Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

; z «' ~ 0 w a: u, :x: ~ u I- ~ 0 Z ~ « 0 l!':l r:;; 00 0 m ...... -' « 0 l::: ~ m 0 u en .... >lXl (l.J en .0 0 ~ :x: Q. .... U 0 0 (Above) Sam Ermolenko and Mike Faria had a run-off for second place; Ermo lenko won. (Bel ow) Bobby Schwartz and Alan Christian tied for fourth . 1985 California State Speedway Champion Steve Lucero leads Mike Curoso at San Bernardino. Lucero scored 14 points on his title ride. KCAL-FM California State SReedwa): ChamRionshiR Lucero best in San'Berdoo By Scott Daloisio SAN BERNARDI NO. CA. SEPT. 28 Steve Lucero will win the 1985 southern California speedway poin ts battle and he has been the most consis tent rider on the circuit all season long. Even though he has had a great year he 's been overshad' . f 11 M owed by the likes 0 Ke y oran, Sa m Er rnolenko a nd Alan Christian, a mong others. Saturday ni ght Lucero emerged from the shadows a nd took home a wi n in th e 18th Annua l KCAL-FM California State Championship by defea ti ng all of th e top co m petito rs in the even t. Mike Fari a a nd Chris tian led o ff th e night with wins in th e first two even ts. T ha t set th e stage for Lucero (Shoe i / ST P / O i lza ll/ O a k ley/ L o s Patio s Resta urant/Super Spoke/ K&N/Kal-G ard / G en e Woods Racing Products/Ha ir By Bev/Windlord Ra ein g /Cirell o Racing/Ma urices Used Speedway Bikes/Z Lea the rs/ P .J.S. lgnitions/R.C. Performance Weslak e) to mak e h is first appearance of th e n ight. Ra ce three shou ld have been a Lucero wi n as he was facing seco nd-year rider Rich Sweaney. Keit h Larsen and Tom Burba who was subbing for the in jured Ke ll y Moran. T he young Sweaney shocked everyone by getting the gate a nd lea d ing Lucero into the first bend and he held a one-length advantage at th e end of lap one. Three laps later y..hen th e checkered fell, it was Sweaney in a shocker by thr ee-leng th s. L ucero returned to the pits and sw itched to his other bike. Ma ny peop le figured event four might de termine th e outcome of the entire n igh t. It ma tch ed Er molen ko agai ns t th e defe nd i ng champio n Schwartz. Ermo lenko was co ming fro m o ne with Schwartz o u t of two. Sch wa rtz got th e gate a n d cut in fro nt of Ermolen ko as they entered turn one. Errno len ko got th e drive o ut o f two an d wa s rac ing by Sch wa rtz o n the back ch ute wh en he ca ught Schwartz's front tire. sendi ng the " Boogaloo Kid " down in a h eap. The red came o u t a nd the ra ce was restart- ed . Thi.s time th ey nev er even mad e it to the first turn. Schwartz and Ermolenko were trad in g elbows and shoves wh en Schwartz wa s sent £lyin g through the air and into Shawn McConnell. Both went down a nd a no the r red ca me out. Schwartz and Ermolenko returned to th e pits to mak e repairs on th e two -minute clock. T he dC?wn- ti.me was stretch ed to m ~re th an five rrunutes, much to th e disgust of so me of the o ther co m pe ti tors . On th e th ird try to get it go in g . ~rm olenko g<;>t th e ga te with.Schwartz m .hot.pu~sult . Sch~artz tri ed everyth in g m h is bag of tri cks to ge t by. bu t Ermol.en ko held him back a nd took th e wrn by a h alf-length . After the chec kered . E rmolen ~o fell m tu rn o ne a nd Schwartz. with nowhere to go . ra~ over h im . Fana stayed perfect w hen he beat Christi~n by a hal f straightaway in e.vent ft v~ . Schwartz t h e ~ won b ~ a Iike margm over Sweaney III event six . Ermolenko got the gate from the pole over Burba in event seven . H e had a one-bike advantage into turn one and h e eventually stretched it out to four-lengths at the Paul Neighbors checkered . Burba hung on for second after shutting down th e advances of Brad Oxley over the final two laps. Event eigh t bro ught th e reappearance of Lucero; he was second ou t of the ga te beh ind Lance King, bu t on lap two , Lucero shot u ndern eath King down th e bac k ch ute. L ucero then pro ceed ed to open it up to w in by five-lengths . Fa ria, who had been on the victory rostrum a t thi s race fo ur ou t o f five ti mes in the 1980s, came o nto the track for event n ine . Whe n it was noted tha t he wa s look in g extra fast on th e n ight. Faria replied. "I just h ave to do it th ree more times." Abo ut · a mi n u te a nd a ha lf lat er he ' h ad tak en an othe r win a n d o n ly n eeded to do it two more times. Event 10 wa s one o f th e turn in g p oints o f th e night. Lucero wa s matched again st Ermolenko. Lucero got a grea t gat e from th e pole while Ermo lenko was last into th e first bend. Ermolenko began his run, passing Chrisco ; then he took over second from Mark Dwyer o n lap two. Ermolen ko pulled up to Lucero and tri ed to get by on the outside of turn two on th e fin al lap. but h e rode it in too hard a nd almost loo ped o ut. T hat gave Lucero an unch a llenged ride the rest o f th e wavfor h is second win on th e ni ght. Schwartz stayed in the hunt with a win in event II. After three ro u nds the sco re wa s Faria leading wi th n in e. Ermol enko , L ucero and Schwartz were a ll ti ed for seco nd with eigh t p o ints. Event 13 ma tch ed three o f th e co ntenders a nd su dde n ly. a fter th e checkered . everyone real ized th at Lucero had th e ball in h is co urt. Schwartz took the gate o n the origi na l go. bu t he wen t down and Faria la id it down. causing a complete restart. On th e seco nd try . Schwartz -again got th e gate wh ile L ucero had a mi sera ble start. Su ddenly all eyes were on Lucero as he worked his way through the pack and after Schwartz. O n la p three, Lucero ran by Schwartz like h e was moored in cement . Schwartz then went down and out of co n tention while Lucero, after taking h is third win in a row , was looking like a champion. Ermolen ko increased L ucero's chances when he lost to Kin g in event 16. T hat set up a showdown between Faria a n d Errno lenko to open the nex t round . If Fa ria won race 17 a nd L ucero won hi s fin a l ra ce, th ey wo u ld hav e a run -off for fir st. If Ermolen ko won o ver Fa ria. a nd Lucero wo n hi s fin al race. Fari a a n d Er mol enko would hav e a ru n-o ff for second . Faria got the gat e and th e crowd was on th eir feet as Ermolenko tri ed to go around on the o u tside . Finally a t th e end of lap two. Errno len ko got th e job done a nd took th e narrow victorv over Faria. That left one ra ce before'Lucero's fin al ride. Oxley took th e win in event 18. Then ca me 19, a race th at Lucero shou ld win. but the last time he shou ld have wo n. he took a second. This time th ere was no d en ying him as h e led wire to wire a nd he joined th e likes of Bru ce Penhall, Mike and Steve Bast , Christian, Kin g , Son ny Nutter . and Schwartz as a California State Cham pion. Lucero was handed a chec ke red flag to tak e a victory lap. bu t h e on ly got as far as tu rn o ne before he was stopped by Errnolen ko, Dw yer . Christian. Faria and o the rs a n d swep t o ff hi s bike. They to ssed him in to th e a ir in th e traditiona l speedway bumps. This ni ght belonged to Lucero an d h e wa s going to sa vor everv m oment of it . so he rem oun ted hi s bike a n d took h is victory lap to a standing ova tio n from the ove rflo w crowd . Schwart z edged Christi an in event 20. wh il e L ucero made h is way to th e infield for th e victo ry cele bra tio n a nd to wa tch th e run-off for seco nd betwee n Fari a a nd Errnolen ko. Lucero was ca rryi ng a n ear- to-ear gri n a nd he sat there shaking his head in disbelief whe n rea lit y finall y set in an d h e bro ke down in a shower of ha p py tears. O n the track. Ermolen ko won the co in toss for the run-off and selected gate two and he led all th e way to ta ke second place in the champio ns h ip over the determ ined Faria. After it was over, Lucero was still rat he r nu m b. When as ked wha t he thought afte r lo sing in hi s first ride to Swea ney. he quietl y sa id , " I th ough t 1 had bett er swi tch bik es. so 1 did. • Fortun a tel y it paid o ff." Resu lts POINTS: 1. Steve Lucero (Wes) 14; 2. Sam Erma· lenko (Wes ) 13; 3 . Mike Faria (Jaw) 13; 4 . (TIE)Al an Christian (Wes) / Bobby Schwartz (Wesl11 ; 6. (TIE) Lance King (Wes)/ John Sandona (Wes) 9; B. Brad Oxley (Wes) 8; 9. (TIEl Rich Sweanev(Wes)/80 b Oil (Gdnl 6; 11. Tom Burba (J ew l 5; 12. Mike Curoso (WesI4; 13. (TIE) M ark Dwyer (Jaw)/Keit h Chrisco (Wes) 3; 15. (TIE) Keith Larsen (Wes) /Shawn McConnell (Wes) 2; 17. Tony 8r iggs (GM) 1. 21

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