Michael Wright was again the victor, this time at Cajon Speedway in El Cajon, CA. Wright fought hard to get by first Sam Harris and then Eddie Secord to outlast them both for the win. Wright also won the trophy dash and posted a third in qualifying.
MSRA's first visit to Cajon Speedway in sometime was a good one. With a field of fourteen cars, they put on a good show in their 40 lap Main Event. Most of the field had something go wrong and then quickly returned to the track to finish the race. There were however, nine cautions, probably a record. Most were due to spinouts as there were no serious accidents or collisions.
Qualifying Eddie Secord posted the fast time with a 17.074. Following Secord were Kenny Smith at 17.194, Michael Wright at 17.315 and Scott Porter at 17.423.
Trophy Dash >From the pole position, Scott Porter fought with Michael Wright for the lead throughout the first lap running side by side. On the second lap, Wright took the lead with Eddie Secord falling in behind him for second. Wright held on for the win with Kenny Smith taking third.
Main Event >From the outside pole position, Sam Harris jumped into the lead. Harris, returning from almost a one year hiatus, looked strong as the #55 car was hooking up well through turns two and three. On the second lap Ed Reed in second position got sideways coming out of turn 4 and Eddie Secord, Michael Wright and Kenny Smith all managed to slip underneath as Reed straightened out. On lap seven the first caution came out, this time a red flag as there was a problem with #11 Mike Douthit's car.
Harris continued to lead on the restart. The battle now was for fifth between Pat O'Brien and Matthew Harrell with O'Brien managing to hold him off. O'Brien made a brief bid to get around Smith for fourth but was unsuccessful.
Harris continued to fight off bids by Wright to get around him. It appeared that both cars were getting a bit loose, especially coming out of turn four. Secord continued to lay back looking for any opportunity that the battle for first might bring his way. In turn two, Harris slipped up against the wall and Wright got underneath about a wheel length. They continued their way through turns three and four in the same position. Harris kissed the wall coming out of turn four and when he corrected he collided with Wright on his inside sending Wright into the infield grass. Secord stayed high and got around Wright for second. Wright recovered nicely and fell in behind Secord.
With Secord now dogging Harris and Wright on Secord's bumper, it was anyone's race. On lap 28, after leading the entire race, Harris lost power, a victim of a broken throttle linkage. This caused him to leave the track and turn the lead over to Secord. Secord's lead was short-lived, as he too had car trouble and turned the lead over to Wright as he left the track. A fire under Harrell's car brought out yet another red flag situation.
Wright held on to win, his third of the year to keep him on top in points.
Cajon Speedway, 7/7/01 Qualifying Featured Event Finish Car Name Time Points Finish Car Name Points 1st 84 Eddie Secord 17:079 30 1st 23 Michael Wright 150 2nd 43 Kenny Smith 17:194 29 2nd 43 Kenny Smith 140 3rd 23 Michael Wright 17:315 28 3rd 66 Scott Porter 135 4th 66 Scott Porter 17:423 27 4th 7 Steve Schober 130 5th 55 Sam Harris 17:478 26 5th 53 Sam Newcomer 125 6th 22 Ed Reed 17:518 25 6th 55 Sam Harris 120 7th 24 Pat O'Brien 17:692 24 7th 22 Ed Reed 115 8th 79 Marty Elzig 17:785 23 8th 84 Eddie Secord 110 9th 29 Matthew Harrell 17:841 22 9th 29 Matthew Harrell 105 10th 10 Tim Gardner 17:888 21 10th 10 Tim Gardner 100 11th 7 Steve Schober 18:052 20 12th 24 Pat O'Brien 90 12th 53 Sam Newcomer 18:305 19 13th 85 Steve Bernardi 85 DNQ 11 Mike Douthit 0 14th 11 Mike Douthit 80 DNQ 85 Steve Bernardi 0 Trophy Dash Finish Car Name Points 1st 23 Michael Wright 9 2nd 84 Eddie Secord 8 3rd 43 Kenny Smith 7 4th 66 Scott Porter 6
2001 Point Standings Car Last First Points 1. 23 Wright Michael 853 2. 43 Smith Kenny 802 3. 84 Secord Eddie 799 4. 22 Reed Ed 760 5. 66 Porter Scott 759 6. 7 Schober Steve 602 7. 10 Gardner Tim 600 8. 53 Newcomer Sam 435 9. 60 Bernhardt Kevin 293 10. 29 Harrell Matthew 276 11. 79 Elzig Marty 268 12. 85 Bernardi Steve 254 13. 11 Douthit Mike 198 14. 86 Soares John 180 15. 55 Harris Sam 146 16. 15a Ladwig Peter 144 17. 88 Smith Melvin 141 18. 24 O'Brien Pat 139 19. 52 Stone Howard 139 20. 1 Ebeling Gary 138 21. 20 Sereika John 137 22. 6 Adams Mike 132 23. 15 Ladwig Michael 128 24. 36 Soares Tim 112 25. 2 Symonds Gregg 25 26. 3 Howitzer Howard 25
