Cajon results 2003-08-02

EL CAJON, CA (08/02/03). It was about as wild as it could get in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series main event at Cajon Speedway Saturday night. Despite being down for the ten count when he was sent to the back of the pack on the fifth lap, point leader David Beat stormed back through traffic to claim the victory in the 40-lap late model sportsman feature on the 3/8-mile paved oval.

Beat padded his point lead significantly when John Manke, his nearest pursuer in the points chase, was black flagged ten laps from the checkered after getting into Scott Moses, who spun. At the time Moses and Manke were battling for the second position. Mike Mendenhall ended up claiming second in the feature while Ron Overman was third. Bob Wickey and Stephen Peace rounded out the top five. Track officials placed Manke in the last position for ignoring the black flag. Of the top five only Mendenhall survived intact. Overman was the victim of the incident that resulted in Beat's penalty. Wickey ended up in the wall in his heat race and started in the rear of the feature for safety reasons. He spun on lap 5. Peace was banished to the rear of the field after lap 10 after he got into Rick Chavez, who spun. Guess that old adage is true -- rubbing is racing, especially on Saturday night on a bullring.

The street stocks featured their second spirited battle in as many weeks. Rich Green Jr. prevailed as well again this time. Jimmy Dickerson gained first place honors in the Grand American modifieds. Bomber stock ace Brian Fitzgibbons stepped into a factory stock and ran to victory in their feature. Cory Miles dominated the action in the legends.

The first half of the sportsman feature saw four yellow flags. The first one was costly for Danny Gay, the third man in points. He was eliminated after a lap two skirmish with Billy Hoagland. But a lap 3 incident that didn't result in a slowdown markedly changed the complexion of the race though not the eventual outcome. Claude Bell was leading the pack with Overman in second and Beat in third. In turn four Bell dipped a bit causing Overman to lift and get a bit sideways. Beat got into the rear of his buddy's car and Overman went all the way around. Overman recovered and kept going so there was no yellow. There was no penalty for Beat at that time. The yellow did come out on lap 5 following a turn two spin by Wickey. At this point the officials placed Beat near the rear of the field behind Overman.

All this left rookie Scott Moses, who started seventh after being the night' s fifth quick qualifier, on Bell's bumper. Their tussle at the head of the field quickly turned into something that looked like the Hatfields and the McCoys. They beat, banged, shoved, and leaned on each other while they swapped the lead back and forth from lap five through lap 10. Meanwhile right behind Manke was trying to muscle his way past Mendenhall into third. Somehow no one ever got turned around. Back in the pack Beat and Overman were threading their way forward. On lap 10 the race's third slowdown resulted after Peace nudged Chavez, who ended up spinning into the infield. Chavez was making his first start after suffering a mild heart attack a few weeks ago.

The brawling finally cooled following the restart, but the real racing got more intense. By lap 11 Beat was back to fourth behind Moses, Bell, and Manke while Overman had worked his way back up to sixth behind Mendenhall. Bell slowly drifted back into the pack after his Monte Carlo started smoking. Moses moved about eighth lengths out front and after lap 13 it was Manke and Beat, who were trying to rein him in.

Moses, who was gunning for his initial victory in the division, lost his advantage on lap 18 when Ben Carver spun into the third turn wall. Most railbirds gave Moses little chance of holding off Manke and Beat with more than half the race remaining. But Manke had his hands full with Beat and Moses was able to put a little distance on his pursuers. Beat bided his time and finally got past Manke into second on lap 26 and then slowly ate into Moses' advantage. He took over the number one spot on lap 30 and never looked back. Just after Beat took the lead, Manke nipped at Moses who spun exiting turn four. Manke was shown the black flag for a couple of rounds. He ignored it at first and then dropped back to mid-pack a bit later, but never fully acknowledged the penalty in the opinion of the officials. Following the race the scorers were instructed to score him in last place. That cost him dearly in the points race. Entering the night only two digits behind Beat, he ended it 65 back. Danny Gay dropped from 32 back to 87 back.

It was a big night for Beat and his Mueller Lewis Concrete team. They had fast time, won the dash, and came from last to second in his heat race before making his third visit of the year to victory lane in the feature. He also picked up his fourth $200 Sid's Auto Body Hard Charger bonus check for gaining the most passing points.

"I can't believe that," Beat sighed as he and Manke laughed about the event later. "It was unbelievable."

The conversation quickly moved to the lap 3 incident with Overman and what unfolded afterwards. "Ron Overman was screaming in his car 'he didn't take me out -- don't send him to the back -- it was my deal -- I was already crossed up and he didn't have anywhere to go.' " Beat explained. "(After paying the consequences), I decided it was time to go -- I was going to use this baby up."

Beat had to admit that his car was a rocket all night. Prior to the race when that fact was pointed out, he would only admit to the car "being OK." But after the race, he changed his tune. "It was good; it was really good," he confessed. "The car tonight went on the top side; it went on the bottom side. Everybody has been running on the top and now the groove is moving down here. Some of the bite has gotten lost up on top. Tonight I worked on the top a little bit. When everybody started going to the bottom, I went to the top."

"John was working Scott really hard," Beat said of his lead pack battle with Manke and Moses. "I just snookered him (Manke) once going down into the corner. He didn't think I'd go to the outside and I did. Then I got him thinking outside-outside and then I snookered him back to the inside and got alongside of him. We raced great together tonight."

In the Grand American modifieds Mike Salm moved to the top rung in the standings and also the chase for Carpets Galore Hard Charger $1200 check at season's-end. Like Beat, Salm was banished to the rear of the field on lap 5 after Dave Wade looped it in turn four. But he rebounded to finish second behind Jimmy Dickerson, who won for the first time since 1999. Dickerson inherited the lead in the race when second running Mike Jackson nudged race and point leader Scott Brown on lap 23 of the 25-lap affair. Pat Garity was third ahead of Lou Tompkins and Doug Carpenter.

Unlike a week earlier when Rich Green Jr. was the leader, the two time divisional champ was the chaser in the terrific 25-lap street stock affair. Neil Rodvold gave way to current top point man Richard Hinze of lap four of the feature. Green followed Hinze past Rodvold and then dogged Hinze. Lap after lap Green tried to pass Hinze on the low side. But Hinze did not fade. Finally on lap 15 Green got under Hinze to stay and inched his way forward. When Hinze slipped just a tad in turn four on lap 18, Green was in front for good. It marked a division high third win of the campaign. Hinze held on to second ahead of Rodvold. Eric Ferguson eked out fourth place ahead of Rob Overman.

The factory stock 20-lapper was barely underway when polesitter Mike Rumbaugh got crossed-up in turn four at the conclusion of lap 1. At least nine cars piled into each other in something resembling one of those 100 car smashups in fog each winter in the San Joaquin Valley. Someone only four cars couldn't restart. Ryan Gay pulled ahead but then Vernon Gilmore, one of the lap 1 survivors, took over on lap 9. Gilmore started slowing on lap 13 and Brian Fitzgibbons took over. Matt Arnold closed quickly but couldn't overtake Fitzgibbons before the checkered fell on lap 20. Gay was third ahead of Glen Davis and Lyle Driscoll.

The legends didn't even get their event started before carnage unfolded. Kevin Leffler lost an oil line exiting turn four coming down for the green. He skated hard into the wall and then was bounced around like a ping pong ball, taking smashes from Bill Bonney and Mike Daniel. Fortunately Leffler was able to climb from the cockpit of his battered Chevy. Then as the legend cars were blowing the kitty litter off the track, Kevin McMahon lost his left front wheel. So only ten of the 14 entrants were left to take the green. Cory Miles was a pole-to-pole winner, taking the checkered nine lengths in front of John Isabella. Tom Skahill, fast qualifier Bob Graham III, and Gary Scheuerell completed the top five in the 25-lapper.

PIT NOTES: After serving under the excellent tutelage of John Manke's team, crewman Brian Panic is leaving them to join Michael Lewis' Trans Am team that is based in Escondido. Good luck Brian. The street stocks will have twin 25-lap main events on August 9 to make up for their early season cancellation.

RESULTS FOR THE NASCAR DODGE WEEKLY SERIES

LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN
Fast Time - David Beat, Santee; Time - :16.361.

Dash (4 laps) - 1. David Beat, Santee; 2. John Manke, Ramona; 3. Stephen Peace, El Cajon; 4. Mike Mendenhall, Santee; Time - 2:20.62.

1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Billy Hoagland, Santee; 2. Dee Cable, Santee; 3. Ben Carver, El Cajon; 4. Bob Wickey, San Marcos; 5. Claude Bell, El Cajon; 6. Dan McKenna, Ramona; 7. Rick Chavez, Lakeside; Time - 4:05.27.

2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Ron Overman, Lakeside; 2. David Beat, Santee; 3. Danny Gay, Lakeside; 4. Scott Moses, Chula Vista; 5. Mike Mendenhall, Santee; 6. John Manke, Ramona; 7. Jerry Gay, San Diego; 8. Stephen Peace, El Cajon; Time - 2;13.38.

Main event (40 laps) - 1. David Beat, Santee; 2. Mike Mendenhall, Santee; 3. Ron Overman, Lakeside; 4. Bob Wickey, San Marcos; 5. Stephen Peace, El Cajon; 6. Scott Moses, Chula Vista; 7. Billy Hoagland, Santee; 8. Dee Cable, Santee; 9. Claude Bell, El Cajon; 10. Bill Parenteau Jr., Santee; 11. Danny Gay, Lakeside; 12. Ben Carver, El Cajon; 13. Rick Chavez, Lakeside; 14. Dan McKenna, Ramona; 15. Jerry Gay, San Diego; 16. John Manke, Ramona; Time - no time.

GRAND AMERICAN MODIFIED
Fast Time - Mike Jackson, Bonita; Time - :16.653.

1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Lou Tompkins, San Diego; 2. Dave Wade, Lakeside; 3. Steve Luecht, `Chula Vista; 4. Douglas Carpenter, La Mesa; 5. Ed Patton, Fallbrook; 6. Matt Pate, San Diego; 7. Andy Papp, La Mesa; Time - 2:19.28.

2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Scott Brown, Spring Valley; 2. Jimmy Dickerson, El Cajon; 3. Mike Salm, Fallbrook; 4. Mike Jackson, Bonita; 5. Steve Dickerson, El Cajon; 6. George Behlman, Santee; 7. Doug Catania, El Cajon; 8. Pat Garity, El Cajon; Time - 5:58.55.

Main event (25 laps) - 1. Jimmy Dickerson, El Cajon; 2. Mike Salm, Fallbrook; 3. Pat Garity, El Cajon; 4. Lou Tompkins, San Diego; 5. Douglas Carpenter, La Mesa; 6. Doug Catania, El Cajon; 7. Dave Wade, Lakeside; 8. Matt Pate, San Diego; 9. Scott Brown, Spring Valley; 10. Mike Jackson, Bonita; 11. Steve Dickerson, El Cajon; 12. Andy Papp, La Mesa; 13. George Behlman, Santee; 14. Steve Luecht, `Chula Vista; 15. Ed Patton, Fallbrook; Time - no time.

STREET STOCK
Fast Time - Rich Green Jr., El Cajon; Time - :17.747.

1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Brian Collins, Oceanside; 2. Neil Rodvold, Lakeside; 3. Gordon Anderson, Lem Grv; 4. Bill Sanchez, Santee; 5. Tom Jaggi, San Diego; 6. Steve Bolin, Lakeside; Time - 2:28.29.

2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Ivan Harrison, Santee; 2. Richard Hinze, Lakeside; 3. Dave Arce, Santee; 4. Rich Green Jr., El Cajon; 5. Rob Overman, San Diego; 6. Rob Freeman, Santee; 7. Eric Ferguson, El Cajon; Time - 3:26.03.

Main event (25 laps) - 1. Rich Green Jr., El Cajon; 2. Richard Hinze, Lakeside; 3. Neil Rodvold, Lakeside; 4. Eric Ferguson, El Cajon; 5. Rob Overman, San Diego; 6. Brian Collins, Oceanside; 7. Dave Arce, Santee; 8. Gordon Anderson, Lem Grv; 9. Tom Jaggi, San Diego; 10. Steve Bolin, Lakeside; 11. Ivan Harrison, Santee; 12. Rob Freeman, Santee; Time - 26:25.02.

FACTORY STOCK
Fast Time - Brian Fitzgibbons, El Cajon; Time - :21.517.

1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Mike Rumbaugh, Poway; 2. Ryan Gay, El Cajon; 3. Glen Davis, La Mesa; 4. Lyle Driscoll, Lakeside; 5. Eric Shockey, Santee; 6. Mike DiMeglio Jr., El Cajon; 7. Rich Crutchfield, Santee; 8. Blaine Sharp, Jamul; Time - 3:00.83.

2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Vernon Gilmore, Santee; 2. John Krempp Jr., El Cajon; 3. Brian Fitzgibbons, El Cajon; 4. David Liedike, El Cajon; 5. Ernest Teixeira, Vista; 6. J.R. Trent, Jamul; 7. Pat Bradley, San Marcos; 8. Matt Arnold, San Diego; Time - 2:58.23.

Semi (15 laps) - 1. Eric Sweetman, Santee; 2. Aaron Reid, El Cajon; 3. Mike Landry, Lakeside; 4. Keri Griffin, Santee; 5. Randy Hart, National City; 6. Michael Burford, Ramona; Time - 5:44.45.

Main event (20 laps) - 1. Brian Fitzgibbons, El Cajon; 2. Matt Arnold, San Diego; 3. Ryan Gay, El Cajon; 4. Glen Davis, La Mesa; 5. Lyle Driscoll, Lakeside; 6. Rich Crutchfield, Santee; 7. Ernest Teixeira, Vista; 8. Pat Bradley, San Marcos; 9. Eric Sweetman, Santee; 10. Keri Griffin, Santee; 11. Michael Burford, Ramona; 12. Aaron Reid, El Cajon; 13. Blaine Sharp, Jamul; 14. Mike Landry, Lakeside; 15. Vernon Gilmore, Santee; 16. John Krempp Jr., El Cajon; 17. David Liedike, El Cajon; 18. Randy Hart, National City; 19. Mike Rumbaugh, Poway; 20. Eric Shockey, Santee; 21. Mike DiMeglio Jr., El Cajon; 22. J.R. Trent, Jamul; Time - 12:24.87.

LEGEND
Fast Time - Bob Graham III, Alpine; Time - :19.023.

1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Gary Scheuerell, Murrieta; 2. Mike Daniel, Alpine; 3. Fred Chavez, Santee; 4. Dave Riggs, Lakeside; 5. Kevin McMahon, Long Beach; 6. Frank Chavez, San Diego; 7. Bill Bonney, San Clemente; Time - 9:15.62.

2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Cory Miles, Garden Grove; 2. John Isabella, El Cajon; 3. Kevin Leffler, Escondido; 4. Mark Gaiser, Anaheim; 5. Tom Skahill, Duarte; 6. Warren Merrifield, Pasadena; 7. Bob Graham III, Alpine; Time - 2:37.59.

Main event (25 laps) - 1. Cory Miles, Garden Grove; 2. John Isabella, El Cajon; 3. Tom Skahill, Duarte; 4. Bob Graham III, Alpine; 5. Gary Scheuerell, Murrieta; 6. Mark Gaiser, Anaheim; 7. Dave Riggs, Lakeside; 8. Warren Merrifield, Pasadena; 9. Fred Chavez, Santee; 10. Frank Chavez, San Diego; 11. Kevin McMahon, Long Beach; 12. Kevin Leffler, Escondido; 13. Bill Bonney, San Clemente; 14. Mike Daniel, Alpine; Time - 8:00.59.