by Mike Weber
Whenever Paul Liner returns to his
hometown to compete in stock car races at River City
Speedway, his competitors can usually be sure that the
best they can hope for is second place. That's exactly
what happened in round two of the Columbia County Racing
Association Series as Liner, a former division champion
(1996), manuevered up from a 10th place starting position
to capture the Reser's Fine Foods Sportsman main event.
Celeste Hardesty of St. Helens, also
had a come-from-behind effort as she won the women's
division race and Deer Island's Stephen Kaptur won the
Mini Stock main for his first ever series victory. CCRA
division leaders Curt Nusom (sportsman), Joe Cherington
(mini stock) and Stacey Fordyce (women's) posted runnerup
main event finishes in the Baxter Auto Parts sponsored
event.
Many local series contenders recorded
top-five A main finishes too, including Deer Island's
Brad Beehler and Vernonia's Robert Williams. Scappoose
competitors Tim Williams, Kathy Griffin, Robert Duncan
and Doug McVae and St. Helens drivers Gannin Thomas
and Jon "Razor" Gillett also notched top-five
finishes.
Vancouver's John Fordyce led the first
26 laps of the sportsman main in his Chevrolet Monte
Carlo. Liner moved ahead on the next lap after passing
Fordyce on the outside of the front straightaway. Liner
led the final 14 laps with his Lawrence Oil/Discount
Race Car Parts sponsored Chevy Malibu and won by five
car lengths over Nusom, of Gresham. Gillett was third,
followed by Tim Williams and Portland's Bryan Collins.
"There's always a little luck
involved in racing, but the car runs pretty good and
that's because I always try to do all the necessary
maintenance work on it so that it doesn't breakdown,"
said Liner, 46, a former area resident who now lives
in Olympia. "I worked on the car all day Friday
and late into the night to repair some damage that happened
in the final race of last season and then I towed the
car from Olympia to St. Helens on Saturday morning."
Competing in just his fourth race,
Aloha's Doug Lockwood led all the way in the modified
main with his perfection Automotive open-wheel style
racer to capture his first ever series win. His competitors
were never too far behind though, as they put pressure
on him throughout the 40-lap event but he held on for
the win with Portland's "Mello" Marc Sayre
a car length behind in second, followed by Rainier's
Greg Greer, defending champ Ray Elwess of Portland and
Thomas in fifth.
Jeremy Martin of St. Helens, one of
the modified divison's top contenders, said that he
felt lucky to even compete as the Alliance Automotive
race car owned by Sam Jeffers of Scappoose, had a broken
transmission during the heat race. STC Racing team members
Robert Smith, Dennis Blasier, Mike Harrison and Bobby
Morley quickly replaced the tranny though to help get
Martin back onto the track and he finished sixth.
Hardesty manuevered up from a sixth
place start to capture the women's race with her Baxter
Auto Parts/Fast Lube & Oil Monte Carlo and she also
won the trophy dash. Fordyce, the defending champion
from Vancouver, took second, followed by Lisa Faulkner
of St. Helens, Brenda Hurley of Castle Rock and Griffin.
Kaptur started on the pole position
of the 16-car mini stock race and he led from start-to-finish
in the Mary Jean's Flowers/Reliant Elevator Ford Pinto.
Cherington, a five-time defending series champ from
Vancouver, was second in his Circle H Enterprises Datsun,
followed by Beehler in a Datsun, Vancouver's John Mayfield
and Portland's Marie Sayre.
Vancouver's Dennis Krohling passed
Beaverton's Mark Reser on the 10th lap and led the remaining
30 circuits around the quarter-mile clay oval track
to capture the street stock main in his Camaro. Krohling
won by a straightaway length over Portland's Eddie Farness,
who was followed by Duncan, Robert Williams and Portland's
Jeff Lovell.
McMinnville's Stan Cook won the PHRA
Dwarf Car main with McVae getting the runnerup spot
and Kelso's Jeff Turner in third. The third race on
the CCRA schedule is June 2, followed by the fourth
race June 16.
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