Portland, OR July 16. As the curtain fell on the asphalt racing era at
Portland Speedway, local racers stood tall as the final pavement champions at the
historic Portland oval. Kenny Gummus won the Exide Limited Sportsman title, with Scott
Puncochar picking up the Accel Street Stock crown, Dan Cherington won in
the Figure 8 division, Jeff Brookshire took the Bomber championship, and
Jody Tanner won an emotional final asphalt NASCAR Weekly Racing Series
Late Model Championship.
Jody Tanner of Portland, Oregon played catch up most of the compressed
season. In the first four races of the year, Tanner crashed, and that left
him on the outside looking in. However, there was a fire in Jody and he did
not give up the fight, as he would battle back to find himself in second
place in the point standings going into the final event. Tanner trailed then
point leader Brandon Riehl by 9 points at the start of the 50-lap finale. In
the final event, Riehl had a lap one crash and Tanner drove a cautious race
to win the title by 6 points. "This is the greatest day in my racing
career" Tanner stated in an emotional victory circle. Brandon Riehl finished
ninth in the race to claim second in the points, with Tony
Schmidt rallying to third, Eric Sayre finished in fourth, and veteran Dan
Obrist made a late season charge to finish in fifth.
Kenny Gummus ran hard all season and was rewarded with his first track
Championship in the Exide Limited Sportsman division. It was the first
NASCAR Championship of the 2000 season. Gummus held a wide margin of 38
points going into the final event, he only needed a consistent run and he
would be champion. Scott Winebarger won the final event with a great come
from
behind victory after destroying his car two weeks earlier. Gummus finished
6th to claim the title. Brad Stanwood took second in the title chase at
seasons end, with Dale
Holland finishing in third, Scott Winebarger coming back to finish fourth,
and early season contender Robert Eubanks rounding out the top five.
Scott Puncochar claimed a well-deserved Accel Street Stock Championship with
consistent finishes all season. Brad Tanner led the title chase going into
the final event only to have a racing deal on lap 17 of the final event.
That incident left Tanner sidelined and the title open for Puncochar.
Puncochar won the race and closed out a competitive Street Stock season.
Tanner finished second in the point standings with Ray Elwess dropping to
third after leading the championship chase since week one.
Don Jenner wound up the season in fourth, and Curt Nusom capping off a great
season to finish fifth.
Dan Cherington controlled the Figure Eight class all season picking up four
wins and several trophy dash victories. Cherington bested his brother Joe
for the Figure 8 title by 9 points, with Brent Beall finishing third after a
season that saw two victories. Chuck Jordan rallied to finish fourth, and
Tim
Patrick coming home in fifth.
Jeff "MR. Bomber" Brookshire handled the Bomber class this season with
several main and trophy dash victories. This was his second Bomber title in
the past couple of years. Danny O'Neil Jr finished the season in second,
with Ric Fors in third, Danny O'Neil Sr in fourth, and Christopher Micheal
in fifth.
Portland Speedway will be closed until Aug 3 for the renovation to clay. The
Grand Re-opening is scheduled for Friday August 4 when the Hy-Per-Lube
Northern Sprint Tour comes to town to christen the new clay surface. Log
onto to www.portlandspeedway.com for all the latest news and information.
