Cajon Speedway results 2004-08-07

EL CAJON, Calif. (08/07/04) -- Unintentionally, Ramona's John Manke both hindered and aided the racing night of David Beat, the driver everyone is trying to catch among late model sportsman stocks in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series at Cajon Speedway.

Manke was the pinball that bounced among three cars and sent Beat to the back of the pack just five laps into Saturday's Sportsman main event, placing Stephen Peace in perfect position to post an easy victory. But when Manke later got involved in a bumping session, Peace's huge four-second lead disappeared, allowing Beat the break he needed to claim yet another victory on his trek to claim consecutive drivers championships.

"When I was sent back, I thought that might be it for the night," noted Beat, who claimed his ninth main event of the season -- no other driver owns more than four in any division. "Manke got involved in some bumping and went to the bottom of the track, but I was on the low line -- I was already down on the ripple strips -- and had nowhere to go. Yet they placed me at the back."

While the early incident may have motivated Beat, the rest of the field plummeted far behind El Cajon's Peace, who guided his Intrepid to a seemingly insurmountable lead -- until Manke got involved in another bumping incident.

This time, Manke's All-American painted Monte Carlo got involved with Lakeside's Rick Chavez, who got tapped from behind and slid into the turn 3 wall. This brought out a Lap 22 caution flag and eliminated Peace's massive advantage.

"That's when it was time for me to take them to driving school and give them a lesson," noted Beat.

After battling side-by-side with Peace for several laps, Beat finally slipped down and took the inside line for the pass on Lap 29, slowing pulling away for the victory. Lakeside's Ron Overman finished third, followed by Manke and El Cajon's Ben Carver. Beat's victory also earned him his seventh $200 Sid's Auto Body Hard Charger check of the year for earning the most passing points.

Carver was in contention early, racing side-by-side with Peace for several laps before falling back and positioning himself just off Peace's back bumper. But when Carver made contact on lap 8, the rear of Peace's car started to swing. But the pole-sitter was able to save it before spinning out and continued on in front over the next 21 laps.

A mixture of familiar and fresh faces found their way to the winner's circle in other racing classifications around Cajon Speedway's 3/8-mile paved oval. Points leaders Rick Hagen and Ryan Gay both extended their respective leads with victories, with Hagen winning in street stocks, while Gay topped the factory stocks field; and Brian Fitzgibbons, the top bomber stock driver without claiming a checkered flag this season, finally broke through with his initial triumph.

Hagen never imagined he would have an opportunity to win after Eric Ferguson exploded to an early lead.

"It was the best our car has run in four weeks, but I thought everyone was going for second place," Hagen explained. "Then suddenly Eric pulled off."

A broken transmission prematurely ended Ferguson's hopes of cutting into Hagen's points lead. Then, in a microcosm of the entire season, Hagen stayed in front with an unspectacular yet solid win, outdistancing Matt Arnold and Rich Green, both of El Cajon.

"There were some recent rule changes which hurt us, but then they changed the rules back, so it took the crew some time to get us back to basics," noted Hagen.

Fitzgibbons garnered his first victory of the season -- his third career triumph -- despite starting from the sixth row, yet eventually supplanted pole-sitter Rodney Shaw. Fitzgibbons slipped inside of Shaw on a restart on Lap 15, as the two dueled side-by-side before the Chevelle of Fitzgibbons broke free for the lead two laps later.

"It was just great, hard but clean racing," noted Fitzgibbons, who just celebrated his 22nd birthday. "It seemed like every hole we tried to take, we passed somebody and kept moving up."

Shaw built a command lead of seven car lengths by lap 6, but the pack caught him following a near major accident on Lap 12, which was averted by some skillful driving.

Following a spinout in the middle of turn 4, Lyle Driscoll of Lakeside was about to get smashed by the Nova driven by Marty Lehrke. However, the driver from San Diego alertly avoided Driscoll with a swinging, intentional left-hand spin toward the infield, avoiding the accident and returning to the track in one continuous "X Games-esque" move to stay with the main pack. Lehrke's move brought about a big ovation from the fans and pit crew personnel watching the race in front of the pit tower.

Gay's Camaro was one of the few cars able to successfully adjust to the second half of the 20-lap factory stock main, which was run in the opposite (clockwise) direction.

While several cars slipped and skidded with set-ups problems contesting the unorthodox course, Gay avoided such difficulties to defeat Charles Nevin, Tony Cortes, and David Liedike, all of El Cajon.

TRACK RECORD -- Cortes scrambled in order to race on Saturday, needing to quickly revert to an old engine.

"We worked all week putting in a new engine and a new tranny," noted Cortes. "But when we ran five practice laps on Friday, it seized up and I knew it was dead."

However, Cortes and crew chief Kenny Wikoren were able to re-install the old engine in time for Saturday's session -- and with welcome results. In factory stock qualifying, Cortes found enough power to establish a Cajon Speedway track record, as Cortes' Cutlass circled the oval in 20.838 seconds, eclipsing the 20.984 mark established earlier this season by Liedike.

"We got it in there, and made changes to the transmission and some little jet changes," the driver added. "We found the combination, and the rest is history."

BACK-TRACKS -- Paul Seibert of Lakeside took early command of the destruction derby with a solid tailspin maneuvers, single-handily eliminating three cars to become one of the final two operational cars, but Seibert finally lost after getting pinned by derby veteran Chuck Gillock of Escondido.

NASCAR DODGE WEEKLY SERIES RESULTS

LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN
Fast Time - David Beat, El Cajon; Time - :16.064.

1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Dee Cable, Santee; 2. Michael Peace, El Cajon; 3. Ben Carver, El Cajon; 4. Mike Daniel, Alpine; 5. Billy Hoagland, Santee; 6. Scott Moses, Chula Vista; Time - 2:13.92.

2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Stephen Peace, El Cajon; 2. John Manke, Ramona; 3. Ron Esau, Lakeside; 4. Greg Voight, Santa Barbara; 5. Ron Overman, Lakeside; 6. David Beat, El Cajon; 7. Rick Chavez, Lakeside; Time - 2:11.73.

Main (40 laps) - 1. David Beat, El Cajon; 2. Stephen Peace, El Cajon; 3. Ron Overman, Lakeside; 4. John Manke, Ramona; 5. Ben Carver, El Cajon; 6. Michael Peace, El Cajon; 7. Ron Esau, Lakeside; 8. Billy Hoagland, Santee; 9. Scott Moses, Chula Vista; 10. Mike Daniel, Alpine; 11. Dee Cable, Santee; 12. Rick Chavez, Lakeside; 13. Bill Parenteau Jr., Santee; 14. Greg Voight, Santa Barbara; Time - 24:15.63.

STREET STOCK
Fast Time - Rick Hagen, Rancho SD; Time - :17.599.

1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Ivan Harrison, Santee; 2. Rob Overman, San Diego; 3. Randy Buell, San Diego; 4. Rich Green Jr., El Cajon; 5. Josh Green, Lakeside; 6. Bob Meese, Poway; 7. Don Moore, Lakeside; 8. Tom Jaggi, Campo; Time - 2:27.46.

2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Eric Ferguson, El Cajon; 2. Rick Hagen, Rancho SD; 3. Neil Rodvold, Lakeside; 4. Kenny Hall, El Cajon; 5. Matt Arnold, San Diego; 6. Brian Collins, Oceanside; 7. Eric Sweetman, Santee; 8. Dave Arce, Santee; 9. Richard Hinze, Lakeside; Time - 7:23.21.

Main (25 laps) - 1. Rick Hagen, Rancho SD; 2. Matt Arnold, San Diego; 3. Rich Green Jr., El Cajon; 4. Richard Hinze, Lakeside; 5. Kenny Hall, El Cajon; 6. Brian Collins, Oceanside; 7. Eric Sweetman, Santee; 8. Neil Rodvold, Lakeside; 9. Bob Meese, Poway; 10. Rob Overman, San Diego; 11. Josh Green, Lakeside; 12. Dave Arce, Santee; 13. Don Moore, Lakeside; 14. Tom Jaggi, Campo; 15. Randy Buell, San Diego; 16. Eric Ferguson, El Cajon; 17. Ivan Harrison, Santee; Time - 20:06.71.

BOMBER STOCK
Fast Time - Brian Fitzgibbons, El Cajon; Time - :20.070.

Dash (4 laps) - 1. David Whisenant, Murrieta; Time - no time.

1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Rodney Shaw, El Cajon; 2. Darrell Moore, Ramona; 3. Bill Holland, El Cajon; 4. Lyle Driscoll, Lakeside; 5. Bob Underwood, Spring Valley; 6. Kevin Gantz, Spring Valley; 7. Brandon Haag, Santee; 8. Perry Humphries, San Diego; 9. Michael Burford, Ramona; Time - 2:46.87.

2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Hayden Smith, San Diego; 2. Randy Hart, National City; 3. David Whisenant, Murrieta; 4. Marty Lehrke, San Diego; 5. Scott Denton, Fallbrook; 6. Brian Fitzgibbons, El Cajon; 7. Rick Nies, Lakeside; 8. Greg McCown, Lakeside; 9. Mike McGlone, Fallbrook; Time - 2:45.65.

Main (20 laps) - 1. Brian Fitzgibbons, El Cajon; 2. Rodney Shaw, El Cajon; 3. Perry Humphries, San Diego; 4. Greg McCown, Lakeside; 5. Randy Hart, National City; 6. Hayden Smith, San Diego; 7. Scott Denton, Fallbrook; 8. David Whisenant, Murrieta; 9. Rick Nies, Lakeside; 10. Marty Lehrke, San Diego; 11. Darrell Moore, Ramona; 12. Lyle Driscoll, Lakeside; 13. Kevin Gantz, Spring Valley; 14. Bob Underwood, Spring Valley; 15. Michael Burford, Ramona; 16. Ron Chesney, Fallbrook; 17. Bill Holland, El Cajon; 18. Brandon Haag, Santee; 19. Mike McGlone, Fallbrook; Time - 16:38.69.

FACTORY STOCK
Fast Time - Tony Cortes, El Cajon; Time - :20.838.

1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Joey Schneider, Escondido; 2. Chuck Irey, Spring Valley; 3. Charles Nevin, El Cajon; 4. Blaine Sharp, Jamul; 5. Robert Baker, El Cajon; 6. Rich Crutchfield, Santee; 7. Keith Krueger, Fallbrook; 8. Lauri Wong, Santee; Time - 2:57.27.

2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Tony Cortes, El Cajon; 2. Ryan Gay, El Cajon; 3. Curtis Reiter, El Cajon; 4. David Liedike, El Cajon; 5. J.R. Trent, Jamul; 6. Mark Littlepage, San Clemente; 7. Mike Ellis, Lakeside; 8. Eric Shockey, Santee; Time - 2:52.68. Consy (10 laps) - 1. Paul Bethel, San Diego; 2. Scott Smith, Santee; 3. Brian Faz, Santee; 4. Leonard Manos, El Cajon; 5. Steve Ybarra, ; Time - 3:45.83.

Semi (20 laps) - 1. Marv Evans, National City; 2. Pat Bradley, San Marcos; 3. Kevin Krueger, Fallbrook; 4. James Schneider, Escondido; 5. Justin Schultze, San Diego; 6. Jeremy Amison, San Diego; 7. Scott Smith, Santee; 8. Matt Arnold, San Diego; 9. Martin Kepler, El Cajon; 10. Mike Rumbaugh, Poway; Time - 10:27.17.

Main (20 laps) - 1. Ryan Gay, El Cajon; 2. Charles Nevin, El Cajon; 3. Tony Cortes, El Cajon; 4. David Liedike, El Cajon; 5. Rich Crutchfield, Santee; 6. J.R. Trent, Jamul; 7. Joey Schneider, Escondido; 8. Eric Shockey, Santee; 9. Keith Krueger, Fallbrook; 10. Robert Baker, El Cajon; 11. Marv Evans, National City; 12. Curtis Reiter, El Cajon; 13. Jeremy Amison, San Diego; 14. James Schneider, Escondido; 15. Pat Bradley, San Marcos; 16. Lauri Wong, Santee; 17. Mark Littlepage, San Clemente; 18. Chuck Irey, Spring Valley; 19. Mike Ellis, Lakeside; 20. Justin Schultze, San Diego; 21. Kevin Krueger, Fallbrook; 22. Blaine Sharp, Jamul; Time - 23:24.92.

-cs-