9/25/2024
Southern Oregon Speedway
Patterson Wins SOS Modified Photo Finish Finale With Boardman Getting The Title; Killingsworth, Augustine, Knight, Steele, And Medeiros Also Pick Up F
Patterson Wins SOS Modified Photo Finish Finale With Boardman Getting The Title; Killingsworth, Augustine, Knight, Steele, And Medeiros Also Pick Up Feature Victories
By Ben Deatherage
White City, Oregon (September 21st, 2024)—The 2024 season championship at Southern Oregon Speedway came down to the last lap in the Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds. Carter Patterson beat title contender Ray Kniffen Jr. to the checkered flag by 0.043 seconds. The seventeen-year-old Lebanon driver has two wins this season in the Shaw Race Cars Western Region.
Albert Gill started the main event off as the leader. Setting a quick pace, he unfortunately experienced issues that forced him to pull in the infield on lap eight. That transformed a three-car race for second into a contest for the lead, with Patterson picking up the position.
The race for the runner-up spot ended up being a battle for the championship as Ray Kniffen Jr. and Kenny Boardman Jr. Kniffen would secure second with six to go and reeled in the leader with a couple of circuits left to cover.
Patterson and Kniffen would go side by side in the final two laps, with neither driver letting the other gain the upper hand. The defending Oregon State champion had a slight edge when things were settled at the double checkers.
Kniffen was a respectable second, with third going to Boardman. When the dust settled, Kniffen and Boardman were tied in the points championship, but with Boardman the only one of the two to have accumulated a main event victory, he would win the track title.
Also in action were the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods, CD Architects Late Models, Rapp Racing Super 4s, Mini Stocks, and Kona Bento Sport Compacts. The winners were Ethan Killingsworth, Nathan Augustine, Dustin Knight, David Steele, and David Medeiros.
Matt Sanders had the initial lead in the IMCA Northern SportMod finale. But Killingsworth would stay in close stride before eventually grabbing the lead on lap five. The main event had just one stoppage, which put heavy lapped traffic in play.
Killingsworth had to deal with some congestion of slower cars on the fifteenth trip around the 3/8-mile clay oval. Jorddon Braaten did his best to close in on the leader but ran out of laps as the Yreka, California native was first at the finish line. With thirteen sanctioned wins in the 2024 season, six coming at SOS, Killingsworth was also the track champion.
Braaten was second, while third place was credited to Austin Petray.
Mark Wauge made a rare appearance in the Late Models division. Leading early, he would be chased down and overtaken on lap thirteen by Augustine. Augustine, from the Central Oregon town of La Pine, took care of business for the win as Dustin Knight won the championship.
Rikki-Lynn Knight began the Super 4 feature as the leader and was locked in a tight points battle with her husband, Dustin, who was also doing double duty. Tragically, she would experience some mechanical woes that sidelined her for the rest of the night on lap two.
Dustin Knight, from Medford, took over the top spot and dominated the rest of the distance to win the race and the track crown.
Skyler Fuhrman and Cliff Massey were the rest of the podium, in second and third.
The Mini Stock competition was all about David Marble in its early stages. Making a rare cameo in the class, he eventually would be locked in a fierce battle with a challenging Steele. Steele got on the inside of Marble on lap ten, took over the top position, and went on to win the main event.
Cameron Bogart finished second. Jim Woolbridge earned third place and became the track champion.
Lastly, in the Sport Compacts, the House of Medeiros dominated the feature. Despite several challenges, David would lead every lap of the main event, hold on for the win, and gain the track title.
Andrew and Cristian Medeiros composed the rest of the podium.
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Submitted By: Ben Deatherage