Cottage Grove Speedway
California's Johnson completes I-5 Tour sweep
Mike Johnson (7) battles up front with Rob Mayea (37) at Cottage Grove. (raceimages.net)
COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. (July 4) — Mike Johnson of Lompoc, Calif., regained the lead from temporary teammate Rob Mayea of Bend, Ore., on the 17th lap and led the rest of the way Monday at Cottage Grove Speedway for a weekend sweep on the Northwest I-5 DIRTcar Late Model Series.
Johnson, who earned $5,000 the day before for his Clair Arnold Memorial victory at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore., pocketed $2,000 at Cottage Grove for his second career tour victory. | Slideshow
Jeremy Shank of Salem, Ore., who dropped Mayea to third on the 27th lap, was the runner-up at Cottage Grove with Mayea, Jason Wines of Lebanon and Rick Wyatt of Salem rounding out the top five finishers.
The polesitting Johnson, driving a Mayea-owned Victory Circle for the weekend, led the first lap before Mayea took over on lap two. Johnson dropped to third behind Mayea and Shank on the seventh lap, but then gathered up his car to charge back into the lead on lap 17, staying in control the rest of the 49-lap feature.
Notes: Eleven of 20 starters finished on the lead lap. ... Among drivers failing to make the feature: Skeet Phillips, Mike George, Blake Lehman, Mike Peters, Randy Martin, Kevin Ropchan, Greg Schellhorn and Willie Sutton. ... The next I-5 Tour date is July 30 at Southern Oregon Speedway in Medford.
I-5 Tour @ Cottage Grove: (1) Mike Johnson, (2) Jeremy Shank, (3) Rob Mayea, (4) Jason Wines, (5) Rick Wyatt, (6) Clay Daly, (7) Mike Miller, (8) Trevor Glaser, (9) Joey Tanner, (10) Billy Workman Jr., (11) Casey Vitale, (12) Craig Hanson, (13) Brian Cronk, (14) Trent Elliott, (15) Jimmy Schram, (16) Steve Moore, (17) Tory Swayngim, (18) Jake Mayden, (19) Randy Neal, (20) Kreg Britton. Fast qualifier (among 34 cars): Tanner, 13.769 seconds. Dash winners: Johnson, Mayea. Consolation winners: Elliott, Hanson.
