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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 8, 2021)
Cottage Grove Sentinel Sports & Recreation B1 THURSDAY | JULY 8, 2021 New trail makes headway along Coast Fork By Daniel Friis for The Sentinel Since early spring, the Cottage Grove Public Works and Development team have been putting in long hours working on the city’s newest trail along the Coast Fork of the Willa- mette River. The trail’s entrance is lo- cated on the south side of Lincoln Middle School in between the bus lot and the houses on Grant Street. It extends just 960 feet now, but by its comple- tion, it’s expected that the path will grow five times in length with several ac- cess points and other paths along the way. “The new trail is a great addition to the city trail sys- tem,” Faye Stewart, the Cot- tage Grove Public Works and Development Director, said. “The trail will eventu- ally connect to downtown, giving local residents an alternate route to walk or bike to downtown.” The trail begins with ac- cess and views of the Coast Fork of the Willamette River. From there, it takes guests along the Chambers Covered Railroad Bridge, where it stops for now. The location of the trail has been something of pride by those working on it. The beautiful views and scenery of the river com- bined with an abundance of trees beside the path make for a calm and enjoyable ex- perience. “The views of the Coast Fork River from the new trail are spectacular,” Stew- art said. “It is a nice shaded area that allows for users to take in the beauty of the surrounding area. It is also a peaceful setting where people can go to relax.” Another advantage of the path is the material it’s made of. The trail consists of gravel with a compacted finer gravel on top which gives a shock-absorbent quality, so residents can walk or bike smoothly. With more time and funding, the trail will be paved. The pathway is the newest of several trails occupying the Cottage Grove area. With other DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL see TRAIL on B2 The new trail, currently a work in progress, will add a mile to the city’s trail sys- tem and wind along the Coast Fork of the Willamette River. Freedom Cup kicks off tripleheader at CG Speedway By Stephanie Deatherage Cottage Grove Speedway kicked off their Indepen- dence Day tripleheader weekend on Friday, July 2. The first of three nights of the 2021 Freedom Cup would have three divisions on the bill, including two Speedway Motor IMCA Weekly Racing program classes. They included the Todd’s Auto Body Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, and Roy- alty Core IMCA Northern Sport Mods. Now residing in New- berg, Scotty Fox had an in- credible start in the Todd’s Auto Body Sprint Car fea- ture. Fox paced the field in the first portion of the main event but unfortunately hit the wall and took a tumble down the front stretch on lap three. It would hand the lead over to Cottage Grove’s Justin Lemon. Lemon did a masterful job of keeping his mount in front of the rest of the con- tingent. However, he did receive some pressure from Camden Robustelli in the T.J. Winningham-owned entry in the closing circuits. The two would fight it out on the final lap, with Robus- telli slipping past Lemon to go on to score the victory. It is the young Medford driver’s first win of the sea- COURTESY OF CODY REEDER see KICK OFF on B2 Brookings-based Matt Sanders dominated the Royalty Core IMCA Northern Sport Mods this weekend. Emergency fishing Burke, Williamson, Braaten crowned regulations issued in 2021 Freedom Cup champions response to drought By Stephanie Deatherage ODFW has implemented emergency regulations which began July 1 in several angling zones as Oregon faces a se- vere drought this summer, putting the state’s salmon, steel- head, trout and sturgeon at risk. The latest regulations are listed at the top of the Rec- reation Report for each zone. The public can check an angling zone before going fishing at myodfw.com/recre- ation-report/fishing-report. These emergency regulations are in effect until Sept. 30, 2021, but may be lifted early or extended depending on conditions. A summary of emergency regulations follows: Fishing will close for salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, and trout from 2 p.m. until one hour before sunrise in some rivers and streams in the NW, SW, Willamette, Central, NE zones. (“Hoot owl” regulations to end fishing before water temperatures are at their warmest, which stresses fish.) Nehalem River (NW Zone) upstream of the Miami-Fo- ley Road Bridge (and tributaries upstream of bridge) will close to all angling July 1-Sept. 30. The Nehalem Bay/River from the mouth to the Miami Foley Road Bridge remains open under permanent regulations. The North Fork Ne- halem is also open with “hoot owl” restrictions above tide- water. All other open streams in the NW Zone will be un- der “hoot owl” regulations. The Deschutes River from the mouth to Sherars Falls will be under “hoot owl” regulations to protect fish. Angling closure within 200 feet of mouths of tributaries see FISHING on B2 Athlete of the Week The third and final night of the 2021 Freedom Cup would be an exciting one as the cars and stars of Cottage Grove Speedway battled it all out once more. On Sunday, July 4, the Independence Day bout hosted the same three di- visions from the two pre- vious nights, including two Speedway Motors IMCA Weekly Racing program classes. They included the Todd’s Auto Body Sprints, IMCA Modifieds, and Roy- alty Core IMCA Northern Sport Mods. The Todd’s Auto Body Sprints got off to a quick start, with Scotty Fox tak- ing control on the opening lap. Fox, originally from Oakland but now a resi- dent of Newberg was in- volved in a vicious crash while leading on Friday night. He paced the field until being overtaken on the fifth circuit by Vern This week’s athletes of the week are the dancers of the South Lane Ballet Academy. The previous week, the dancers performed for the community in record-breaking heat. COURTESY OF CODY REEDER Nick Trenchard (second from left) of Klamath Falls scored two straight feature wins over the Independence Day weekend in Cottage Grove. Scervers. The Dixonville veteran of Scevers remained the pacesetter for a lengthy time. Finally, however, on lap nineteen, Bailey Hib- bard completed the pass for first place. Hibbard, from Medford, remained there the rest of the dis- tance to record his first win of the season at Cottage Grove. Camden Robustelli, also from Medford and racing for car owner T.J. Winning- During ex- treme heat at the end of June, 85 dancers per- formed at the Bohemia Park amphi- theater. PHOTO BY SOPHIA EDELBLUTE/CG SENTINEL ham, posted a runner-up finish with third going to Eagle Point youngster Johnny Burke. Jacksonville teenager Carly Holmes was fourth, with the fifth place being credited to Tyrell Mead, of Winston. Burke would have the most point by a narrow three marker over Hibbard when all the totals were accumulated. Eric Ashley was the ear- ly race leader in the IMCA Modified main event. Ash- ley, from Jasper, was scored in that position until Chad Groves passed him on the eighth circuit. Groves in- habited the coveted posi- tion until lap 13. Jesse Williamson was the see CHAMPION on B2
