Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Recreation
SOUTH LANE COUNTY SPORTS AND RECREATION
Speedway
sees diff erent
winners all
weekend
•
WEDNESDAY | JULY 17, 2019
•
B1
CONTACT SPORTS EDITOR ZACH SILVA AT
942-3325 OR ZSILVA@CGSENTINEL.COM
CG Rodeo ropes in a crowd
Full weekend of
races sees host
of fresh faces
fi nishing fi rst
By Ben Deatherage
Cottage Grove Speedway
All roads of Speed-
week Northwest con-
verged once again to
Cottage Grove Speedway
on Saturday for one fi nal
time. Th e historic quar-
ter-mile clay oval hosted
the fi ft h and culminating
round of the 2019 calen-
dar for the series. It is the
third race to take place
at the CGS during the
week. Twenty-six cars
were in attendance with
teams traveling from all
over Oregon, Washing-
ton, California, Idaho
and Oklahoma as well
as British Columbia in
Canada.
Th e main event was a
thriller as Colby Cope-
land was without a doubt
a man on a mission. De-
spite heavy lapped traffi c
and several stoppages,
the Rocklin, California
chauff eur, driving for
car owners Jim & An-
nette Van Lare, scorched
the fi eld for much of
the race. Unfortunate-
ly, coming to accept the
white fl ag his right rear
tire started to lose a sig-
nifi cant amount of tire
pressure. Th at would re-
sult in the fl atting of the
rubbery object and los-
ing a great deal of speed.
Like the proverbial
hungry pack of wolves
chasing down their prey,
a number of challeng-
ers came calling to take
over the lead. Somehow
Mitchell Faccinto won
the dogfi ght on the fi -
nal circuit and went on
to win his third race of
Speedweek Northwest
2019. Th e Hanford, Cal-
ifornia gasser had never
won at Cottage Grove
prior to the night and
also recorded his fourth
career series win. In vic-
tory lane, it was offi cially
announced that Faccin-
to, and his car owner
Stan Greenberg, were
the 2019 series champi-
ons. Th at made Mitchell
the 15th diff erent cham-
pion in twenty-two years
and the eighth diff erent
title winner from the
state of California.
Seth Bergman, origi-
nally from Washington
but now calling Owasso,
Oklahoma home, end-
ed his evening second
while Paradise, Cali-
fornia driver Kyle Hirst
was third. Th e balance
of the top fi ve consisted
of Colton Heath, from
Marysville, Washington
driving for car owners
Kelly Welch and Alan
Larson, in fourth and
fi ft h fi nishing Justin
Sanders of Aromas, Cal-
ifornia. Dirt Monthly
Magazine/Hoseheads
columnist Gary Costa
put up $100 to the driver
that passed the most cars
in the main. John Clark,
from Windsor, Califor-
nia, managed to pick up
the Hard Charger Award
by passing twelve cars
aft er starting in 20th and
fi nishing the evening in
the eighth-place posi-
tion.
Burlington, Washing-
ton’s Greg Hamilton did
phenomenal in time tri-
SPEEDWAY see B3
Kyle Bounds hangs on for a fi rst place fi nish in bareback riding on Friday night. Bounds also won the event last year.
Cottage Grove Rodeo
celebrates 71st year with
two-day event
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
It was Christmas in July last
weekend at the Cottage Grove Ro-
deo.
“Well, the fi rst part of July, they
call it Cowboy Christmas,” said the
weekend’s bareback riding champi-
on Kyle Bounds. It was a weekend
full of events for Bounds and the
other riders last Friday and Sat-
urday at the 71st annual Cottage
Grove Rodeo.
For Bounds, and those putting
on the rodeo, this year was a return
to having fun at the rodeo.
“Th e last couple years I just went
too hard and kind of turned it more
into a job than having fun with it.
But shoot, I’ve just been staying
close to home and it’s actually been
pretty fun, I’ve won quite a bit this
year,” said the Cottage Grove na-
tive, who was also victorious at ro-
deos in Salem and Philomath over
the weekend.
While Bounds enjoyed his time
back in Cottage Grove, event or-
ganizers were thrilled about how
many people came out to the riding
club.
“Th is was the fi rst year that I’ve
seen the stands packed in years,”
said Cottage Grove Riding Club
president Jim Tucker. As of this
printing, the offi cial ticket sales fi g-
ures had not yet been tallied.
For Tucker, the majority of the
work has come in the weeks and
months leading up to the event.
Th ere was repairing bullpens that
were damaged by last winter’s
storm, putting new posts in and
making sure grass was mowed.
A successful race against the
clock to get the venue prepared,
once things got going on Friday
night, Tucker remained busy with
parking, taking money and being
the recipient of any calls if some-
thing went wrong. Th e one event
he did get to watch happened to be
Bounds in bareback riding.
Ultimately for Tucker, the week-
end was a successful learning expe-
rience.
“It went really well overall. By
Saturday we fi gured out the things
we didn’t think of Friday night,” the
fi rst-year president said.
While Tucker, helped by Shan-
non Sias and the board with the be-
hind the scenes work, Clint Wells
was there making sure the rodeo
ran right along. And for Wells, the
weekend started with the sheer
amount of people that showed up.
“It’s been the best turnout in
terms of ticket sales, people staying
and having fun aft erwards, having
some beverages, it’s been the best
turnout in years. Years and years,”
said Wells. “Ticket sales were great,
lots of people came, lots of people
had fun. Th e rodeo went great,
people came up to me from every-
where and said, ‘Wow, this is get-
ting great.’”
For Wells, who grew up in Cot-
tage Grove and is back in the area
now with his family, the goal is to
return the rodeo to what he sees as
its heyday about 20 years ago. Wells
has been part of the plan from the
Cottage Grove Rodeo to help up
the level of its product. Wells pro-
vides years of experience with ro-
deos around the state, has served
on the local rodeo board and has
been a National Pro Rodeo Associ-
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
ation judge.
But despite where he has been,
Wells has a soft spot for his home-
town rodeo.
“It’s the fi rst rodeo I went to as a
kid and it’s my hometown with my
friends and family surrounding this
whole entire place. And we want to
make it so that our kids will love it
and be passionate about it like we
were and we want it to keep going
on,” said Wells.
“We love the rodeo and we look
forward to the date and everybody
coming together and fi nding unity
in all of that. Th at’s what we really
want.”
For rodeo results, see B2.
Recent Cottage Grove graduate Chance Ralston competes in the junior
bulls event at the Cottage Grove Rodeo. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
CGHS names new football coach
Chad Smith will
lead the Lions in the
upcoming season
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Last year Chad Smith was head football coach at Siu-
slaw High School. PHOTO BY NED HICKSON/SIUSLAW NEWS.
Athletes of
the Week
With about fi ve weeks
until the fi rst offi cial prac-
tice of the year, the Cottage
Grove High School football
team now has a head coach.
Last Friday, Chad Smith,
32, received the call from
CGHS principal Kevin
Herington off ering him the
position of both head coach
and PE teacher at the high
school.
“Th ey’ve had success,
which is obviously great,
Th is week’s athletes
of the week are all
those who competed
at the Cottage
Grove Rodeo. For
more pictures of the
weekend’s action,
turn to B2 and B10.
(but) they are great kids
here as well. Not just as
athletes, but the kids are
respectful,” said Smith in a
phone interview on Th urs-
day. “Th is is probably one
of the better schools I’ve
been at athletically as a
head coach.”
Th is will be Smith’s
fourth diff erent varsity
head coaching position in
Oregon since 2014. In 2014
Smith was the head coach at
La Grande where the team
went (5-4). Aft er being an
assistant coach at Seaside in
2015, he was named head
coach in 2016 and the team
went 3-5. In 2017 he served
as an athletic director/
PE coach at a Seattle-area
middle school before last
season heading to Siuslaw
where the Vikings fi nished
the season 0-8.
Smith was also the PE
coach and girls basketball
coach at Siuslaw last year.
“It’s an excellent oppor-
tunity for me teaching-wise
and coaching-wise,” said
Smith. “Th is is where I
want to be, it’s an exciting
opportunity for me.”
New CGHS athletic di-
rector Matt Myers was
pleased with Smith’s knowl-
edge of Oregon high school
FOOTBALL see B3
A rider in the
bareback
riding event
tries using no
hands before
falling off .
PHOT0 BY ZACH SILVA/
CG SENTINEL