It was a big night for Gray Thunder Racing and car number 2 at Cajon Speedway Saturday night. Ron Overman and Ron Esau, senior citizens in their respective division and teammates on the track, both put car number 2 in victory lane following their respective main events in the late model sportsman and Grand American modifieds on the 3/8 mile paved oval.
Overman bested Cajon's senior senior citizen Ed Hale by four car lengths in the sportsman feature 40-lapper. But then Hale was disqualified at the scales. Esau led all 25-rounds of the open wheeled feature to claim his first victory trophy in ten years. Danny Gay picked off a record 14th street stock main event. Andy Papp was victorious in the pony stocks when Hector Leon was disqualified. Pat Garity won for the sixth time in the bombers.
Mike Salm picked up enough points with his second place finish in the Grand American modified main event to wrap up his first track championship. Salm chased Esau the entire distance and nearly slipped by him in the final turn. Salm actually wrapped things up when Scott Brown scratched from the event. But even had Brown been able to run, Salm needed only to take the green to clinch the title.
Overman chased Hale for the first ten rounds of the sportsman feature. But then Hale skated up the track in the third turn on the 11th circuit and Overman was able to scoot underneath into the lead. Once in front Overman went virtually unchallenged for the remainder of the race.
The contest was nearly a disaster for Gary Tamborelli and Jerry Gay, two of the four drivers in the thick of the hotly contested points battle. They were running fourth and fifth on lap 17 when Gay tapped Tamborelli in turn three and the point leader spun. Tambo pulled up alongside Gay on the ensuing yellow and had some words with him. Then both had to restart from the back of the pack when Gay was black flagged. Each however worked his way back up through the pack and ended up third and fourth following the Hale DQ. John Tyczki ran a steady, easy pace in third place. Manke came home fifth.
Todd McLauchlan lost a top five finish when he faced the wrath of the starter's black flag on lap 36. At that point McLauchlan and Don Kerr had been fighting hard for fourth place for several circuits. It appeared that either Kerr broke loose just for a instance or McLauchlan slid up just an inch and bumped the 20-year-old. Kerr ended up losing control and spun and McLauchlan was black flagged. When he wouldn't leave the track, the race was stopped and McLauchlan stopped at the starting line to discuss the situation. He was banished to the pits for the remainder of the race.
Arnie Fry was the victim of a couple of official miscues. First there was no yellow flag while he was limping around the track at 5 mph due to a fuel pump problem after a lap 16 spin. This caused him to lose a lap. Then he was erroneously moved to the back of the pack during a mid-race restart.
All the action on the track enabled point leader Tamborelli to be the top point man of the night. He picked up 77 points and will carry a slim 14 point margin into next weeks Grand Prix when a possible 145 points could be earned in the double points finale. John Tyczki took over second place in the hunt after grabbing 72 points for the night. He now has 1325. Gay slipped from second to third and trails Tyczki by four with 1321. Despite the victory Overman dropped seven more points in arrears to Tamborelli and has 1258. Both Gay and Overman earned 70 points for their efforts.
In the street stocks, Gay was able to take advantage of a late race yellow flag to close on Johnny Johnson, who had led from the green flag. The slowdown came just six laps from the finish when Scott Holmberg blew his engine. When the race restarted, Gay dipped under Johnson and gained the advantage when Johnson slipped just a tad in turn three. Johnson held on for second ahead of Rick Hagen. Ivan Harrison and Rich Green rounded out the top five.
The quick heat for the streeters had a jarring accident at the top on the homestretch on the second circuit. Rob Overman, Frank Stielau, and Gordon Anderson ran through most of turns three and four three-wide before there was just a little contact. But that was all that was needed to send Anderson careening full bore into the wall. He then ricocheted back into traffic, but was fortunate when he wasn't nailed hard again. Anderson was not injured though the same could not be said for his Chevelle.
Leon paced all 20 rounds of the pony stock finale before his ride was undone in the post-race inspection. That gave Papp his second triumph of the season. Ed Hale gobbled up two-thirds of Jimmy Kyte's point lead by running second. Bob Cloke, Rick Anders, and Ralph Smith rounded out the top five. Kyte got caught up in a turn two skirmish on lap 5 and pitted for repairs. When he returned to the track many lap down he was (senselessly) black flagged for dipping below the blend line too soon (another driver who did the same two rounds later faced no black flag). Kyte returned for a third time but ended up 17th in the final rundown. His lead over Hale dwindled from 95 to 32 digits.
Garity, who was crowned divisional champ a week earlier, was the class of the bomber stocks. He set fast time for the 13th time this year, and then roared from 14th starting position in the 20-lap finale. Scott Denton and Bill Holland held the field at bay round after round. At one point the top eight cars were bottled up at the front of the pack. But Garity slowly picked his way through the pack. Once he was on Denton's tail, he made short order of the rookie. Garity drove under him and turn two on lap 18 and pulled away. Denton lost second to Holland by the checkered, but he too faced disqualification at the post-race inspection. That moved Randy Wallace, Scott Youngren, and Chris Boyer into third through fifth.
PIT NOTES: Everyone was very happy to see street stock Larry Twombley back at the track even though he looked like he had just lost a 15 round bout with Mohammad Ali.. On Sept 9, Larry collapsed in the pits and cracked his head open. He spent a couple of nights recuperating at Grossmont Hospital. . Long time Cajon Speedway fans will remember Odie Robertson, who drove super stocks here back in the 1960's. Well his son Jerry, who is now 38 years old (that makes us all feel old) was just crowned late model sportsman champ at Colorado National Speedway near Denver, Colorado.
CAJON SPEEDWAY NASCAR WEEKLY RACING SERIES RESULTS
LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN Fast Time - Gary Tamborelli, Escondido; Time - :16.407. 1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Ed Hale, El Cajon; 2. Don Kerr, El Cajon; 3. Wayne Morse, Alpine; Time - 2:14.94. 2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Ron Overman, Lakeside; 2. John Manke, Ramona; 3. John Tyczki Jr, Lakeside; Time - 2:12.67. Main (40 laps) - 1. Ron Overman, Lakeside; 2. John Tyczki Jr, Lakeside; 3. Gary Tamborelli, Escondido; 4. Jerry Gay, San Diego; 5. John Manke, Ramona; 6. Dee Cable, Santee; 7. Don Kerr, El Cajon; 8. Wayne Morse, Alpine; 9. Arnie Fry, Ramona; 10. Jack Lee, Vista; 11. Todd McLauchlan, Alpine; 12. Michael Peace, El Cajon; 13. Douglas Carpenter, La Mesa; 14. Robert Parenteau, Lakeside; Time - 30:51.81.
GRAND AMERICAN MODIFIED Fast Time - Mike Salm, Fallbrook; Time - :16.672. Dash (4 laps) - 1. Mike Jackson, Bonita; 2. Ron Esau, Lakeside; 3. Mike Salm, Fallbrook; 4. Scott Brown, Lakeside; Time - 1:07.87. 1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Ron Esau, Lakeside; 2. Mike Jackson, Bonita; 3. Mike Salm, Fallbrook; Time - 2:19.06. Main (25 laps) - 1. Ron Esau, Lakeside; 2. Mike Salm, Fallbrook; 3. Mike Jackson, Bonita; 4. Douglas Carpenter, La Mesa; 5. Randy Keatts, Santee; 6. Ron Triska, Spring Valley; 7. Dave Williams, Escondido; 8. Ron Nava, Encinitas; Time - 7:05.85.
STREET STOCK Fast Time - Rich Green Jr., El Cajon; Time - :17.673. 1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Johnny Johnson, Santee; 2. Brian Collins, Oceanside; 3. Scott Holmberg, San Diego; Time - 2:32.19. 2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Rob Overman, El Cajon; 2. Eric Evans, Imperial Beach; 3. Danny Gay, Lakeside; Time - 10:26.56. Main (25 laps) - 1. Danny Gay, Lakeside; 2. Johnny Johnson, Santee; 3. Rick Hagen, Alpine; 4. Ivan Harrison, Santee; 5. Rich Green Jr., El Cajon; 6. Rob Freeman, Santee; 7. Rob Overman, El Cajon; 8. Randy Buell, San Diego; 9. John Luecht, Chula Vista; 10. Ben Carver, El Cajon; 11. Keith Donahou, San Diego; 12. RJ Stockman, Lakeside; 13. Brian Collins, Oceanside; 14. Eric Evans, Imperial Beach; 15. Scott Holmberg, San Diego; 16. Bill Sanchez, Santee; 17. Scott Moses, Chula Vista; 18. Dave Arce, Santee; 19. Charles Nevin, El Cajon; 20. Frank Stielau, El Cajon; Time - 19:59.44.
PONY STOCK Fast Time - Ed Hale, El Cajon; Time - :18.465. 1st Heat (7 laps) - 1. Dave Brown, El Cajon; 2. Hector Leon, San Diego; 3. George Behlman, Santee; Time - 2:15.30. 2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Marty Schmidt, El Cajon; 2. Rick Anders, El Cajon; 3. Ralph Smith, Santee; Time - 2:38.75. Semi (10 laps) - 1. Debi Urioste, San Diego; 2. Scott Ohlhauser, El Cajon; 3. Earl Downing, Spring Valley; Time - 3:13.99. Main (20 laps) - 1. Andy Papp, La Mesa; 2. Ed Hale, El Cajon; 3. Bob Cloke, El Cajon; 4. Rick Anders, El Cajon; 5. Ralph Smith, Santee; 6. Troy Hatfield, Descanso; 7. Mike Weimann, Temecula; 8. Ken Wikoren, El Cajon; 9. Dave Brown, El Cajon; 10. George Behlman, Santee; 11. Marty Schmidt, El Cajon; 12. Lou Tompkins, San Diego; 13. Kristi Kor, Lake Morena; 14. Scott Ohlhauser, El Cajon; 15. Debi Urioste, San Diego; 16. Earl Downing, Spring Valley; 17. Jimmy Kyte, Lakeside; 18. Phillip Klinger, San Diego; 19. Douglas Wright Jr., Jamul; Time - 6:19.11.
BOMBER STOCK Fast Time - Pat Garity, El Cajon; Time - :19.710. 1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Bob Blew, Santee; 2. Scott Denton, Fallbrook; 3. Rodney Shaw, El Cajon; Time - 2:46.69. 2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Chris Boyer, San Diego; 2. Bob Wickey, Spring Valley; 3. Scott Youngren, Fallbrook; Time - 2:42.80. Main (20 laps) - 1. Pat Garity, El Cajon; 2. Bill Holland, El Cajon; 3. Randy Wallace, El Cajon; 4. Scott Youngren, Fallbrook; 5. Chris Boyer, San Diego; 6. Bob Wickey, Spring Valley; 7. Mark Holland, San Diego; 8. Eric Seene, Santee; 9. Marty Lehrke, San Diego; 10. Joey Cornetto, El Cajon; 11. Allen Basile, San Diego; 12. Jeff Coskey, Spring Valley; 13. Rodney Shaw, El Cajon; 14. Bob Blew, Santee; 15. Bill Parenteau Sr, El Cajon; 16. Greg McCown, El Cajon; 17. Alex McKay, San Diego; 18. Mark Schilling, Oceanside; Time - 9:21.90.
ATTENDANCE - 1925
