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Overall Southern California Speedway Spring Classic Series w inner Bobby Schwartz leads Gary Hicks and Wal t Farnum at Costa Mesa. England's Phil Collins (25) attempts to hold off Alan Christian and Billy Hamill during final round action at Costa Mesa. Mike Faria (inside) ended third overall in points while Rob Pfetzing (ou tside) f inished the ser ies t ied for fourth with Steve Lucero. Southern California Speedway Spring Classic Series: Rounds 1 &2 Schwartz captures SoCal speedway opener By Scott Da loisio LONG BEACH. CA. MAR . 5 Bobb y Sch wa r tz captured the .open ing round of the Speedway Sp ring Cl assic Series by defea ting Sam Ermolenko and Rick Miller on the quarter-m ile track a t Long Beach VetStadium. Mike Faria and Lance King rounded out fi th e top ive, ., Most of Amenca s top stars .er a n ' s 34 were on hand' for the series, including 1987 U.S. National Speedway Champion Brad Oxley. Oxley was joined by such stars as Sam Errnolenko and Mike Faria. The field also included defending Spring Cla ssic Champion Bobb y Schwartz. The opening heat of the series matched crowd favori tes Errnolenko and Faria. Faria, riding his trusty Jawa. beat Errnolenko's Weslake Into tum one. The current world number three stayed behind Faria until the th ird lap wh en he tried to sho~Jl him d;own on the back ch u te. Fana held him at bay but Ermol enko was persistent. H e swung wide as they came off tum four and headed toward th e white flag . Faria mainrained hi s low line and when they reached tum one for th e final time. the dirt on the outside bit Errnolenko and sent him tumbling to th e track. Fari a bagged the opening four points of the meeting. H eat one had the fans on th eir feet and a Schwartz triumph in heat two kept them th ere. Miller, just back from rac ing in South Africa, commandeered the lead off the start in heat three but he suffered bik e problem s on lap two a nd reli nq u ished th e point to Shawn McConnell. McConnell set th e pace for a little over a lap but hi s bik e sp u ttered and he had to wat ch as Alan Ch ristian and Rob Pfetzing raced by. Christian was at th e point with Pfetzin g sna p pi ng at his rear tire . Pfetzin g tried th e insid e off tum two but the 1985 Nat ion al Ch am pi on shu t th e door and went on for the win. The final heat in ro und o ne was a La nce Kin g ben efit as he easily rode away from th e pack to draw level with Faria, Schwartz and Christian. Schwartz ma de it two for two wh en he led all th e way in event five. Surprisi ng ly Jim Sise more stayed close to the "Boogal oo Kid" whi le Christia n took a dista nt thi rd. . Faria ca me ou t in event six and de mo nstra ted th at he was o n hi s game by holding Kin g at arm 's length all th e wa y for th e win. Far ia co nt in ua lly ga ve King the pole but he was too fast for King to do a nything with it. Third went to Mill er. Steve Lucero o u tdis ta nc ed the pack in even t seven while Ermolenko showed everyo ne hi s back in event eig h t. In h eat 10. und efeated rid er s Schwartz and Faria locked horns. Faria, from gate four. emerged with the lead as th ey hit th e first bend. Oxley, not known for his big-tra ck exp loits. took second away from Schwartz earl y and held him back all th e way. The win a~in went to Faria with Oxley gelling sec o n d and Schwartz, who dropped two valuable poi nts, taking third. Mill er won his first race of the night in event 12 over Errnolenko and Lucero. Miller led it all the way with Ermolenko moving into second after a rough battle with Lucero on lap one. Lucero got the drive through the first bend and brought his machine down on Ermolen ko as the y came off tum two. Ermolenko aggressively came back by Lucero in tum four and firmly esta blished him self in second place the remainder of th e way. After th ree rounds, Faria was the only competitor with a perfec t score . King started off the fourth round by defeating Lucero. Seconds later in heat 14. Faria's unbeaten string came to a screeching halt. Faria came from the pole with Pfetzing on the outside for the start. They sandwiched the pack in the first bend and when they came off tum two. Pfetzing had the lead. The rider known as "Five Flavors" th en went o n to record four beautiful laps and he becam e th e first rider to cap ture Faria's scalp. Schwartz led all th e wa y to win heat 15 but th e exp loits of Miller sent the crowd wild. Mill er got a poor start but as th ey hit tum three the first tim e, he came in high. H e then dropped down and sp li t Ferrell and Schwartz a nd found himself in second. That wasn 't eno ug h. Making the o utside work to perfection, Miller dr ove arou nd Sch wartz as they came off two o n the second circu it. H e then dropped it down to take his second win . Mill er 's move was spec tacu lar but Ermo len ko was n' t abo u t to be o u tdon e. After tan gling with Christian on th e sta rt of heat 16 and ca usi ng a red , Errnol enko turned in the rid e of the ni ght. "S udden" Sam . on a p otent Wes la ke, found h imself fourth off th e start but he quickly rectifi ed that situation. He advanced to third as he came off tum two and then went around Oxley in tum three for second. Errnolenko was inches from the fence as he came off tum four and th e ex tra o u tside dirt rocketed him past Christian for th e lead. The fan s went wild and Errnolenko was so excited that he pumped hi s fist into the air and did a wheelie before pitching his bik e sidewa ys for turn one. The popular star easily led the rest of the wa y for the win and earned a standing ovation from the appreciative crowd. Miller closed out his preliminary competition wi th his third win in a row and enough points to qualify for the main. Faria got back on the winning track by taking event 18. Lucero was second until he broke a chain. Errnolenko closed the preliminaries by def eating King and Schwartz. Schwartz. riding the Budweiser/ Silkolene/C.T.L brace/STP I K&N Weslake. rocketed out of the gate three at the start of the main and it quickly became apparent that he would be tough to beat. King, usi ng the outside. took secon d from Ermolenko as they cam e off tum two on the opening revolution. Schwartz built up a small but comfortable lead while Ermolenko worked on King on lap two. King held him off and began to draw away but one lap later he tangled with tum three and the tu m won. That gave second to Errnolenko, just ahead of Miller. Schwartz cruised to become the first rider to collect a Jerry King checkered in southern California in