COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. — Justin Sanders won the 30-lap Western Sprint Tour Northwest Speedweek stop at Cottage Grove Speedway on Wednesday night.
Sanders piloted his yellow No. 17, leading every lap after starting from the pole. Colby Copeland brought his white No. 5v home in the runner-up spot, ahead of the black No. 7 of Tyler Thompson.
The second night of Speedweek was originally scheduled for Williamette Speedway, but got changed to Cottage Grove at the last minute. The original second night of the series was rained out at Coos Bay Speedway on Tuesday night.
Sanders and Devon Borden brought the 21-car field down for the start, with Sanders quickly taking the lead going into the first turn. The Aromas, Calif., hot shoe had won the six-car, five-lap dash, putting him on the pole for the feature.
Several cautions slowed the race early but the most altering caution came when the second place running Borden spun off the second turn. This put Speedweek points leader Mitchell Faccinto into the second spot. However, on the restart, Faccinto would hit the frontstretch orange cone and be penalized two positions.
The shakeup put Copeland into the second spot just ahead of Thompson. The red flag would come out on lap 18 when Tony Gualda had an engine fire and spun to a stop high in the fourth turn. The oil down track had to be cleaned up, causing a short delay.
Once restarted, the caution light would quickly come back on when Nate Shank spun high off the third turn banking. Race officials decided to red flag the event for a fuel only stop.
On the restart, it didn’t take Sanders long to catch slower traffic, allowing Copeland to get to his back bumper. However, Copeland encountered the same slower cars and Sanders survived to pick up the $2,000 payout.
Thompson, Faccinto and Jake Wheeler completed the top five at the finish.
The finish:
Justin Sanders, Colby Copeland, Tyler Thompson, Mitchell Faccinto, Jake Wheeler, Kyle Miller, Seth Bergman, Tanner Holmes, Jesse Love, Justyn Cox, Devon Borden, John Clark, Matt Hein, Emily Williams, Steven Snawder, Jake Haubt, Nate Schank, Corbin Fauver, Tony Gualda, Steven Tiner, Ryan Robinson.