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Ben Deatherage
COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (April 10) - In the Late Models Justin Simpson made the venture from Bend and set fast time of the evening at 14.321 seconds to top the qualifying charts. In the first heat race of the evening Randy Martin of Eugene was able to use his outside pole position start to get the lead early and despite a caution on lap three was able to retain the lead and win the race. In heat two the caution free affair saw a three way race for the lead between Craig Hanson of Albany, Mark Carroll of Redmond, and Paul Culp of Springfield with Hanson leading the way to the stripe at the end to win the heat.
In the main event there was a heavy shower where it seemed the rain was coming sideways and it seemed that the race would be cancelled. Luckily it passed through quickly and the track was still in good enough shape to race after a little bit of packing. A charging Mark Carroll was able to get the lead early in the race and took off like shot out of a cannon to open up a large lead. Lapping all the way to sixth place a caution came out on lap fifteen to bunch the field up for a shot to overtake him. The restart couldn't have gone any better for Carroll as he went on to win the season opener for the Late Models. Second place went to Justin Simpson with Paul Culp in third and Trent Elliott of Redmond and Craig Hanson in fourth and fifth.
"We had fun tonight and our car handled great," commented Carroll, "I'm excited about what the class is going to turn into with the bigger purse and there should be some good teams visiting here every week."
Complete results not provided
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