by Mike Weber
The Columbia County Racing Association
concluded it's 19th stock car racing season as Dan Smith
and Corey Cook won their first titles ever in the Napa
Auto Parts Championship Race Saturday. Three competitors
- Lisa Faulkner, Scott Puncochar and Joe Cherington
finished first in their respective point standings to
capture multiple division titles of their careers. Smith,
of Scappoose, won the Reser's Fine Foods Modified series,
which was the first title in his 15-year motorsports
career.
Cook, 25, won the sportsman division,
to become the youngest series champ since Gannin Thomas
of St. Helens, won in 1992 at age 24. Cook took fifth
in the A main with his Chevrolet Lumina, which was his
10th top-five finish in 13 events at River City Speedway.
Faulkner, 22, took the checkered flag in the women's
main to notch a series record eight wins as she dominated
the class all year to claim her second championship.
Puncochar, of Hillsboro, had another
remarkable season as he drove his Louis Construction
Camaro to four wins and 10 top-five finishes while capturing
his third straight street stock title. Vancouver's Joe
Cherington captured the mini stock A main in a near
photo finish alongside of Ted Slape of Rainier, for
his fifth win and 10th top-five to capture his fourth
CCRA title and second in a row with his Circle H Enterprises
Datsun.
Portland's "Mello" Marc Sayre,
led 37-laps of the modified main until Marty "McFly"
Holmason maneuvered up front, passing Sayre's Plainview
Auto Parts Ford open-wheel racer on lap 38 and then
led the last two laps to notch his first series win
with his Emmert Motors/Sauvie Island Nursery modified
race car. Sayre was second, and Smith third to post
his 10th top-five A main finish in the Alliance Automotive/STC
Racing Parts racer owned by Sam and Jane Jeffers of
Scappoose. Holmason, of St. Helens, owns the Mountain
View Electrical Services/Cleats Bar & Grill sponsored
Monte Carlo that Faulkner drives in the women's class.
"It feels great to win another
title and it was a little easier than the first one,"
said Faulkner, 22, who edged Hillsboro's Kari Puncochar
by two points for the 2002 title. "I didn't even
think about the record until a couple days ago, so I
decided to go for it. We have an excellent team with
Marty and Lori Holmason, pit crew chief Bobby Morley
(Marty's son), my dad (Paul Liner) and my husband, Eric.
We had a great season and it was nice to win the championship
in victory lane too."
"It's great to finally win a
title, but it was unfortunate that I got the division
lead on Labor Day weekend when Dan Fox had a DNF,"
said Smith. "We have an awesome three-car race
team with Jeremy Martin, Stephen Kaptur, Robert Smith
(Dan's brother) and Dennis Blasier. We have a phenomenal
crew, because if something's wrong with the car, they
always get it quickly repaired. At the beginning of
the year, I didn't think I would win, but we gave it
our best shot, we had lots of fun and we came out on
top."
Tricia "Great" Brittain of
St. Helens, led the first 20 circuits of the sportsman
main in the Rivers Automotive/Fast Racing Monte Carlo
until Longview's Troy Schreiner maneuvered by her on
the outside of the back straightaway on lap 21. Schreiner,
a four-time and defending champion, led the remainder
of the 35-lap race with his Oldsmobile Cutlass to win
by four car-lengths over Brittain.
"Taking second to Troy is like
a moral victory and any driver would consider finishing
behind him as a very respectable finish," said
Brittain, who took third in the standings behind Cook
and runnerup Randy Allen of Sandy. "It was my best
finish ever in the series and I have to thank my mom
and dad (Bud and Sandy Fast) for all their financial
support, because without them, I wouldn't even be able
to compete in stock car racing."
In what appeared to be the first ever
career street stock A main event win for Gresham's Skip
Pillow, runnerup John Nusom of Gresham, was awarded
the victory. Pillow's Camaro didn't pass the post race
tech inspection and he was disqualified. Rian McVae
of Scappoose, won the PHRA Dwarf Car main and he also
won the 2005 series title.
In what I considered as the thrill
of my lifetime, Mike Harrison of St. Helens, kindly
gave me an opportunity Saturday to drive his Pastime
Tavern/Hudson Portable Toilet sponsored 1979 Datsun.
This exciting first ever experience driving a race car
during the speedway's preparation procedure - packing
the clay oval track surface after a watering process,
was certainly a very special occasion, for which I wish
to offer my thanks and appreciation. Harrison, who took
third place in the mini stock division, is currently
on his honeymoon in Hawaii as he married Jenelle June
Tolman on Sept. 9. Jenelle drives the Wayne Martin Floor
Covering Camaro in the women's division and she took
fourth in the series she'll likely win the Rookie-of-the-Year
Award.
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