by Mike Weber
The Columbia County Racing Association
concluded it's 18th year of motorsports as Ray Elwess,
Troy Schreiner, Scott Puncochar, Joe Cherington and
Kerry Smith each won division titles Saturday in River
City Speedway's Napa Auto Championship. Elwess, Cherington
and Smith, celebrated their title winning season in
victory lane too as they each recorded A main event
wins.
Curt Nusom of Gresham, won the street
stock main and Sandy's Randy Allen captured the sportsman
main. Clark Tenney of Scappoose and St. Helens drivers
Paul Liner, Marty "McFly" Holmason, Shawn
Dorie and Jeremy Martin also had fantastic finishes
to solidify a coveted top-five final point standings
positions.
Smith, of Scappoose, notched a series
high fifth main win in the Alliance Automotive Chevrolet
Camaro as she captured the women's division title in
her fourth year racing. Smith led the 30-lap event
from start-to-finish, followed by Portland's Jacki
Graham and Vancouver's Stacey Fordyce. Smith had a
remarkable performance as she won the heat, was fastest
in qualifying (17.13 seconds) and took second in the
dash to Graham, who was runnerup in the standings,
while Fordyce took third.
"This is pretty cool, it's sure
exciting to win a championship and it's also quite
a thrill for me, while it's undoubtedly the highlight
of my career," said Smith, whose STC Racing team
includes her husband Dan, Robert Smith and Dennis Blasier. "I
have a wonderful crew, so all I have to do is show
up and drive, because they always have the car prepared
in excellent condition. I worked hard to overtake Jacki
in the standings, but I just wish that there were a
few more drivers participating in the series."
Elwess led all the way in the 20-lap
modified main with his Triple E Racing open-wheel style
racer. Martin was runnerup, followed by Dorie, Boring's
Gary Morris and Dan Fox of Warren. Holmason, one of
a few double duty drivers who competes in two classes,
won the B main and he took third in the sportsman A
main.
"I had a good season, I won a
couple mains and finished in the top-five of the division,
so it was really a pretty good year," said Martin. "Elwess
is a great guy, he competed very well all season and
he did a fantastic job, so he deserves to win the championship." "It
was tough competing with numerous excellent drivers
and I had a great season," said Elwess, 43, of
Portland. "The short schedule (8 races) was somewhat
unusual, but that's because four events were rained
out. I enjoy racing here, the fairgrounds track is
such a nice facility and winning a title is definitely
the highlight of my 11-year career."
"I had a good year, I'm glad
to finish in the top-five of the standings, the car
was always running well and this was the best season
of my seven-year career," said Dorie, 26 whose
Vordell Auto Racing team includes Jerry Harrison, Jason
Bagget and Shawn's dad, Scott.
Holmason manueverd up from 10th position
to take third in the sportsman main with his Emmert
Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Liner, who led laps 13-36 in
his Malibu, was second to Allen, who took the checkered
flag with his Tony Malar Engines Monte Carlo. Schreiner,
of Longview, took sixth as he captured a second straight
series title. Holmason and Liner both recorded top-five
division finishes.
"Our goal was a top-10 finish
and I attribute the success we had to my son, Bob,
who really worked extremely hard all year to enable
me to compete in two classes and I'm very proud of
him," said Holmason, 42. "It was a great
season, we have two good cars and we're both pretty
happy with the performance we had competing in our
first full season of racing."
Puncochar won a second straight street
title and Cherington won the mini stock championship.
The final event is the Larry Jauron Memorial "Run
What Ya Brung" race on Oct. 2.
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