Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ ~ O"l 00 O"l ....... Sam Ermolenko (front) only lost one heat race on his way to the Long Beach win, but bad luck at Costa, Mesa dropped him to second overall. Bobby Schwartz (11) finished third at Long Beach and first at Costa , Mesa to wrap up his second straight Spring Classic victory. Schwartz takes second Spring Classic win By Scott Daloisio LONG BEACH, CA, MAR. 4 - COSTA MESA, CA, MAR. II For the second year In 'a row, Bobby 'Sch wartz won the overall championship in the Coors Extra Gold Speedway Spring Classic Series. Schwartz finished third in the opener at Long Beach, bu t he cam e back to wi n the finale at the famous Costa Mesa track. Fresh off a flight fro m Aus- 30 trali a, Sam Ermo len ko used skill and lu ck to seize to p ho nors at Long ' Beach Veterans Stadium. Erm ol en ko capture d four of hi s five heats in th e series opener. Mired in second in th e main, Rick Miller's bad lu ck turned in to glory for Ermolenko. Like Long Beach, Errnol enko expe rienced lu ck at Costa Mesa, but unfortunat ely thi s tim e it was bad . T he man of th e hour was "Booga 100" Bobb y Sch wartz, who dominated at the tiny dirt ova l last year. After watching Ga ry H icks, National Ch am pi on Steve Lucero and Bobby Schwartz post round one wins at Lon g Beach , Ermol enko put the P ick Your Partl Sh oei/ Sm ith Goggles /Ka l - Gard / K&N I P . J . Frames Special into the lead as soo n as the tapes went up. Miller was second off the stan wit h Greg H a n cock third. Ermo le nko and Miller pulled away fro m the pack and they crossed the li ne .Iar ahead of their rival. Hancock recorded his first win in event five. Riding a G M, he set the pace the entire distance. Lucero had to fend off the charging H icks to end up second. Two of th e mos t successful riders in Lo ng Beach h istory met in event six. Ermolenko and Schwartz both have m ultiple wins on the quartermile trac k. Off the pole, Ermolenko got the ho leshot and led 'Schw artz and Scott Brant. Bra nt tried to make use of the outside dirt to get around SChwartz, bu t the try failed and it turned in to a two-rider race. Errnolenko went to the outside near the end of the first circuit a nd pulled away. Schwartz, despi te running on three valves, hung o n to fin ish second. Event eigh t pitted Mill er against Lance King. As Kin g was pulling onto th e track for the start, he broke a valve and lost co mpression, wh ich put him ou t for th e ni ght. Withou t King, Mill er had no problems and easil y recorded the triumph in the four- lap race. After two rounds, Ermol enko led th e way with eigh t points. Deadlocked in second with seven points each were Lucero , Oxley, Miller and Schwartz. Mill er was back o ut in event nine and was all business again as he too k his Godden to an im pressive win over H icks and Nort hern California Speedway Ch ampion J im Sisemore. As usual, Ermo lenko made it look easy in event I I. After fighting off the first ben d advances of Bill y Hamill, the Wol verham pton Wolve wheelied to hi s th ird victory in as many ou tings. Hamill and Bra n t took second and third. The th i rd round ended with Schwartz narrowly defeating Oxley. After turning back Hancock, Schwartz headed for a certain win. Things went his way until he parked in the final bend. Oxley, who had passed H a n cock , jumped at Schwartz' miscue. When Jerry King th rew th e checkered flag , Schwartz had th e win by a bike length. Errnolenko's winning ways came to an end in event 13. He was third behi nd H icks and O xley at the ou tset and near the end of the first lap he went to the ou tside for extra trac tion. He wheel ied off of tu rn two on the second revol u tion and moved up one notch whe n he go t past Ox ley. He pulled awy from Oxley, but.couldn 't get close to H icks. When the race ended, H icks had scalped the pre- , viously undefeated Ermolen ko. Han- cock , Miller and Shawn McCo nnell too k the other ro und four races. With only five riders making it to the main, th e final ro und wo uld dispatch 15 racers to the showers. On the first la p of event 17, Hicks mo tored around Schwartz in turn two an d went on to win . T hey bot h earn ed spots in the main. Mill er ran away to win over Hamill in event 18 and like Hicks and Schwartz, he was into the main. ' H ancock pas sed Canadian Shawn Vena bles in th e first turn and went the rest of th e way to win event 19, ,while th e final heat had Ermolenko and as was th e case in hi s first three o ut i n gs, h e made .it look eas y. Lu cero, needing a win, ended up second. That put him in a four lap runoff with Hancock for th e . final pl ace in the main. In th e runoff Lucero got off th e line first and led into the turn o ne. Hancock tried to pass off of turn two, but couldn't get by. Seconds later, as they rocketed down 'the bac k chute, H ancock hoo ked up and went by Lucero for the lead. Once out front, he moved away to win by a half straigh t, earning the final ticket to the ma in. The tapes went up to start th e main and Ermolenko was first off the line, but he bobb led in turn one. As they ca me off tu rn two Miller, wi th more momentum, bl ew by Errnolenko as Hicks manned third fol lowed by Schwartz and H ancock. Quick ly ba ck o n th e thro ttl e, Ermo lenko was flyin g, but so was Miller. As th ey tore aroun d th e second revo lutio n, Miller had a five'len gth adva ntage, a nd was still advancing his lead at th e ha lfway stage. H icks, riding against the fence, maintained third. As he approached the whi te flag, Miller had the race in the bag un til his motor revved. H is primary chai n broke and sudden ly he was in a silent coast. The entire field smoked by and at the checkered flag Ermolenko had the win over H icks, Schwartz and Hancock. Miller coas ted to turn three where Ermolenko picked him'up and gave him a ride to th e pits. " I believe th e bike was a bit ' underpowered, but a li ttle luck was on my side," said Ermo lenko. "I need this kind of luck everyday. I reckon I have a week to get prep ared for Costa Mesa, th at 's wh ere I grew up and I feel rea lly comfortable on that trac k. I am looking forward to it. " , C osta Mesa On a deep Costa Mesa track, Scotty Brown started the show with a wi ld win over En gland 's Phil Collins. The deep stuff bit Eddie Cas tro in event two. H e led until he caugh t traction, wheelied and let Brad Oxley past. Oxley stayed at the point un til the back ch ute on lap three. There, Gary Hicks ra ced by and pocketed h is in itial th ree points of the n i~ht. Sch wartz , piloting the STP / SIlkolen e/Bell/Pro m o tiona l P rodu ct sl KNAC/Russell 's Grandstands Weslake, defeated Trinon Cirello in event three, and in event fo ur Errnole nko went up against Natio nal Champion Steve L ucero. Lucero and Ermolenko were at each other as soon as the y came off the line, but Ermolenko caught traction, wheelied off of tum two and went straight into the wall. Lucero went untroubled th e rest of the wa y and beat Shawn McConnell. By the time round two bega n , much of the dirt had blown to th e outside and the track was decidedly faster. McConnell started th e ro und with a win over Oxley and Christia n. In event six , Schwartz cam e off the pole w ith Lu cero i n two , a nd Schwartz motored off th e lin e and took a wire-to-wire win. Lucero, tapped by Castro in th e first turn, was a distant second. Ermolenko's ago ny persisted in the final race of round two when he di d a th ree-sixty and finished last. Bill y H am ill too k th e lead when Greg H ancock's Weslake began to go away, and too k his first win of th e ni gh t. Sch wartz' only miscue came in event nine wh ere Hicks beat him off the line and took him wide in turn two. That let H icks set up a lead on hi s Weslake and also let Ermolenko by for seco nd. Brown eventually passed Schwartz for third. H icks won it by a half -strai ght while Schwartz took last. After th ree rounds, McConnell had th e lead with eig ht points . Hamill and Hicks were tied for second with seven each. Knotted in thi rd wi th six points each were Oxl ey, Schwar tz and Cirell o. U nlike Lon g Beach where five riders made th e main , only four would make it at Costa Mesa. Brown 's stock rose in event 13. H e went by H am ill and Castro when th ey tangled o n lap two and Castro's kill switc h came ou t and he stopped dead. H amill, wit h nowhere to go, , tagged him and Bro wn got an easy win. ~ Schwartz got back on the winning path by nar rowl y edgi ng McConnell and Collins in event 14. One ra ce la ter, Erm olenko finally put his nam e in the win colu mn, mu ch to th e del ight of mo re tha n 6000 fans. Lucero, to have a chance at th e main, had to win event 17, and he , di d just th at. Brown had to finish at leas t secon d in the same race to get to th e main an d he did just that. Ermolen ko led the whole way in event 18 for his second impressive conquest in a ro w. Unfortunate ly,

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