runner Adam Applebee from Eugene.
Roseburg's Don Moore began the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod main event, presented by Roadhouse Billiards & Brew, as the race leader. Shortly after securing the lead, Todd Shandy would put him under fire. Shandy, originally from the Columbia River town of Arlington but now residing in Corvallis, came to call to challenge and made a pass underneath Moore to become the new leader on lap three.
Shandy took off, but before he could get too far ahead, a caution came out with six complete. Dalton Bloom, calling Battle Ground, Washington home these days and wheeling the Schram Motorsports entry, powered his way into second on the restart. He tried to reel in the leader but experienced a severe tire rub that flattened his right rear tire, resulting in another yellow on lap nine. Roseburg's Jordan Henry inherited the position.
Henry was under a heavy barrage of fire when the field returned to full speed by defending Oregon State champion Trevor Points. Points from Salem finally got into second place on the fourteenth circuit just before the final caution came out. On the restart, Points got around Shandy for the race lead and cruised to his fourth CGS victory of 2024, accumulating his sixth overall win of the current season.
The race for second was a back-and-forth affair between Shandy and Landyn Philpott from La Pine. The two exchanged positions several times before Shandy eventually secured it on lap twenty-three. Philpott was third at the line, followed by Aaron Bloom, from Creswell, in fourth. Henry completed the Top 5 with his fifth-place effort.
When the Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact main event, presented by Kia, got underway, Eli Miller was the car to beat. Miller, from Oakland, outpaced his father, Bruce, to grab the lead on lap one. From there, Miller created a healthy distance from everyone else.
But as the race stayed under green, Sutherlin traveler Michael Kennerly reeled him and overtook him for first place on the eighth circuit. Kennerly took the flag and ran with it, despite some brief challenges by Burnie Bryant, also from Sutherlin, in the last few laps, to hold on to win his second race of the season.
Bryant was second, with hometown Lady Eagle racer Tiffany Towns finishing behind him in third. Roger Bell, from Marcola, wound up fourth, with fifth going to Springfield teenager Charles Trissell.
The Junior Compact ranks had a wild finale. Eugene's Shane Dowty immediately took control of the top spot and had a fast piece in the first half of the main event. Tynlee Mayden, from Springfield, overtook him on lap nine for the first lead change of the race.
The first slowdown of the feature happened with fifteen laps down, and tragically, Mayden had a flat right front. This gave the lead to Creswell chauffeur Kasey Simmons. Simmons took care of business the rest of the distance to win his second race of the season in the division.
Faith Bry t, from Coos Bay, and Eugene's Rowen Lancaster rounded out the podium in second and third. Dowty wound up fourth, while Dexter youngster Ryder Swaim was fifth.
The event was broadcasted on IMCA TV affiliate Dirt Oval TV.
Submitted By: Ben Deatherage
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