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Brad Ox ley collects his reward for
winning round f ive of the
Budweiser Series at Ascot.
lea der o n the o utside. Christian
survived the onsla ught and ca rried
the lead into turn three. Schwartz
bobbled in turn four on the first trip
around the ova l and went to the back
of the pack. He may have left the
picture but Lucero stayed glued to
the leader's rear tire. Lucero was on
Christian the remainder of the
distance but he couldn't find the
power to get past. At the checkered
it was "Crazy" Christian just ahead
of Lucero, Faria and Schwartz. All
four riders were within five lengths
of each other.
Like Christian, Shawn McConnell
had a sparse victory sheet in 1987 but
for the second consecutive week he
won the eight lap Handicap main.
On the night, McConnell was winless as he came out for the main but
he changed that with a flawless
performance.
McConnell put the Team Swollen/Cirello Raci ng/ C.T .I. Brace/
Bell/ Brown's Automotive Weslake
into the lead at the outset over Gary
Hicks and "Fast" Eddie Castro.
Castro and Hicks became embroiled
in a wi ld battl e for the number two
spot on the first two circuits that
lasted u nti l Hicks momentari ly
pac ked in turn three on the third lap .
Faria took evasive action to avoid
Hicks and ended up at the back of
the pack and out of contention. ·
McConnell was cruising at the front
of the pack but Christian was weaving his way towards the front of the
eight rider field. Christian moved
into second around the halfway
point and he used up some of
McConnell's huge lead but in the end
was still three lengths sh y. Third
spot was taken by Castro just ahead
of Hicks.
Results
Bobby Schwartz. shown here leading Scott Brant at Speedway USA.
claimed his 50th win of 1987 during the Scratch ma in event at IMS.
HI· POINT BOLADO SERIES CHAMPIONS
P/w: 1. David Lopez (Yam).
MINI 60/80: 1. Brian Sghei za (Kaw).
NOV: 1. Greg Sow le (Hon).
JR: 1. Kevin Crowley (Yaml.
Schwartz wins another
at Speedway USA
By Scott Daloisio
32
VICTORVILLE, CA, AUG. 29
Speedway veteran Bobby Schwartz
once again visited victory circle after
winning the four lap Scratch main
event at Speedway USA. Billy
Hamill, a 17-year-old high school
student from Monrovia, California,
joined Schwartz after scoring a very
convincing win in the Handicap
main.
In addition to the regular speedway action, John Cook was on hand
to make his last sta teside a ppearance
before departing for the 1987 World
Speedway Championship. Cook met
Schwartz in a crowd pleasing series
of ma tch races at intermission and
he received a great send-off fro m the
huge crowd after narrowly edging
Schwartz in the special events.
On the Scratch side of the program
Schwartz was virtually unstoppable.
After winning his heat race, he dealt
a loss to Mike Faria in their semi.
Both advanced to the Scratch main
where they had to meet up with Steve
Lucero and Tuff McBride.
Schwartz took the Budweiser/
Silkolene/Cirello Raci n g / C.T. I.
Brace/Bell Weslake out of gate two
and into the lead just ahead of
Lucero. Lucero stayed tucked in
right behind the leader and even gave
him a little taste of tire just to let
him know he was there. On the
second lap the event turned into a
pair of separate races. Schwartz and
Lucero moved out and left Faria and
McBride to battle for third. Lucero
stayed right on Schwartz and didn't
give him one second of relief. Faria
finally got away from McBride on
the last lap but it was too late to
inflict any damage on the lead duo.
When the checkered came down, it
was Schwartz by less than a length
over Lucero.
Steve Furman held the point
posi tion at the start of the Handicap
main until turn three when Hamill
pushed the Canyon City Auto/STP/
Monrovia Diesel/Scott Gogles/CC
Weslake into the lead. McBride and
Scotty Brown got past Furman on
successive laps but H amill was gone
and counting the cash. The battle
switched for the third spot at the end
of lap three as Faria was trying to
pass Brown on the inside. Brown
held Faria off for three laps but on
the sixth circuit his clutch burned
up and he went from third to fifth
in the blink of an eye. When the
checkered came down it was Hamill
by a year over McBride, Faria and
Brad Oxley.
Steve Russell won his first ever
main in Support class action while
defending National Junior Champion Josh Larsen (Vision's Street
Wear Weslake) defeated Tim
Gewecke in the Junior main.
Results
SCRATCH: 1. Bobby Schwartz (Wes): 2. St eve
Lucero (Wes~ 3. M ike Faria (Jaw l; 4. Tuff Mc Bri de
(Ja wl.
HDCP: 1. Bil ly Hamill (Wesl: 2. Tuff Mc Bride
(Jaw~ 3. M ike Far ia (Jaw).
SUP; 1. St eve Russell (Jawl; 2. Randall Dance
(J aw); 3. Tony Gomez (Jaw).
JR: 1. J osh Larsen; 2. Tim Gew ecke; 3. Kevin
Nicklas.
Christian.rolls on at
Costa Mesa Speedway
By Scott Daloisio
COSTA MESA, CA, AUG. 28
Alan Christian climaxed his best
week of the 1987 season by posting
a win in the Scratch main and taking
second in the Handicap main at the
Orange County Fairgrounds. The
triumph in the Scratch main was his
second of the season at the beacharea oval.
Christian came into the week with
only two wins to his credit all year
long but he won the Handicap main
and placed second in the Scratch
main at IMS on Wednesday night.
Tonight he showed more of the
famous style that has made him one
of thewinningest riders in American
speedway history and it earned him
the biggest paycheck of the night.
The Scratch main had two riders .
who were undefeated on the night,
Christian and "Boogaloo" Bobby
Schwartz. They were joined by
"Flyin'" Mike Faria and Steve
Lucero. L ucero was off the inside
gate with Christian in two and
Schwartz in three. Christian
launched the STP/Troy Lee Design/
Ca l Fab /Smi th Goggles/Tsubaki
Weslake into the point position
ahead of Schwartz. Lucero quickly
joined the fray and he tried to go
under the leader as they raced down
the back chute. At the same time,
Schwartz was tryi ng to get by the
•
SCRATCH: 1. Alan Christian (Wes); 2. Steve
Lucaro (Wes); 3. Mike Faria (Ja wl; 4 . Bobby
Schwartz (Wes).
HDCP; 1. Shawn McConnell (Was~ 2. Alan
Christian (Was); 3. Ed Castro (Jaw).
SUP; 1. Shane Diiullo (Wes~ 2. Jon Boyer (Was);
3. Tony Bienert (Gdn).
0 ·3: 1. Dave Delbridge (Jaw); 2. St eve Russell
(Jaw~ 3. Dave Wen dlandt (Gdn).
M ATCH RACE: 1. Steve Lucaro (Wesl ; 2. Brad
Oxley (Was).
Oxley upsets Schwartz
at Ascot Speedway
By Scott Daloisio
GA R DENA, CA, AUG . 27
Brad Oxley scored a dramatic upset
by winning the Budweiser National
Championship Series speedway race
at Chris Agajanian's Ascot South
Bay Stadium.
Close to 4000 fans were in attendance for the event and a majority of
them figured t h a t defending
National Champio n Bobb y Schwartz
wo ul d end up on top of the pile at
the end of the evening. No one could
argue that point as Schwartz, wh o
won his 50th main of 1987 the
previous evening at IMS, had wo n
16 of 19 South Bay Stadium Scratch
mains in 1987.
Eighteen heats opened the show
a n d crowd favorite " Sh o w tim e"
Bobby Ott was clearly on his game.
Ott pushed his Godden to three
co nvinc ing wins and ended the heats
with nine points. The only other
rider to have a perfect score was
northern California star Ban Bast.
Schwartz won his first two heats
but he was soundly beaten by Ott
in their third-round ride. Ott also pu
it to "Flyin" Mike Faria when they
met in event 12. Like Schwartz, that
was the only point that Faria had
dropped after his first three outings.
Oxley wasn't quite so lucky in the
heats. He finished second in his first
two races and made it to the semis
with seven points.
The first semi of the evening was.
led by Faria from tapes to chec kered.
Steve Lucero was all over Faria u n til
the final lap when "Flyin" Mike
opened up a small advantage. That
win "p laced Faria in the main and
sent Lucero to the consolation.
Sch wartz came off the pole and
momentarily paced Oxley in the
second semi. Oxley, riding the
Coors/KLOS/ International Speedway/Cirello Racing/Scott Weslake,
worked the middle groove of the
track and once past Schwartz, he
came down to the pole. Schwartz's
bike wasn't sounding at its strongest
and before the event had ended Tuff
McBride a lso got by sending
Schwartz out for the night.
Ott kept his perfect record alive,
much to the delight of the fans, by
defeating Ronnie Correy, Phil Col- ,
lins and Dubb Ferrell in the third
semi.
Bast, Billy Hamill, Scott Brant and
Rob Pfetzing were all gunning for
the final spot in the main in the
fourth semi. Pfetzing wheelied and
cras hed while H am ill had his right
foot peg break. It didn't matter
because Bast was gone.
Bast set the pace in the main even t
until the pack reached turn three on
the opening lap. Oxley dro ve around
Bast and captured the lead. Faria and
Ott were scra tching for anyth in g
they could get and while Oxley
began to advance ' his lea d, they
sta rted snapping at Bast.
O tt tried the outside of Bast as the y
hit tum' three on the third circuit.
Bast went a little wide to hold him
back and that opened up the in side
for Faria who shot by. Ott soo n
followed through but they ha d no
chance of catching Oxley who wo n
with room to spare.
Results
M AIN : 1. Brad Oxley (Was); 2. Mike Faria (Jew); ,
3. Bobby Ott "(Gdnt 4 . Bart Bast (Was).
1
Schwartz nabs 50th
win at 'MS
By Scott Daloisio
SAN BERNARDINO, CA, AUG. 26
Bobby Schwartz reached the 50-win
mark for the 1987 season at John
La Douceur's Inland Motorcy cle
Speedway. T he big win came in th e
Cycle Rider Scratch main event.
T hings didn 't start out too well
for th e defen di ng Nation al Champion. H is first race of the ni ght, a
Handicap heat, saw him take a soil
sample i n the last be nd. Tha t
resulted in a non-transfer finish. His '
firs t Scratch heat of the night saw
him finish second to former Cradley
H ea th teammate Phil Collins. After
that, the money was o n the line and
Schwartz too k up hi s usual position
at the front of the pack.
I
