It was a good thing that Gary Tamborelli didn't need a strong finish in the season finale to claim his third Winston Racing Series championship at Cajon Speedway because he didn't get one. He could only manage a seventh place finish in the 40-lap Grand Prix after being involved in a first lap shunt. But all he needed was to finish 19th or better and gain his late model sportsman title.
Jerry Gay won the event, the running of which was anti-climactic after it took some 30 minutes to complete the opening round. Gay took the checkered flag four lengths in front of Rich Green Jr. Arnie Fry ran third ahead of John Tyczki and John Manke.
The contest nearly turned out to be costly for Eric Ferguson, who entered the night second in points. He too was caught up in the first lap melee. He made numerous stops to attempt repairs only to indirectly cause a wreck on the second attempt at a start when he slowed suddenly as the green flag came out. Ferguson was sent to the rear of the field for the third start and then had to pit after only one circuit when his right rear tire went down. He returned to the fray on the 13th go-round and was credited with eleventh place. That was just enough for him to take second in the standings by one point over Gay.
In other divisions, Lance Biggers expanded his point lead in the Grand American modifieds when he won for the sixth time this season. Doug Catania edged out John Tipps by a half-car length in the 25-lapper for street stocks. Ed Hale kept alive in the pony stock championship chase with his third win of the year.
There were three separate accidents, which delayed the first round of the late model feature and finally necessitated a single file start. On the first attempt front row starters Don Kerr and Ferguson made contact. Ferguson bounced into the wall and the many of the rest of the field stacked up. Tamborelli, who started sixth, got stopped but then was both rear-ended and sideswiped. Seven cars had to make their way to the pits for repairs. Then on the second start, Ferguson slowed suddenly just after the green flag came out. With the hard charging pack having to take evasive action, Steve Nelson and Jeff Wright slammed together. Both cars suffered damage, but Wright was able to return but only after the third false start. On try number three, Kerr broke out on top but then was nailed from behind and looped it in turn three where he collected Russ Gregson.
At this point the officials had had enough and a single file start was ordered. This left Gay, Green, and Fry in the top three spots and they were never headed. There were only three more slowdowns required to complete the marathon grind, none of which was serious. Claude Bell debuted his new Monte Carlo and had a strong run. He moved from 11th to fourth in 20 rounds before he broke. The finish of the race left the top ten in the points unchanged except for sixth and seventh positions. Fry and Kerr swapped spots with the young 20-old dropping one spot while Fry's third place run moved him up. The modified race was even uglier than the late model feature. Six yellow flags and one red were needed to complete the 25 rounds. Biggers had to come from the back of the pack in the last half of the race after he was black flagged when he tagged pacesetting Bo Lemler on lap 12. In fact all three combatants for the points lead faced the black flag, but still managed top five finishes. Lemler was sent to the rear for jumping the green on lap 14; Jimmy Dickerson was penalized when he spun Lemler to cause the lap 14 yellow.
The race was stopped when Lemler got into Jim Fram on lap 15 as the pack roared off turn four. Fram. Dickerson, Ron Nava, and Mark Walton ended up in the wall with Walton taking the brunt of the wreck. At the finish Mike Salm was second ahead of Dave Van Riper, Lemler, and Dickerson. Biggers enters next week's Grand Prix 16 tallies ahead of Lemler and 17 ahead of Dickerson. He was claim his first title by finishing seventh or better.
Catania went wire-to-wire in the street stocks. But Tipps, who was subbing for Jimmy Villa after blowing the motor in his own car in hot laps, almost was able to sneak past. The four-time divisional champ was just a half length back at the stripe. Scott Moses, Robert Baker, and Doug Carpenter rounded out the top five.
In the pony stocks, point leader Rob Overman lost a motor on lap nine and ended up 19th in the 20 car field. Hale meanwhile worked his way through traffic from 13th starting position into the lead on lap 13 of the non-stop contest. Hale was a dozen lengths in front of Hector Leon when the checkered came out. Marty Schmidt took third ahead of Neil Rodvold and Jimmy Kyte. The finish leaves Overman only 27 markers ahead of Hale with the pony finale next week. Should Hale have fast time and win the main event, Overman could need to finish as high as second or as low as ninth (depending on where he qualified and how many passing points he earns) to take the title.
CAJON SPEEDWAY WINSTON RACING SERIES RESULTS
LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN
Fast Time - Todd McLauchlan, Alpine, :16.138.
Dash (4 laps) - 1. Gary Tamborelli, Escondido; 2. Todd McLauchlan, Alpine; 3. John Tyczki Jr., Lakeside; 4. Arnie Fry, Ramona, 1:07.07.
Main (40 laps) -
1 1 Jerry Gay 44:29.95
2 56 Rich Green Jr.
3 21 Arnie Fry
4 26 John Tyczki Jr
5 5 John Manke
6 69 Jeff Wright
7 30 Gary Tamborelli
8 62 Rod Hildebrand
9 63 Brandon Miller
10 3 Don Kerr
11 67 Eric Ferguson
12 38 Todd McLauchlan
13 99 Claude Bell
14 4 Dee Cable
15 15 Robert Parenteau
16 22 Russ Gregson
17 9 Mark Norris
18 97 Steve Nelson
19 36 Ron Levasseur
GRAND AMERICAN MODIFIED
Fast Time - Jimmy Dickerson, El Cajon, :16.365.
1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Mark Walton, San Juan Capistrano; 2. Steve Luecht,Chula Vista; 3. Jim Fram, Los Angeles, 4:12.39.
2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Bo Lemler, Chula Vista; 2. Scott Brown, El Cajon; 3.Mike Salm, Fallbrook, 2:14.40.
Main (25 laps) -
1 7 Lance Biggers 38:39.65
2 6 Mike Salm
3 24 Dave Van Riper
4 55 Bo Lemler
5 61 Jimmy Dickerson
6 72 Ron Nava
7 28 Walt Cole
8 29 Jim Fram
9 47 Steve Luecht
10 18 Scott Brown
11 37 Mark Walton
12 94 Randy Keatts
13 5 Harry Lockmann
14 0 Jody Lockmann
STREET STOCK
Fast Time - Danny Gay, Lakeside, :17.668.
1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Chuck Van Buren, El Cajon; 2. Doug Catania, San
Diego; 3. Randy Buell, San Diego, 2:25.21.
2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. John Ahrendt, Imperial Beach; 2. Richard Hinze,
Lakeside; 3. Scott Moses, Chula Vista, 2:25.51.
Main (25 laps) -
1 222 Doug Catania 24:49.40
2 212 John Tipps
3 218 Scott Moses
4 225 Robert Baker
5 236 Douglas Carpenter
6 251 Randy Buell
7 291 Rob Freeman
8 261 John Ahrendt
9 281 Jason Pontsler
10 223 Bill Sanchez
11 214 Bob Nies
12 244 Eric Evans
13 205 Dave Arce
14 295 Ivan Harrison
15 287 Richard Hinze
16 288 Chuck Van Buren
17 201 Danny Gay
PONY STOCK
Fast Time - Rob Overman, Ramona, :18.192.
1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Neil Rodvold, Santee; .2. Marty Schmidt, El Cajon; 3.Hector Leon, San Diego, 2:29.29.
2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Rick Bogart, El Cajon; 2. Jimmy Kyte, Lakeside; 3.Brent Reynolds, Escondido, 2:29.85.
Semi (10 laps) - 1. Mike Alford, El Cajon; 2. George Wolf, El Cajon; 3. Debi Urioste, Spring Valley, 3:10.32.
Main (20 laps) -
1 308 Ed Hale 6:17.03
2 312 Hector Leon
3 307 Marty Schmidt
4 329 Neil Rodvold
5 313 Jimmy Kyte
6 357 Andy Papp
7 389 Ben Carver
8 342 Brent Reynolds
9 311 Douglas Wright Jr.
10 333 Earl Downing
11 348 EJ Brett
12 305 Robert Parenteau
13 325 Carol Kirby Williams
14 320 Mike Alford
15 318 Debi Urioste
16 395 George Wolf
17 398 Rick Bogart
18 360 Ralph Smith
19 324 Rob Overman
20 314 Carole Schacher
ATTENDANCE - 2039
