By Bill Poehler
Banks, Oregon, June 8 - Both sides of Scott Puncochar's No. 14 late model were beaten and left hanging by their skins, most of the supports broken loose.
He had a lot of work ahead of him, but the driver out of Hillsboro, Oregon couldn't have been happier.
The second-year dirt late model driver won his first feature main event in Pacific Coast Fastrak DirtCar Series in the Thrifty Auto Supply Rose Festival Dirt Cup Friday night at the ¼-mile long clay oval that is Sunset Speedway in Banks, Oregon.
Puncochar led all 35 laps of the A-Main event from his pole position starting spot after holding off repeated charges from PCFDCS points leader and defending champion Greg Walters of Banks.
"I appreciate that he raced me clean all night," Puncochar said in winner's circle. "I kept it tight on the bottom all race."
As Saturday's races were rained out, Puncochar was declared Rose Festival Dirt Cup champion, ending Walters' three-year reign as Dirt Cup champion.
There was a series-record 26 of the crate engine dirt late models on hand for the night's racing. Two series newcomers had early Father's Day presents as John Ireland, father of series regular Robby Ireland, made his series debut in the No. 88X car his son bought for his 65th birthday. Malcolm Lindberg, long-time former figure eight driver and father of Branden Lindberg, made his debut in the No. 88L. Also making their season debuts were Scott Winebarger of Corbett, filling in for Jesse Freeman, and former sprint car driver Daniel "Sonny" Modaff of Portland.
In qualifying, Walters set fast time with a lap of 14.45 seconds with Puncochar second fast at 14.461, Jimmy Schram of Vancouver, Washington in third at 14.495, Darvin Trammel of Aurora, Oregon fourth fast at 14.781 and late-arriving Terry Ferrando of Salem, Oregon missing hot laps, but still timing in fifth fast with a lap of 14.75 despite the engine misfiring.
In the first heat race, Walters led all 10 laps from his pole position with Robby Ireland coming in second, Branden Lindberg of Monroe, Washington in third and John Ireland in the fourth and final A-Main transfer position.
In the second heat, Puncochar win from the pole with Ferrando making a late charge to finish second, Eric Sayre of Vancouver, Washington in third and Hillsboro, Oregon's Steve Suckow in fourth.
In the third heat, Jimmy Schram also won from the pole with Jason Wines of Lebanon, Oregon in second, 16-year-old rookie Billy Workman Jr. of Canby, Oregon in third and Jerry Schram of Vancouver, Washington in fourth.
Puncochar won the four-lap trophy dash from the outside of the front row to earn the pole position for the main event with Walters in second, Jimmy Schram in third and Trammel in fourth.
The B-Main event was the race seemingly no one wanted to win. Polesitter Tim Myers of Madras took the initial lead into the first two turns, but spun coming out of turn two in front of the field and collected Pagel and Jeff Biffle of Vancouver, Washington in his mess. Myers pulled off, had his nosepiece removed and returned. His teammate J.P. Pagel of Brightwood, Oregon took the lead on the restart, but, while leading on lap 5, spun all alone in turn two and was sent to the back, giving Myers back the lead. On the 13th of 15 laps, however, Winebarger, who started the race as the 11th of 11 cars, passed Myers coming out of turn two and Winebarger pulled away to win. Myers finished second, with Biffle, older brother of NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Greg Biffle, in third and Kevin "Pork Chop" Rogers of Banks in the fourth and final A-Main transfer position. Jason Johnson of Gresham placed sixth, but gained a provisional starting position for the A-Main by virtue of being the highest points placing non-qualifier.
At the start of the A-Main, outside polesitter Walters passed Puncochar after driving side-by-side after the first lap, but a spin involving Workman, Biffle, Rogers and Jerry Schram in turn four brought out a caution and a restart. John Ireland bowed out for the evening.
On the restart, Puncochar took the lead in front of Walters. On the sixth lap, the front sheet metal fell off of Biffle's racer to bring out a caution. On the restart, Wines, running seventh, ran over the rope for the restart cone, and the cone flopped around his car for three laps until a lap eight spin by Suckow brought out the caution. On lap 18, Trammel spun out of his fourth position in turn four and lost three laps to change a flat tire.
On long green flag runs, Walters and Puncochar would check out from the field and do battle. Also on the restarts, Walters got alongside Puncochar, either on the high or low side, but somehow Puncochar fend off all the challenges. Walters' best chance came with two laps to go when he gave it a last-ditch try going inside of Puncochar coming out of turn four, but Walters got out of shape in turn four and allowed Puncochar to check out on the last lap for his first win.
Jimmy Schram placed third with Sayre moving up from ninth to fourth and Workman from ninth to fifth. Ferrando finished sixth after running as high as third, Wines in seventh, Lindberg in eighth, B-Main winning Winebarger in ninth and Jerry Schram rounding out the top 10.
Puncochar also won the 20-lap Pure Stock A-Main event immediately prior to the late model main event. Puncochar, who started third, passed leading Jerrmy Brookshire six laps into the main, and Brookshire finished second. Kari Puncochar, Scott's sister, placed third with B-Main winning Clint Meyer moving up to fourth and Rod Low in fifth.
Skip Pillow led the final 14 of 25 laps to win the 25-lap Street Stock A-Main with Dennis Krohling in second, Greg Long in third, Tony Catalono in fourth and John Ireland in fifth. Mike Meyer won the B-Main.
Alex Lang led all 15 laps to win the Teen Racer main event.
The Pacific Coast Fastrak DirtCar Series returns to Sunset June 23 and again July 7 when the series will have its first-ever Fire Cracker 150.

Sunset Speedway
Rose Festival Dirt Cup
June 8, 2007
Pacific Coast Fastrak DirtCar Series
Fast Time- Greg Walters (Banks) 14.45 seconds.
Heat 1 (10 laps)- 1, Walters; 2, Robby Ireland (Banks); 3, Branden Lindberg (Monroe, Washington); 4, John Ireland (Forest Grove); 5, Tim Myers (Madras); 6, Malcolm Lindberg (Monroe, Washington); 7, Sonny Modaff (Portland); 8, Jim Clair (Portland); 9, Darvin Trammel (Aurora).
Heat 2 (10 laps)- 1, Scott Puncochar (Hillsboro); 2, Terry Ferrando (Salem); 3, Eric Sayre (Vancouver, Washington); 4, Steve Suckow (Hillsboro); 5, J.P. Pagel (Brightwood); 6, Bob Trout (Banks); 7, Mark Thompson (Tigard); 8, Ron Prevost (Banks).
Heat 3 (10 laps)- 1, Jimmy Schram (Vancouver, Washington); 2, Jason Wines (Lebanon); 3, Billy Workman Jr. (Canby); 4, Jerry Schram (Vancouver, Washington); 5, Jason Johnson (Gresham); 6, Kevin Rogers (Banks); 7, Jeff Biffle (Vancouver, Washington); 8, Scott Winebarger (Corbett).
Trophy Dash (4 laps)- 1, Puncochar; 2, Walters; 3, Ji. Schram; 4, Trammel.
B-Main (15 laps)- 1, Winebarger; 2, Myers; 3, Biffle; 4, Rogers; 5, M. Lindberg; 6, Johnson; 7, Pagel; 8, Thompson; 9, Clair -1; 10, Trout -1; 11, Pagel -11 DNF; 12, Prevost DNS.
A-Main (35 laps)- 1, Puncochar; 2, Walters; 3, Ji. Schram; 4, Sayre; 5, Workman; 6, Ferrando; 7, Wines; 8, B. Lindberg; 9, Winebarger; 10, Je. Schram; 11, Rogers; 12, Suckow; 13, Johnson; 14, Myers; 15, Biffle -1; 16, R. Ireland -1; 17, Trammel -3; 18, J. Ireland -35 DNF.

Top 5's
Sunset Speedway
Rose Festival Dirt Cup
June 8, 2007
Pacific Coast Fastrak DirtCar Series
1, Scott Puncochar (Hillsboro)
2, Greg Walters (Banks)
3, Jimmy Schram (Vancouver, Washington)
4, Eric Sayre (Vancouver, Washington)
5, Billy Workman Jr. (Canby)
Street Stocks
1, Skip Pillow
2, Dennis Krohling
3, Greg Long
4, Tony Catalono
5, John Ireland
Pure Stocks
1, Scott Puncochar
2, Jeremy Brookshire
3, Kari Puncochar
4, Clint Meyers
5, Rod Low