by Mike Weber
In what could be regarded as River
City Speedway's premier event - the "Joe Jeffries
Memorial" proved to be a significant highlight
too for Lisa Faulkner, Greg Greer and Doug Hurley, who
each captured their first main event wins of the season
in Saturday's stock car races at the Columbia County
Fairgrounds.
Perhaps inspired by this second tribute
honoring Jeffries, a number of area competitors had
outstanding performances while recording top-five main
event finishes, including St Helens drivers Jeremy Martin,
Tricia Brittain and Adam Beehler in addition to Scappoose
drivers Tim Williams and Nick Novak. Jeffries was a
former mini stock division driver and an Army Reserve
Specialist who was killed two years ago in Afghanistan
at age 21.
In one of the most thrilling races
this year, Greer edged Martin with their cars side-by-side
in a rare photo finish to take the checkered flag in
the Baxter Auto Parts Modified main with his Advantage
Screen Printing open-wheel style modified racer. Greer
took the lead from Corbett's Scott Winebarger on lap
25 and led the final 20 circuits to notch his first
ever main event win in the series. Winebarger took third,
followed by Gannin Thomas of St. Helens. It was the
fourth top-three finish for Martin in the Alliance Automotive/Reser's
Fine Foods sponsored racer owned by Sam Jeffers of Scappoose.
It was a good day for the three-car STC Racing Parts
team owned by Jeffers, as defending champion Dan Smith
of Scappoose was fifth and Stephen Kaptur of Deer Island
took sixth.
"In the last race (July 8), I
lost to Todd Hardesty by half a car length, so my last
two races have been extremely close second place finishes
and I was just six inches behind Greer, so it sure was
a great finish," said Martin, who is ranked second
in the division behind Portland's Ray Elwess. "Since
Elwess had trouble though (13th place), I've reduced
the gap substantially in the point standings. Our goal
is to win another title for Sam, but there's other top
contenders capable of winning too and the championship
probably won't even be determined until the final race
on Sept. 16."
The sportsman main was plagued by six
caution periods as attrition reduced the number of entrants
from 16 to just seven that remained at the conclusion
of the 45-lap race. On the opening lap, a four-car crash
on the front straightaway involved Kirk Brissett, Jesse
Freeman, Hurley and Brittain. Jon Gillett of St. Helens,
moved ahead on the ensuing restart and led until Hurley
passed him on lap 14. Brittain spunout in turn one on
lap 38 for a final caution after her Fast Racing Chevrolet
Monte Carlo was bumped from behind by a Chevy driven
by Vancouver's John Fordyce, who was penalized by CCRA
officials for the incident.
Hurley, of Castle Rock, continued leading
the last seven circuits with the RSG Forest Products
Monte Carlo and won by four car lengths over division
leader Rodney Cook of Rainier. Williams took third,
which marked his sixth top-five finish and Brittain
was fourth.
"I don't know what was going on
tonight, but after an extremely rough race, I sure was
glad to get fourth," said Brittain, who recorded
her fourth top-five with the Paulson Printing/Warren
Country Inn Chevy. "I'm not the type of person
that points fingers at people, but I really felt that
there was intentional rough driving and unsportsmanlike
conduct by some drivers. It's not much fun when guys
who are not even contending for the division title intentionally
crash into you. I sure enjoy competing with Tim and
Rodney, because we always race together well and we
have lots of fun without ever having any problems."
Faulkner won the women's main in the
Liner Racing Malibu, followed by division leader Stacey
Fordyce of Vancouver and Jenelle Harrison of St. Helens.
Vancouver's Joe Cherington, the defending
series champion and current division leader, won the
mini stock A main with his Circle H Enterprises Datsun.
Gladstone's Ben Palmer was runnerup and Adam Beehler
of St. Helens took third. Mark Beehler Jr. of St. Helens,
captured the B main.
Gresham's John Nusom passed Vernonia's
"Hollywood" Gary Meyer on lap seven of the
street stock A main and he stayed in control the remainder
of the 40-lap event. It marked the first win this year
for Nusom in the Sapa Anodizing Inc./City Sprint Delivery
Services Camaro. Meyer was three car lengths back in
second, followed by Sandy's Chris Hallberg, division
leader Curt Nusom (John's brother) and Beaverton's Mark
Reser. Novak, one of the youngest drivers at age 17,
won the B main and he also posted a victory in the heat
race with his Anderson Signs/Lakeside Industries Pontiac
Ventura.
Five events remain at the speedway
and the next race is Aug. 5.
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