by Mike Weber
St. Helens drivers Todd Hardesty,
Jeremy Martin and Gannin Thomas took the top three spots
in the modified main, Brad Beehler notched his third
top-five mini stock main finish and Vancouver's Stacey
Fordyce won a fourth straight women's race to highlight
Saturday's Wilcox & Flegel sponsored event at River
City Speedway.
St. Helens drivers Aaron Prettyman
and Jon "Razor" Gillett notched career best
finishes in the Reser's Fine Foods sportsman main and
Gladstone's Ben Palmer won his first ever mini stock
main event win. Gresham's Curt Nusom captured the street
stock main, he leads the division standings and along
with his brother John, is a top contender for perhaps
his second championship, as he also won the 2001 title.
Hardesty manuevered up from a 15th
place starting position and overtook Chris Quinn after
passing on the outside lane of the back straightaway
for the lead on lap 32. Hardesty stayed ahead for the
remainder of the 45-lap Baxter Auto Parts modified main
with his Fast Lube & Oil open-wheel modified racer.
Martin was runnerup, followed by Thomas, Quinn and Stephen
Kaptur.
"I'm just thrilled and it's hard
to describe how happy I am about winning my first ever
A main," said Hardesty, whose Rose Valley Market
race team includes wife Celeste, brother Jake and Todd's
father-in-law, Rob Sjogren. "It's nice to get the
car running good after all the work I've done on it
the last two weeks."
Gillett started on the pole position
of the Reser's Fine Foods sportsman main and led the
first two laps with his Carousel Concessions Chevrolet
Camaro. Larry Lemons of Toledo, passed Gillett on lap
three and led briefly in his Chevy Monte Carlo until
Rainier's Rodney Cook moved ahead on the sixth circuit.
Driving the same car that his brother-in-law, Corey
Cook, won the 2005 title with, Cook led the remainder
of the 45-lap race to notch his second win and fifth
top-five main event finish with the Clatskanie Builders
Supply Monte Carlo. Lemmons was runnerup, a straightaway
length behind, followed by Gillett, Prettyman and Vancouver's
Don Jenner.
"The main reason I took third
is because our pit crew of my dad, Ben and Dennis Eckman,
did such a fantastic job working on the car," said
Gillett.
Moving up from a ninth place start,
Curt Nusom passed Vernonia's Rob Williams on the outside,
taking the lead on lap 20 in the street stock main and
then was on his way to victory lane in the T&T Draggin
Wagon Towing/Steven's Printing Camaro. It was Curt's
third win and fifth top-five and John was right behind
in second, followed by Williams in The Independent Oldsmobile
Cutlass.
"I'm going to try to win another
championship, but it won't be easy because there's lots
of good, tough competitive drivers in the street stock
class" said Curt Nusom.
Adam Beehler of St. Helens, led the
first 11 laps of the mini stock A main in his Honda
until Palmer overtook him on lap 12. Palmer, 36, led
the remainder of the 45-lap race in his Gladstone Auto
Body/KC's Midway Pub Ford Pinto to notch his first ever
main event win. Division leader Joe Cherington of Vancouver
was two car lengths back in second, with Washougal's
Brad Ruth third, followed by the Beehler brothers Brad
(4th) and Rick (5th) from St. Helens.
Fordyce moved up from eighth place
to capture the 30-lap women's main with her All-Star
Sports Bar & Grill Monte Carlo. With four victories
in six events, Fordyce has an excellent chance to break
the series single season record (7) for wins held by
three drivers - Lisa Faulkner of St. Helens, Kelso's
Paula Timmons and Hillsboro's Kari Puncochar.
The 12-race CCRA schedule is now halfway
over and the seventh event is July 29. The non-points
Columbia County Fair race is July 19 and fans can attend
this event for free, since it's included in the regular
fair admission.
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