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Richland man sweeps state top trucker title; him & 3 others heading to nationals — TriCityHerald (@TriCityHerald)

Semi-truck driver Chris Poynor appears to be your everyday road warrior.

“When I’m out on a normal daily route, I usually have two trailers worth of freight out there,” he said.

So it was no surprise that he entered the twin trailer competition this year at the Washington Trucking Associations competition in Kent.

And the Richland driver for did so well that he won the grand championship title over about 100 other drivers at the contest, which was hosted by Boeing.

XPO ranks No. 14 on the list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire companies.

The truckers earned their way to the state competition with their driving records.

“You cannot be in any type of incident, whether it’s as minor as freight shifting inside your trailer or a full-on crash,” said Poynor, 43.

He will compete at the national championships in Indianapolis on Aug. 10-13, along with two other Richland drivers who won their divisions.

Poynor grew up in Richland and started driving big rigs more than 21 years ago. For his first 15 years, he mostly picked up and delivered loads, involving several stops and a variety of techniques to avoid accidents.

He credits that experience with his success in competitions.

“I’m always looking for the opportunity to turn something into a little challenge,” Poynor said.

Of the nine division categories in the competition, he chose the twin trailer contest because he’s used to towing trailers every day.

“Knowing your equipment and maneuvering around objects that may be in a customer’s yard kind of almost helps you out for the competition, and then the competition kind of does it in the other way,” he said.

Poynor continues to make runs between Idaho and Washington, often dipping into Oregon.

“Even though it’s 477 miles, I’ve got it easy,” he said. “I can just drive from here to there, meet with the driver and then come back.”

Like his previous runs as a city driver, which require more precision, drivers in the nine truck categories and step van competition must navigate precision courses and avoid hitting objects they encounter.

In one case, drivers must position their truck no farther than 18 inches from a target.

That’s especially challenging, because they’re not driving their own rigs.

“They’re even mixing up trailers and trucks just to make sure you’re a little off,” Poynor said. “It challenges the driver. And it’s the same thing when we go to nationals, too.”

Even though he’s younger than me, he has a lot of knowledge that he has learned over the past that he has taken in from other drivers that has helped me along the way.

This is the first year that Poynor’s cousin, Robert Dean, 45, of Richland, will go to nationals with him.

“We’ve been trying to go to nationals for 11 years now since I’ve been doing it,” Dean said. “We finally won.”

Dean, the Washington flatbed division champ who also works for XPO Logistics in Pasco, sees Poynor as a mentor.

“Even though he’s younger than me, he has a lot of knowledge that he has learned over the past that he has taken in from other drivers that has helped me along the way,” Dean said.

When they practice in Pasco, Dean said they critique each other.

Dean hopes one of them can win a national title this year. Poynor took second place in 2011, and Dean finished in eighth place in 2008.

“All 50 states have nine classes, so all winners go to the nationals,” Dean said. “We’re competing against the best of the best.”

Another Richland driver, Darrell Schelton, 32, won the 4-axle division at the state level and also��will travel to the national competition for the first time.

Schelton, a Freight driver who has driven trucks for about eight years, has competed statewide for three years.

“I’ll be getting them eventually,” Schelton said of his friendly competition with Dean and Poyntor.

FedEx Corp.��ranks No. 2 on the for-hire ��.