Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Bobby Schwartz passes 1987 National Champion Brad Ox ley on t he way to hi s second National t itle . J im Sisemore. shown here lead ing Shawn Moran. was the leader after two rounds. but ended up t ied for sixth w ith M ike Faria . Coors National Speedway Championship Schwartz wins second title at Costa Mesa By Scott Daloisio COSTA MESA, CA, OCT. 7 ·After a costly mistake In h is first race of the night, Bobby " Boogaloo " Schwartz won h is next four . outings to claim the 1989 Natio nal Speedway Ch ampion sh ip before 16 a crowd of 7810 fans at the Orange County Fairgrounds. I In doing so, Schwartz, 33, t became the oldest winner in the event's h isto ry. H e a lso won i n 1986. For o nce , Schwartz did not face a lo t of p re-race pressure. No rm all y, he is th e fa vo ri te of most experts, but in I989, _ on ly won a sing le Scratch he main a t the tra ck, Most o f the soca lled experts tu rned th eir thoughts to o ther co m peri to rs. One by o ne, th e ot hers fell by the ways ide. Steve Lu ce ro , th e d ef endin g Cha mpion , su ffered a major setbac k when he brok e down 10 miles fro m the track. A fan saw Lucero sto p ped by the side o f the freeway a nd o ffered help. T hey loaded L ucero 's equ ipme nt into a ca m per and . mad e th e rest of the jou rney. After th e United Sta tes Marine Corps Marchi ng Band and co u ntry a nd weste rn star H oyt Axto n finish ed wit h th e pre-ra ce ceremonies, th e first four riders pulled onto the track. A deep, mois t su rface surprised man y of the sta rs. T ha t was clea r fro m th e beg in n in g. One rider it did not effect was 19-year -old sensa tio n Rill y "The ' Bullet" H amill. Coming off o f ga te three in the ope ni ng heat , H amill th rashed th e competi tio n, mu ch to the delight of the huge ga thering. O hio's Sco tty Bro wn , making his second Na tio na l a p pea ra nce, held o ff the bids o f Scott Brant for seco nd. Lu cero ma de h is first start o f th e ni gh t in event two. Comin g o ff th e pol e, he was the fa vori te in th e fourlapper, but things did no t go hi s way. Shawn Moran , fresh o ff a victor y th e p revious week in the Bri tish League Riders' Ch ampionship, bested th e cha m p o ff th e line. Lucero initially had seco nd, but in turn four o n th e first lap, Brad Oxley kn ocked him ou t of th e wa y. Before Lucero could come back down to th e po le, Eddie Castro sq uirted through th e ga p. Castro , o n th e T &M Cycle Weslak e, came through for one more spot wh en he blew by Oxley on the final lap. Moran had th e win by years but th e cro wd was buzzing abo u t Lu cero . H e was o ne o f th e pr e-race favo ri tes and he was in deep troubl e. In event three, Sch wartz go t th e gate over Ronn ie Correy, Jim Sisemore and Mik e Faria. Faria, starti ng . from gate four , went wide in turn two. The deep dirt gr abbed him a nd he dro pped far behind the third place rider. Schwartz had the situation under control until turn four on la p th ree. There, he bobb led and Sisemore streaked under him to steal the lead and th e win. Schwartz managed to finish second. Faria, another of the pre-ra ce favorites, came in last. Like Lucero, he co u ld not drop a no ther point if he wanted to win. In th e pits a fte r ra ce three , Schwartz said, " I mad e a mistake. It was pilot error." The winners of th e first three ou tings started in gate two. Phil Collins started in tha t spo t in event four a n d it produced its fourth winner. Alan Christi an , th e 1985 titleh older, got a good start from th e o u ts ide, but m ade co n tac t with Ch arl es Er mole n ko in turn two. Ch risti an wh eelied th ere a nd wh eelied aga in in th e sa me spot on lap two. That ended any hope s he had o f a n o pe ni ng ro u nd win. After round o ne , refe ree Irwin Moon, working hi s las t speedway event, said, " Most of th ese guys were not prepared for this (deep) track. That 's why we're having upsets." Christi an got another go od gate to start th e seco nd round, but tough riding Lucero qui ckl y ca me after him. Fightin g to keep hi s crown, Lucero forced hi s way in sid e Christian as they went down th e back ch u te o n lap o ne. Ch ri stian tried to lean on hi s cha lle nger, but Lucero would not quit. At th e end of the first go-aro u nd, Lucero 's relentless pressure paid o ff. He bu rst into th e lead. Christi an tri ed to come underneath Lucero in turn two o n lap two but he whee lied, wi th hi s front tire ac tua lly tou chin g Lu cero 's rea r while it was in th e ai r. Neither rider bobbl ed. Correctl y hooked up , Lucero easily led th e rest o f th e way and captured hi s first three points of th e ni ght. His p roblems in round one hurt hi s title hopes , but hi s ro u nd two per forman ce offered a g lim mer o f ho pe. One o f th e toughest heats o f the meetin g was event si x. It featured Co lli ns o ff th e pol e with Schwartz o u t of two , H amill in ga te three a nd Cas tro on the o uts ide. Co ll ins , riding a Weslak e, was the first to react to th e rise o f the ta pes. Sch wa rtz moved a sp lit seco nd lat er a nd bea t Co ll ins to th e first tu rn . Sch wart z fought Co ll ins to get to the pole, and in tu rn two, he won the battle. That pu t th e 1986 Ch ampion sq ua rely in th e lead. Hamill was o ff th e lin e last and it took him until th e clo se. o f th e . seco nd revolution before he cou ld ' maneuver past Castro. By th at time, h e h ad n o cha nce o f ca tc hi ng Schwartz or Collins. Wh en the chec kered ended the heat, Schwartz had hi s first win; he went undefeated th e rest o f the way. . Sisem or e mad e it two in a ro w wh en he won event seven with Faria scor ing a five-len gth win over Oxley in even t eigh t. After two ro unds, Sisemore had a o ne-poi nt lead over Schwartz , Col lins a nd Moran. Wh en interviewed by an no u ncer Larry Huffman, Sisemore told th e cro wd , " I kn ew that if I was going to do it (win), I had to win m y fir st two rides. It gets tougher now as I have to start further I o u t every time." That interview made Sis emore look like a prophet. As he ca me off turn two on the first la p in race nin e, he was banting with Wa lt Farnum. They came togeth er halfway down th e back stra ig ht, tri ggerin g a wild cras h. Fa rn u m lo st co ntro l and dr illed Brown under the chi n with his rear tire. Sise more los t control an d fell near the turn th ree cras hwa ll, Brown , totall y innocent in the incident , stayed on the gro und. '

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