John Manke's racing budget pales in comparison with that of many others in the late model sportsman class at Cajon Speedway. But Saturday night those dollars didn't make any difference at all. Two days after Manke celebrated his 35th birthday, he finally made his first visit to victory lane at the 3/8 mile paved oval in a NASCAR Weekly Racing Series event.
Manke came from third to first in mid-race in the 40-lap affair. At the stripe he was a single length in front of opening night victor Claude Bell. Arnie Fry, who set the pace for much of the contest, slipped to third. John Tyczki Jr. earned fourth. Todd McLauchlan rebounded from an accident that virtually destroyed his Monte Carlo a week ago to take fifth.
In the companion main events, Lance Biggers romped to his third straight Grand American modified victory. Danny Gay turned the same trick in the street stocks. Bob Wickey was victorious in the bomber stocks. Gary Scheuerell won the legend feature.
For most of the late model sportsman feature, Fry and Bell diced for the top spot. Manke had the pole and led the opening round before ceding the number one position to Fry. Bell, who started fourth, took over second on the third lap.
The first of two slowdowns came on lap 6 when Gary Tamborelli and Jerry Gay got together in turn two. When the racing resumed, Bell went to work on Fry. Lap after lap Bell would duck underneath Fry in each turn only to have Fry maintain his advantage down the straightaways. The two touched in turn two on 16. Fry broke loose, but was still able to hold on. By the 17th round, the top six drivers were nose-to-tail. At the halfway point it was Bell who got loose in turn four. But he too was able to retain second place.
The side-by-side battle at the head of the pack finally took its toll. Just after the halfway point it became obvious that both Fry and Bell were using up their cars and Manke's Monte Carlo became the quickest car on the track.
Manke was able to use the low groove to scoot past Bell on lap 24 and then by Fry two circuits later. Bell was finally able to make his way past Fry on lap 27. Then on lap 29, a shootout to the finish was set up when Wayne Morse looped it in turn three. Another yellow regrouped the field behind Manke on lap 32 when Jerry Gay threw his left year wheel and spun. But despite heavy ressure from Bell during the final eight rounds of the race, Manke didn't slip up.
Manke had to fight back tears in victory lane. "Last year we just ran about eight races," Manke explained. "We didn't have a lot of money. So we said we were going to take that money and put it towards running good when we can. The crew said lets do some stuff to the car. So we had Mark Norris take this car in. He said this car is old, it's heavy, nothing is right on it, it's a Heinz 57. He made a couple of changes on it. Last year we were getting a little better and a little better.
"So we said we would do the same thing this year. We thought we'd come out here and earn a little money and run week-to-week. That's what we've been doing. When we heard about this new format where the fast qualifiers have to race their way to the front, we knew this was our deal. I can't thank my crew and Mark Norris enough. We won!"
Biggers' triumph came after he was involved in a shunt ten laps into the 25-lap modified feature. At that point Scott Brown was leading with a gaggle of cars right behind. Fourth running Doug Carpenter got into Mike Salm, who spun. Slam rolled back down the track and clipped the rear of Biggers' mount. All were able to continue. Bo Lemler, who had been battling Brown since the green flag, finally got underneath him and stole the lead on the 14th round. By the 16th circuit, Biggers had worked his way back up to second. It took six laps for the defending champion to move by Lemler, who was second in points a year ago. The 22nd round also saw Brown spin and lose a top five finish. Biggers ended up three lengths in front of Lemler. Carpenter came back to take third ahead of Ron Brown and Salm, the night's quick qualifier. It marked Salm's first fast qualifying run.
Rick Hagen was the class of the street stock field until Danny Gay moved up.Gay started seventh. But it was a dozen rounds before he was in contention to challenge for the lead. So dominant was Hagen in the early laps that he opened up a 20-car lead in the opening five rounds until a yellow flag slowed the pace. On the 15th circuit, Gay tried to make a pass on the high side in turns one and two and again in three and four. A half lap later he was in front for good. Hagen held on for second ahead of Richard Hinze, Scott Moses, and Ivan Harrison.
Bob Wickey had no problem besting the bomber stock field. Though he picked off his second win of the season, he still sits three points behind winless Pat Garity in the points chase. Garity ended up fifth with Mark Holland, Eric Seene, and John Luecht sandwiched in-between. While Wickey was on cruise control, the real battle was for second. By the midpoint of the contest, there were seven cars in that tussle that continued to the finish.
PIT NOTES: KFMB-AM 760 has a new motorsports show. Dave Stall is the host of the call-in show, which has already had Tom McGrath, Gary Tamborelli, and John Borneman III as guests. The show airs each Sunday afternoon from noon to 2 PM. . Racer Rett Lawrence provides weekly video and commentary on the Channel 10 News each Sunday night at 11:00. . John Tyczki picked up the $200 Hard Charger Award for earning the most passing points.
CAJON SPEEDWAY NASCAR WEEKLY RACING SERIES RESULTS
LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN
Fast Time - Gary Tamborelli, Escondido; Time - :16.417.
1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. John Manke, Ramona; 2. Arnie Fry, Ramona; 3. Russ
Gregson, Santee; Time - 2:14.38.
2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Claude Bell, El Cajon; 2. Todd McLauchlan, Alpine; 3.
John Tyczki Jr, Lakeside; Time - 2:11.41.
Main (40 laps) - 1. John Manke, Ramona; 2. Claude Bell, El Cajon; 3. Arnie
Fry, Ramona; 4. John Tyczki Jr, Lakeside; 5. Todd McLauchlan, Alpine; 6. Ron
Overman, Lakeside; 7. Gary Tamborelli, Escondido; 8. Jeff Seifert, Jamul; 9.
Russ Gregson, Santee; 10. Dee Cable, Santee; 11. Jerry Gay, San Diego; 12.
Wayne Morse, Jamul; 13. Robert Parenteau, Lakeside; Time - 23:01.86.
GRAND AMERICAN MODIFIED
Fast Time - Mike Salm, Fallbrook; Time - :16.468.
1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Scott Brown, Lakeside; 2. Bo Lemler, Bonita; 3.
Douglas Carpenter, La Mesa; Time - 2:16.41.
Main (25 laps) - 1. Lance Biggers, Alpine; 2. Bo Lemler, Bonita; 3. Douglas
Carpenter, La Mesa; 4. Ron Brown, San Diego; 5. Mike Salm, Fallbrook; 6.
Scott Brown, Lakeside; 7. Randy Keatts, Santee; 8. Ron Nava, Encinitas;
Time - 11:31.07.
STREET STOCK
Fast Time - Danny Gay, Lakeside; Time - :17.651.
1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Rick Hagen, Alpine; 2. Brian Collins, Oceanside; 3.
Dave Arce, Santee; Time - 9:00.66.
2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Danny Gay, Lakeside; 2. Scott Moses, Chula Vista; 3.
Ivan Harrison, Santee; Time - 5:14.87.
Main (25 laps) - 1. Danny Gay, Lakeside; 2. Rick Hagen, Alpine; 3. Richard
Hinze, Lakeside; 4. Scott Moses, Chula Vista; 5. Ivan Harrison, Santee; 6.
Robert Baker, Spring Valley; 7. Rob Freeman, Santee; 8. Rob Overman, El
Cajon; 9. Brian Collins, Oceanside; 10. Randy Buell, San Diego; 11. Dave
Arce, Santee; 12. Keith Donahou, San Diego; 13. Bob Meese, Poway; 14. Chuck
Van Buren, El Cajon; 15. Jason Pontsler, San Diego; Time - 13:41.48.
BOMBER STOCK
Fast Time - Rich Serrano, San Diego; Time - :19.615.
Dash (4 laps) - 1. Bob Wickey, Spring Valley; 2. Pat Garity, El Cajon; 3.
Rich Serrano, San Diego; 4. John Luecht, Chula Vista; Time - 1:19.61.
1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Scott Youngren, Fallbrook; 2. Greg McCown, El Cajon;
3. Chris Boyer, San Diego; Time - 2:43.34.
2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Bill Holland, El Cajon; 2. Bob Wickey, Spring Valley;
3. Randy Wallace, El Cajon; Time - 7:08.43.
Main (20 laps) - 1. Bob Wickey, Spring Valley; 2. Mark Holland, San Diego;
3. Eric Seene, Santee; 4. John Luecht, Chula Vista; 5. Pat Garity, El Cajon;
6. Scott Youngren, Fallbrook; 7. Randy Wallace, El Cajon; 8. Marv Evans,
National City; 9. Toree Nies, Lakeside; 10. Bill Holland, El Cajon; 11. Ben
Fields, Dehesa; 12. Greg McCown, El Cajon; 13. Mark Schilling, Oceanside;
14. Gary Vincent, Lakeside; 15. Kelly Jernigan, San Diego; 16. Scott Denton,
Fallbrook; 17. Bill Parenteau Sr, El Cajon; 18. Chris Boyer, San Diego; 19.
Joey Cornetto, El Cajon; 20. Alex McKay, San Diego; 21. Rich Serrano, San
Diego; Time - 12:31.43.
LEGEND
Fast Time - Gary Scheuerell, Temecula; Time - :18.787.
1st Heat (8 laps) - 1. Chad Daly, San Gabriel; 2. Gary Gladstone, San Juan
Capistrano; 3. Harold Crafton, Jamul; Time - 2:36.62.
2nd Heat (8 laps) - 1. Chase Bankhead, Orange; 2. Jim Smith, Orange; 3. Rod
Schug, Perris; Time - 2:32.59.
Main (20 laps) - 1. Gary Scheuerell, Temecula; 2. Gary Gladstone, San Juan
Capistrano; 3. Jim Smith, Orange; 4. Chase Bankhead, Orange; 5. Seth Hicks,
Escondido; 6. Dave Doll, Long Beach; 7. Rod Schug, Perris; 8. Harold
Crafton, Jamul; 9. Tom Landreth, Alta Loma; 10. Jody Hendley, Mission Viejo;
11. Kevin Krauss, Temple City; 12. Craig Stambaugh, Ontario; 13. Bill
Everett, ; 14. Greg Pyke, Corona; 15. Bob Landreth, Alta Loma; 16. Chad
Daly, San Gabriel; 17. Ted Landreth, Alta Loma; Time - 22:31.61.
TRAIN RACE - Joe Totten and Aaron Reed, El Cajon
ATTENDANCE - 2780
