SHAW SEES DOUBLE AT HOME

Source: Derrick Shannon
Date: 05/21/2000

Darren Shaw, newly relocated to Mooresville, NC, will make the occasional trip home. Unfortunately for his fellow competitors, Shaw still knows his way around Portland Speedway as he dominated the action Friday night setting fast time, winning the Trophy Dash and his Heat race, then taking the checkers in both main events. Robert Eubanks scored his second main event victory of the season in Exide Shortrack Limited Sportsman action, with Dan Cherington picking up the win in Figure 8's along with Stan Asanovic and Danny O'Neil JR taking the best of show honors in the Bumpin bombers.

Shaw qualified his Budweiser Monte Carlo in the top spot with a lap of 20.544 but drew a 4 invert that put him on the outside second row. The Late Model division at Portland Speedway has always been ultra competitive and Shaw needed all his experience to get to front which he did by lap 10 in the first of two main events. Shaw went on to pull away over the next 15 laps and win by 5 car lengths. After weeks of frustration, Jody Tanner had a solid run by finishing second to Shaw. The rest of the top five were Tony Schmidt of Newberg in third, Christopher Kalsch in fourth, and series point leader Brandon Riehl in fifth. Last weeks winner Chris Gaboury rolled home sixth and Pat Bliss of Milwaukie had one of his better races this year finishing seventh. Eric Sayre, J R Perrott, and C.J. Miller rounded out the top ten. The second 25 lap main saw all nineteen cars return to the grid with Shaw lining up 6th after the coin toss to decide the invert. Trouble at the start sent the 03 of Jim Clair to the pits with front-end damage; Doug Mitchell in the Timberwolf car also suffered problems and could not continue. Brandon Riehl of Boring, Oregon quickly established the pace and led the field by 10 car lengths. Riehl had the race in hand until a caution on lap10 for a spin by Eric Sayre that tightened the field and allowed Shaw to close the gap. Tony Schmidt was given a black flag by NASCAR for contact with Sayre and had to restart at the back of the field. On the restart Riehl and Shaw battle door handle to door handle for 7 laps, the cars touched several times but neither driver lifted. Shaw drove his Monte Carlo hard into turn 3 and assumed the lead and went on to win the second main event. Riehl followed Shaw to the line in second with Jody Tanner finishing third, followed by another strong run by Pat Bliss to finish 4th, with Christopher Kalsch in fifth. Tony Schmidt made it back up through the field to finish 9th. Tanner's strong finishes vaults him back into the point race as he finds himself in fifth place, jus 37 markers back of point leader Brandon Riehl. Schmidt maintains second, with Sayre in third, and J R Perrott in fourth.

In Exide Limited Sportsman action it took Robert Eubanks a long time to find victory lane, but now that he has he has become the man to beat in the division. Eubanks won the Trophy Dash, finished second in his heat race, and for the second week in a row he dominated the 25 lap main event. The victory was 2nd career win and moves him into third place in the point standings. Limited Sportsman front runner, Scott Winebarger controlled the pace for the first 16 laps of the 25 lap main event until his car developed a severe push which allowed Kenny Gummus and Eubanks to close the gap. Gummus quickly disposed of Winebarger followed closely by Eubanks and Brad Stanwood. Eubanks car was on a rail and on lap 18 Eubanks slid underneath Gummus going into turn 1. At the finish it was Eubanks, followed by Gummus, Brad Stanwood, Dale Holland, and Darrel Hansen in fifth. Winebarger limped home to tenth place finish, which drops him to fourth in the point standings. Winebarger stated that, "We still have some bugs to work out after the accident May 12th, but we will be back next week strong as ever." Gummus continues to lead the point standings by 12 over Stanwood.

Dan Cherington continues to rattle the cages of his competitors in the Figure 8 class as he claimed another victory in the four-cylinder class. Chuck Jordan set fast time for the 8's; with Dan Cherington taking home the hardware in the Dash. The division continues to grow and never fails to excite the Fast Friday crowd. This race was no exception, as several cars traded paint, bumpers, and doors in Portland's busiest intersection. The race was slowed one time for caution on lap ten as Ken Kinkade, Shawn O'Neil and John Mayfield found the intersection at the same time. No one was hurt, but the cars could not continue. Cherington went on to blaze through the field and win his second win of the season. Brent Beall, Joe Cherington, Chuck Jordan, A.J. Clarke rounded out the top five. Beall's consistent runs keeps him on top of the points standings after four rounds, The brothers Cherington hold down (Dan) second and (Joe) third, with Jordan moving up to fourth, and Kelly Nace dropping to fifth.

The best of show Bumpin Bombers always delight the crowd with fender banging, tire smoking, spin to win excitement. 20 Bombers lined up to battle in two main events with Stan Asanovic and Danny O'Neil Jr. sharing the honors in this best of show class. Jeff Brookshire continues to lead the point standings by eleven over Danny O'Neil JR, in second, with Ric Fors in third, Dennis Krohling in fourth, followed by John Nusom in fifth. Nusom won the 4 lap Trophy Dash with Fors setting fast time.

The next race on the Portland Speedway schedule is Fast Friday May 26th as the Speedway hosts True Value Hardware Night at the races, featuring the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Late Model's, Exide Shortrack limited Sportsman on the monster half mile oval, plus Accel Street Stock in quarter mile action with the always exciting Figure 8 cars. Gates open at 5pm with racing at 7pm. Log onto www.portlandspeedway.com for all the latest news and information. You can buy tickets online for the NASCAR Winston West race on July 4th and the Pennzoil World of Outlaws 2-day event August 25,26.

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