EL CAJON, California -- Maybe it was the humid 90+ degree temperatures that has gripped the El Cajon Valley for more than a week. Maybe it was the 111 cars that jammed the Cajon Speedway pits Saturday night. Or maybe it was just one of those nights. Whatever brought it about, it was another wacky night at the 3/8-mile paved oval. Only the result remained constant. NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series point leader David Beat remained unbeatable as he romped to his fourth victory of the season in the 40-lap late model sportsman feature.
Beat outran Jerry Gay in the late model sportsman contest. Ron Overman took third in the Mike Hagerman-Jerry Lorenz Port City Rent-a-Racer. Bob Wickey pitted on the warmup laps but came from last to fourth. John Manke bounced back an incident four laps from the finish with Jeff Wright to claim fifth.
Pat Garity led all 25 rounds of the Grand American modified feature while Marty Lehrke paced the entire bomber stock feature. Ty Tipton rebounded from his post-race disqualification from a week ago to take honors in the pony stocks. Rich Crutchfield outhustled his cousin Matt Arnold to prevail in the factory stocks.
Beat got the advantage in the sportsman feature after a multi-lap side-by-side duel with Jeff Wright. But it was what was happening behind the two leaders that left people shaking their heads. The most serious looking incident came on lap 21 as Beat and Wright battled. At that point Stephen Peace appeared to nudge Mike Mendenhall ever so slightly as they entered turn three while battling for fourth. Mendenhalls Dodge got sideways. At this point Peace was just along for the ride and what a ride it was. His Chevy launched over the engine compartment of Mendenhalls car and tried to take off before bouncing hard back to earth. No one was injured and Peace was actually able to continue and finish the contest. But as he returned to the pits after the race, Mendenhall and his crew gathered around his car. According to witnesses, the crew screamed at Peace from one side of the car. On the other side of the car, Mendenhall reached in, pulled up Peaces visor, and slugged him in the face a couple of times. For these shenanigans, Mendenhall has been suspended from participation in any NASCAR event for the remainder of the year.
Beat, who was quick qualifier for the sixth time this year also picked up the $200 Sids Auto Body Hard Charger award for earning the most passing points. Beat also sewed up the season-long $1200 Sids Super Hard Charger Award for having the most nightly awards for the year.
Beat could only shake his head about all the on-track jousting that took place Saturday night. Besides Peace, Mendenhall, Manke, and Wright, others involved in incidents included Rick Chavez, Claude Bell, Scott Moses, Damon Sheets, and probably others in the 17-car field. That was terrible, wasnt it, Beat observed. My engine builder, James Weston of Auto Pro, was here tonight. So I had to do good for him. He was kind enough to bring my spare motor back down to me.
This was one of the roughest nights, Beat continued. I couldnt believe it. In the heat race everybody checked up and I got into the back of Overman and bent the nose up. Then in the main event, I didnt get a scratch on it. Everybody else seemed to have problems (though). Id rather be lucky than good anytime. The car is still working very good. Well keep at it.
Beats point lead over Manke grew from 65 to 93. Danny Gay, who fought brake problems, is now 142 tallies back, but just 29 ahead of fourth place Ron Overman. Only one regular night and two double main event nights remain for the sportsman this year.
The modified race was a costly one for the top point leaders. Point leader Mike Salm tagged points runner-up Scott Brown in turn four on the next to the last lap. Brown spun. After the race, Salm was black-flagged. Brown had pressured Garity through much of the going. But he dropped off the pace in the final five rounds. He managed to hold onto second place until the lap 24 incident with Salm. On lap 7, John Luecht and David Wade locked horns exiting turn two and spun wildly down the backstretch into turn three. Jimmy Dickerson ended up second in the 25-lap feature ahead of Mike Jackson, Doug Carpenter, and Doug Catania.
Salm did maintain his point lead over Brown, Jackson, and Dickerson though the spread from first to fourth shrank from 74 to 44. An equally close chase is underway for the $1200 Carpets Galore Hard Charger Award at the end of the year for passing points earned in the modified feature. Salm leads Jackson, who is now second, Brown, and Dickerson with only 18 markers separating them.
In the pony stocks, Chris Vaughn set the pace early. But the faster cars that started in the back were eating up the field. Marty Schmidt came from 11th to take the point on lap 8. By lap 16 Tipton was on his tail after starting 12th. Point leader Hector Leon stormed from 13th to make it a three-car tussle up front. Tipton got the advantage for good on lap 17 to claim his fourth win of the season. Schmidt and Leon were in hot pursuit but had to settle for second and third. Fast timer Douglas Wright Jr. was fourth ahead of Vaughn.
The bomber stock race saw point leader Rick Hagen weave his way through traffic from 12th starting position. He just ran out of laps however trying to mow down Lehrke, who had the outside pole at the green. Hagen and third place Perry Humphries however were both disqualified after the race for having too much left wide weight. That cost Hagen 81 points; his margin over points runner-up Greg McCown dwindled from 97 to 52. Hagen will also miss next weeks race due to a prior commitment. This post-race activity moved Brian Fitzgibbons up to third ahead of Mark Wendell and Hayden Smith. McCown finished ninth.
The factory stocks turned into a battle of cousins with Rich Crutchfield earning his first career victory over the divisions number one man, Matt Arnold. The officials turned the field around for the feature; it was run in the clockwise direction. Crutchfield started tenth and caught Arnold just two laps from the checkered in the 20-lapper. The pair then ran nearly side-by-side all the way to the stripe. Blaine Sharp had his best finish to date; he was third ahead of Phil Griffin and Vernon Gilmore.
PIT NOTES: It was great to see Ron Esau back in competition. He was making his first start after purchasing the former James Roland Monte Carlo. His dad, George, was on hand to watch his sons return to action. George is retired from the family business, Esau Supply, that sons Larry and Ron now run. But George is keeping busy, building houses around the County. The younger Esau, who is now a not so young 48, had a tough night. He was involved in a couple of skirmishes and ended up ninth in the sportsman feature. Making his first start ever was Gary Rodriguez, whose dad Dave, competed on dirt at Cajon, Mexicali, and El Centro back in the early 1960s. Gary has purchased a former Mark Meech tour car and is just getting some seat time during the remainder of 2003. He was unable to start the feature after slapping the front stretch wall in his heat race.
ATTENDANCE - 2181
