by Mike Weber
Local drivers hoping to win a championship
solidified their spot in the division standings by recording
top five main event finishes, including Tricia Brittain,
Tim Wiliams, Jeremy Martin and Celeste Hardesty in the
Pepsi sponsored stock car races Saturday at River City
Speedway. Defending series champion Lisa Faulkner captured
the women's main and her dad, Paul Liner, won the Reser's
Fine Foods Sportsman A main.
Dan Fox of Warren, captured his second
Baxter Auto Parts Modified main and Adam Beehler of
St. Helens, won his first ever mini stock A main. Chris
Hallberg of Sandy, notched his first street stock A
main win and Portland's Brian Overturf won the Northwest
Street Stock Tour race.
Fox moved up from an eighth place starting
position and was in second behind Vancouver's Don Jenner
by the 16th circuit of the quarter-mile clay oval. Jenner
led laps one through 27 until Fox overtook him on lap
28. Fox led the remainder of the 40-lap event in his
Malar Performance Engines/Limited Energy Electricians
sponsored open-wheel modified style racer. Jenner, the
runnerup, finished one car length behind, followed by
Portland's "Mello" Marc Sayre, division leader
Ray Elwess and St. Helens drivers Martin and Gannin
Thomas.
"I had to work my way up from
the back, which wasn't easy, because I had to avoid
a couple of mishaps, but the car was running great and
it was a good, fun race," said Fox. "Jenner
is always fast, but when I got behind him, I actually
had to ease up on the throttle a little and patiently
wait for a good opportunity to pass. When he drifted
up onto the outside groove, I went underneath him and
that's the best way to race here, by just staying down
low on the inside lane of the track."
Liner took the lead on lap 26 of the
sportsman main, when frontrunner Rodney Cook of Rainier,
exited with a flat tire on his Chevrolet Lumina. Liner
stayed ahead for the final 14 laps in his Lawrence Oil/Perfection
Automotive 1982 Chevy Malibu. Wilsonville's Jesse Freeman
was second, followed by Brittain, Williams and Portland's
Bryan Collins. It marked the third straight top-five
finish and sixth overall for Brittain in the Competitive
Edge Sign & Design Monte Carlo.
"It's rare whenever a father and
daughter win mains at the same time and it's not the
first time we've done that, but it sure was a good night
for the Liner Racing team, since we both won the trophy
dash too," said Liner, formerly a St. Helens resident
who now lives in Olympia. "Luck always seems to
play a part in racing and after I got by some lapped
cars, I just happened to be in the right place at the
right time to get the lead."
"I'm glad to get a win, it's nice
to be racing again and it's fun sharing the car with
my dad," said Faulkner, who was competing in just
her second event this year. "I've been in school
every Saturday throughout the summer in the Washington
County Police Academy and training as a volunteer on
the St. Helens Reserve Police Department." Faulkner
won by a straightaway length over division leader Stacey
Fordyce of Vancouver, who has recorded nine straight
top-five's and won five main events with her Chevy Monte
Carlo. Hardesty's third place finish in her Monte Carlo
was her ninth straight top-five.
Driving the Rainier Logging/DFI Honda,
Beehler led 39 of 40-laps in the mini stock A main after
passing Portland's Eric Lindquist on the second circuit.
Adam's brother, Brad Beehler, who was involved in a
lap 28 collision with Lindquist, was transported to
Emmanuel Hospital after suffering minor injuries in
the mishap as his Datsun crashed into the front straightaway
concrete wall.
Hallberg took the lead from Terry Moss
of St. Helens, on lap 16 and led the remainder of the
40-lap street stock A main. Tigard's Mark Reser had
a career best second and Moss took third.
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