By Mike Weber
Eight area competitors concluded the
stock car racing season with a prestigious top-five
ranking and two St. Helens drivers - Clint Petty and
Joe Lires, both won a division championship in River
City Speedway's final regular season race Saturday
at the Columbia County Fairgrounds facility. Petty,
a former series champ (2000) won the Reser's Fine Foods
Modified title and Lires won the mini stock title.
Lisa Liner, Kirk Brissett, Aaron Prettyman,
Jeremy Martin, Kerry Smith and George Dohn each notched
top-five finishes in their respective division point
standings. Brissett, a rookie, won his first ever Longview
Napa Sportsman A Main event while driving the Heckman
Trucking Chevrolet Lumina owned by Keith and Kim Cernac
of Scappoose.
Tricia "Great" Brittain
of St. Helens, started up front in the sportsman main
and she led the first 10 laps in her Tony's Shoes/Eaton's
Tires Monte Carlo. Brissett, of Scappoose, maneuvered
past Brittain on the outside of the front straightaway
on lap 11. Brissett led the remainder of the 40-lap
race and won by eight car-lengths over Brittain in
second. Don Thompson of Svensen, took third, followed
by Portland's Dale Holland and division champion Troy
Schreiner of Longview. An eighth place by Liner in
the Lawrence Oil Chevy Malibu, enabled her to take
fourth in the standings, while she also won the Rookie-of-the-Year
award.
"We really exceeded our expectations
of how much success we might have and it was certainly
better than we ever anticipated," said Brissett,
who took fifth in the division. "I just want to
thank Keith and Kim for letting me drive their car
and we're already looking forward to next season. I
had to work hard to get by Tricia, because she's such
a good driver and after I got ahead, then I knew that
I had a good chance to win."
"I exceeded the expectations
I had in the beginning of the season, because I was
just hoping to finish in the top-10 and getting fourth
is just great," said Liner, 21, the 2002 women's
champ. "It wasn't easy and this is much different
than the women's class because all these guys are just
excellent drivers. My dad (Paul Liner) just runs himself
ragged while doing so much work to help me compete
in stock car racing. He's the best sponsor that I've
ever had and I'm extremely happy with the success that
our Liner Racing team had this year."
Petty trailed the Sayre brothers of
Portland - Marc and Matt, in the standings nearly all
year until he got a 10 point lead over Matt after winning
Sept. 13. Gary Morris of Boring, led the main from
start-to-finish and Scott Lenz took second. Martin
of St. Helens, was third, he won the Rookie-of-the-Year
award and took third in the standings. Shawn Dorie
of St. Helens, was fourth followed by Petty and Matt
Sayre.
"It's great to win another title,
but it was tough all year and I was in eighth place
in July, so I really had to work hard, but everything
fell into place for me," said Petty, who had four
wins and 10 top-five finishes with his Competition
Motorsports/B & B Automotive open-wheel style racer. "I
was just trying to make sure that I stayed ahead of
Matt, because if he was in front of me, then he might've
won the title."
Hillsboro's Scott Puncochar passed
Portland's Robert Duncan on the last lap of the street
stock main to notch his fourth victory, in addition
to winning the championship. Prettyman, of St. Helens,
took third in the division, behind Vancouver's Dennis
Krohling.
Lires had five top-five's and three
wins, including a third in the main with his McMullen
Water Systems Toyota Celica. Dan Cherington won and
his brother, Joe, the defending champion, was second.
Dohn took fifth place and he also took fifth in the
division. In the women's class, Kelso's Paula Timmons
won the title and Smith of Scappoose, took third place.
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