by Mike Weber
Perhaps it was appropriate that cars
numbered seven would occupy victory lane Saturday at
River City Speedway, since the numerical sequence of
the date was 07-07-07. If the superstition had anything
to do with the outcome of the Pavelcomm.com sponsored
Columbia County Racing Association events, then it probably
benefited Dan Fox (No. 7) and Tim Williams (No. 70)
who won main events with the lucky number.
Fox, of Warren, won the modified main
and Williams, of Scappoose, won the Reser's Fine Foods
sportsman main. Celeste Hardesty of St. Helens, continued
her outstanding season long performance in the women's
division as she notched her fourth series win out of
six races.
Eddie Farness of Sandy, won his first
ever street stock main event as he led the 40-lap race
from start-to-finish. Portland's Marc Sayre edged slightly
ahead of Vancouver's Joe Cherington, getting a victory
in a thrilling photo finish of the mini stock main.
Hillsboro's Rick Adams captured the PHRA Dwarf Car A
main and Mollala's Jimmy Pavel recorded a B main victory.
After four straight restarts at the
outset of the modified main, it finally got underway
on the fifth try and 38 consecutive laps followed without
any caution flags. Fox started up front in the 15-car
field, mainly because of his luck in a blind draw that
determines the lineup of each race, as eight was the
number selected. Fox was seventh in time trials on the
quarter-mile clay oval and the top-eight fastest cars
from qualifying were positioned in reverse order, putting
him on the front row.
Fox had no trouble maintaining his
lead with his Northwest Competition Motorsports/Malar
Performance Engines sponsored open-wheel style racer.
After a lap 39 caution, the race concluded with flagman
Russ Voight waving consecutive green, white and checkered
flags. Defending series champion Ray Elwess of Portland,
took second, followed by current division leader Jeremy
Martin of St. Helens. Dan Smith of Scappoose, recorded
a season best fourth place and Portland's "Mello"
Marc Sayre was fifth.
"This has been the worst season
of my 24-year motorsports career, but I like racing
here and I'm glad that I finally had a good night,"
said Fox, whose previous best was fifth on May 5. "I've
had lots of bad luck, with a carburetor failure, a broken
fuel pump and numerous other motor problems. I'm well
behind in the point standings (11th) and I guess that
eventually, it's just a matter of time before your luck
runs out and you're going to have a bad year like this."
Williams started up front in the sportsman
main but by lap three, Gresham's Curt Nusom was positioned
just behind him, after quickly moving up from an eighth
place starting position in the 17-car field with his
Steven's Printing Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Nusom, the
series points leader, then received a rather surprizing
and highly questionable black flag penalty by CCRA officials
when Portland's Bryan Collins spunout on lap four. Nusom,
was sent to the rear of the field, after supposedly
causing Collins to spin, but it didn't matter, as he
had an impressive come-from-behind effort and manuevered
up front again, taking the lead after passing Williams
on lap 27.
Nusom appeared to be well in control
of perhaps getting his third win, while leading by a
straightaway length over Williams. A broken right front
suspension part caused his car to crash into the turn
two wall on the final lap and seven cars moved by Nusom,
who finished eighth. Williams recorded his first win
this year and fourth top-five finish with his Alliance
Automotive/STC Racing Parts Camaro. Jon "Razor"
Gillett of St. Helens, posted a season best second in
his Camaro, followed by Gresham's Skip Pillow and Tricia
"Great" Brittain of St. Helens, in the Competitive
Edge Sign & Design Monte Carlo.
"Nobody expected to see Nusom's
car breakdown, so I feel extremely lucky getting a victory,
because I thought he would win for sure," said
Williams. "I saw Nusom go high in turn one and
then I thought that I could pass underneath, but when
he hit the wall, then I just figured it must be my lucky
night. Kathy and I are having lots of fun and that's
what's most important about being here, because if we
weren't having a good time, then we wouldn't continue
coming out here to compete in stock car races."
Kathy Griffin, Tim's girlfriend, took
second to Hardesty in the women's race with her Camaro,
which marked a career best finish. Hardesty manuevered
up from a seventh place start and took the lead from
Ann Carter on lap 10 and led the remainder of the 30-lap
event. Hardesty had an impressive performance too in
her Baxter Auto Parts/Al's Automatic Transmission Chevy
as she finished one lap ahead of every competitor.
"I have no complaints, our cars
are running great and Tim and I both had an awesome
night," said Griffin. "Celeste is really dominating
the division though and she has a pretty fast car, but
I would be thrilled to get a second place finish in
the standings."
Cherington, the five-time defending
series champion, took the lead from Vancouver's Tazz
Judkins on lap 23 of the mini stock main and led until
Sayre caught up with him on the final circuit. Cherington's
Datsun and Sayre's Ford Mustang were side-by-side at
the end with Sayre sneaking just inches ahead on the
outside as they crossed the finish line. Milwaukie's
Eric Lindquist took third in the Reliant Elevator Pinto
and he was also the fastest in qualifying at 16.65 seconds.
"It's pretty rare having a photo
finish and I sure had lots of fun competing against
an excellent driver like Joe Cherington," said
Sayre, a double duty driver who also competes in the
modified class. "There were some lapped cars ahead
of us and I bumped into the rear end of somebody's car
at the end, but when we crossed the line I looked over
and saw Joe just inches behind me."
Farness led all the in the street stock
main with the T&T Draggin' Wagons Towing Chevy,
winning by one car length over John Haagenson of St.
Helens. Portland's Jeff Lovell was third, followed by
Vernonia's Robert Williams, Mark Reser of Beaverton.
Ian Lamma of St. Helens was sixth, Bobby Morley of Scappoose
took seventh and "The Enforcer" Terry Moss
of St. Helens, was ninth.
The next event is the July 18th Columbia
County Fair Benefit non-points race.
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