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Mike Bast inside of Bobby Schwartz at San Bernardino. Cook smokes Ascot Long Track Championship By Bill Locey GARDENA, CA, AUG. 29 In a night that offered little competition for the awesome John Cook, the defending Long Track Champion won all three 30 of h is rides with the greatest of ease , best ing the summer long track meeting on the Ascot half mile. . It just wasn't the same without th e Ascot reg ulars, however espe cially missed was Shawn Moran, who earn ed a nickname here on Thursday nights in 1978. Also, Dennis Sigalos and Kell y Moran understandably ca ncelled out, as well as Mike Bast, Mik e Far ia, Frank Ada mo and Leni Faas. Bob McClain, Steve Lucero and Keith Chrisco did ride, but did not make it to the main event. It was one of those n ights. . Cook kept th e crowd's a tte ntion wh enev er he was on the track 'by doing stand-up 85 mph wh eelies down th e home straighta way and 'wa ving to h is growing corps of fan s as . h e whizzed past. In the semis, Cook, Bobb y Schwartz and Da ve DeTemple each won their race by miles. To adeq ua tely follow th e ac tion th is far , a com plex scoring and transfer system had to be mastered , a task no t conducive to scorekeeping even for the experien ced fa n. .Five men were taken fro m the ini tia l three-lap heats and sen t to a semi or a last. ch a nce heat, ultimat ely setting up a six-man consy a nd main event. Ascot rookie Guy Ermolenko got around Buddy Robinson in the first turn and pulled away to win the co ns y. " T h e Budman " was second, followed by Shane McDonald and another rookie, Chris Rei ch ardt. In the main even t, Cook diced briefl y with Schwartz around turn one, was ahead by turn two and began to pull away. On the last lap, Cook was cruising along the back straight, laying on his bike with his drag foot high in the air like a shark fin , when suddenly Schwartz blew by on the outside. Cook immediately got back to business with a drive that should've taken him out of orbit, but he blasted by Schwartz on the inside and won a close one at the line. Perhaps the hard-core speedway fans can take up a collection for john Cook to keep him here next year. Ascot-style speedway, besides being totally different than anything around, also does wonders for U.S. speedway on an international level. Except for a few , nearly ever y 40yard-line-or-betterriderfrom 1978-80 is, or wa s, in Engl and. It su re would be great if Ascot had more speedwa y. Results MAIN EVENT: 1. John Cook; 2. Bobby Schwartz; 3. Dave DeTemple. 4. Denn is Bransford; 5. Greg Ayers; 6. Shawn McConnell. CONSY: 1. Guy Ermolenko . Miller gates his way to the top in Ventura By Bill Locey VENTURA, CA, AUG. 31 Rick Miller gated his way to heroic stature and the Ventura Track Championship under a full moon at the party-ending swa n song for 1982 speedway in our town . Miller didn 't win a Scratch main here all year long, yet sh owe d the good sense to be good when it counted: at the qualifiers and track championship. Unfortunately, th e unofficial track champ, Mike Faria - winner of 10 trophies here - along wi th h is pal john Cook, went straight at Ca staic junction instead of turning left and reportedly ended up in Las Vegas. Oh well ... The wierd stuff associated with full moon speedway began right away in the first race. Bobby Schwartz blew everybody's door off at the line and ' held a lead equal to half of the track when he broke down in the final turn, giving a gift wi n to Buddy " Budman" Robinson. . In the thirdrace, Guy Ermolenko and '76 track champ Scott Sivadge outgated regular heavyweights Shawn McConnell and Miller. But McConnell blew by Sivage and cut underneath Ermolenko after a lap, then tried to shake Miller who was right on his tail. It didn 't work. McConnell somehow let Miller get underneath on the backstraight and that was that. With the outside line not working, Shawn could not getby. . Event five was the best race of the year, if not ever , particularly for those speedway fans with a sense of humor. Imagine th is: Chris Reich ardt off th e pole and McConnell in lane four co nv inci n gly outgated Sch wa r tz and ba ttl ed wheel to wheel around tu rn two ; with Schwartz brea ki ng do wn again soon after. The third rider, Tim McCas land , fell down on th e third la p a nd Reicha rd t had by now bu ilt u p a 10 length ad vantage. Wit h . half a lap to go , McConnell's ' bik e croaked , rolling to a halt bet ween tum thr ee an d four. Reichardt, meanwh il e, had crashed in the final bend, leaving no one left . Then like a pair of winos simultaneously spotting a wallet full of cash, McConnell and Reichardt exhanged glances. McConnell realized the gravity of the situation first, and as a cheer rose from the big crowd, McConnell frantically began pushing his dead bike toward the line and three points. Within 10 feet of the line, McConnell mounted his bike sidesaddle and coasted to the win while shaking his clenched fist in the air. Speedway fans take note: It 's always a good idea to watch McConnell, because if anything bizzarre is going to happen , you can bet Shawn will be right in the middle of it. Next, Miller easily disposed of Rob Pfetzing and loco-boy Bobby " Insa ne" McClain with a truly awesome gate. ' In the showdown with defending track champ Steve Lucero, Miller outgated him from lane four and never let up, holding a four-length , lead to the line. Schwartz was out-' .ga red again and broke down again. Lucero, with eight points after, three rides , faded like Claude Rains in "T h e Invisible Man," falling and breaking his bike and ending with eight points. Miller disposed of " T h e Bud Man" and Reichardt in his next go 'round to remain perfect after four rounds. 'In event 23, McConnell, still only down by a point, took it over Keith Larsen, jeff Tomlin and " T h e Bud Man " off the line, but a last lap bob- . ble allowed Robinson to sneak by and win the race to th e line, leaving McConnell with 13 points and some swell memories of Ventura 1982. In the final race of the night, Miller won h is title and a kiss from a dream trophy girl with a perfect gate and the type of perfect ride that Tom Slick dreams of. All in all , it was a smashing year for the you n g man from the Valley who promised not to go to England next year ; let's hold him to it. Even the Second Division riders got to go scratch racing for a change. Those on the pole - Ron Blanton, Chris Mistretta, Mark Weaver, and defending titlist Pat Hawley - all won nosepickers. Weaver drew the pole forthe main and won easily; not very thrilling, but mighty convincing. Results VENTURATRACKCHAMPIONSHIP: 1. Rick Miller (15); 2. Shawn McConnell (13); 3. Buddy Robinson (12); 4 . Tom Morley (1 1); 5. Guy Ermolanko (9); 6. Chris Reichardt (9); 7. Steve Lucero (8); 8. Rob Pletz· , ing (8); 9. Keith Larsen (7); 10. Bobby Schwartz (6); ; 11.JeffTomlin(5); 12. Bobby Mclain (51 13. Denny Scopell ite (4); 14. Dennis Abbott (31 15. Tim Me ; Casland (3); 16. Scott Sivadge (3). DIV 2 CHAMPIONSHIP: 1. Mark Weaver; 2. Chris M istretta; 3. Ron Blanton; 4. Pet Hawley . IMS sees the Boogaloo Boogie. By Scott Daloisio SAN BERNARDINO, CA, SEPT. 1 'Bobby "Boogaloo" Schwartz was saved by a red flag on lap one and came back to score his second Scratch main victory .of the season at john LaDouceur's Inland Motorcycle Speedway. Schwartz, on the Bel-Ray Jawa, got the gate on the original' go and led until turn two wh en he and Dubb Ferrell (Dean's Independent Mazda! ·Ver a 's/ ST P jaw) made contac t. Schwartz went down and pinched Mike Bast (Justice Brothers/Knobby Shop Jaw ) in to' the wall, sending Bast down in tum three, and causing the red flag and complete restart. Schwartz was again first out of th e gate on the restart in the all jawa main over Bast and Ferrell. Ferrell went to the inside in tum two and moved from third to first with Schwartz inching back by at the end of the back chute. Schwartz and Ferrell looked like they were trying out for the Philadelphia Flyers in turns three . and four as the elbows flew free and . hard. Both riders managed to survive each other's elbow barrage with Schwartz emerging with a lead he never relinquished. Ferrell pulled even a number of times on the second circuit but was forced to settle for second at the checkered ahead of Bast and Mike Faria (Cody Products/Cycle Gear/ jones Goggles'Taw). Popular Phil Gagnon (Scotty's Muffler/Bionic Auto Body Jaw) made it a clean sweep on the Handicap side of the program to pick up his first IMS main of the season. Gagnon, coming from the 20, took the lead at the outset over Buddy Robinson (Budweiser Jaw) and Jim Lawson (Roaring 20 's Pizza/D.J.'s Ticket Service/Oakley Goggles Jaw). Shawn McConnell (Vans/Real Estate Securities Service Jaw) blasted off from the 40 and rocketed by Robinson and Lawson for second in tum two. While McConnell tried to close the gap on Gagnon, Bast and John Cook got into a war for third. That battle went on until Cook did a 360 on lap three, dropping him out of contention. Gagnon went the rest of the way and capped his perfect night with a two bikelength victory ahead of McCOnnell. Bast came home third with Robinson fourth. Garden Grove's Randy Blevins (Hancock Design/Grin Products Jaw) probably earned a trip back to the 20-yard line as he raced to his third IMS Divisio Two victory of the season. Blevins took the lead from Tom Conrad (Captured Sea jaw) on lap two and proceeded to open up an unsurmountable lead. A!1dy Northrup (J8cM Trophies Jaw) came from . the 20 to take home second spot with Mark Weaver (Jaw) taking the checkered cloth third. Tommy Walton (Walton Racing Enterprises Jaw) won the Destruction Derby (Third Division main) for his first ever IMS main event win. The original start was one rider short, then after a red flag they lost one more for the restart and at the checkered it was Walton and Keifer Doege