Orange County Roundup : Glover Returns to Racing Saturday

Broc Glover, six-time national motocross champion, will return to action Saturday night at Anaheim Stadium after taking nearly a year off to allow a broken wrist to mend.

Glover, from El Cajon, will open his bid for his first stadium championship in the Coors Supercross Kickoff, opening event of the stadium series. Glover, who ranks second only to Bob Hannah in number of national victories, has won three 125cc and three 500cc national championships, but the stadium championship has always eluded him.

Glover, 26, will be facing a formidable group of riders, headed by national supercross champion Rick Johnson, his El Cajon neighbor. Johnson, on a Honda, is trying to become the first rider to repeat as stadium champion since Hannah’s three-year reign in 1977, 1978 and 1979.

Two other former supercross champions are entered--Johnny O’Mara of Simi Valley, who won in 1984, and Ward, the 1985 winner from Mission Viejo.

Third baseman Tim Wallach and outfielder Bill Moore of the Montreal Expos, pitcher Jeff Robinson of the San Francisco Giants and outfielder John Christensen of the Seattle Mariners will lead the alumni team that plays Cal State Fullerton at 1 p.m. Sunday on Titan Field.

Others scheduled to play for the alumni include pitchers Todd Simmons, Dion Beck and Tony Hudson, catchers Mike Rubel, Ray Roman and Bob Caffrey, and infielders John Fishel and Andre David. Don Sneddon of Rancho Santiago College and George Horton and Jody Robinson of Cerritos College will coach and play for the alumni.

Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido is starting his 15th season. The Titans, ranked No. 16 in the nation by Baseball America, return All-Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. pitchers Mike Harkey and Larry Casian.

The Titans will the regular season Thursday against St. Mary’s at 2 p.m. on Titan Field. Fullerton will then play host to Stanford in a three-game weekend series.

The U.S. Men’s Volleyball Team, the 1984 Olympic gold medal winners, will play the Chinese National Team Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center.

The meeting is the second of a six-match series. The match at Irvine will be the only one in Southern California.

The U.S. team, which was 47-9 in 1986, won the World Championship at Paris in October and the World Cup in 1985. The team is led by ’84 Olympian and former UCLA star Karcy Kiraly, a 6-foot 3-inch outside hitter considered world’s best player.

Tickets are available at the Bren Center and through Ticketron. Prices are $25, $15, $10 and $6. UC Irvine students can get in for $4.

The series starts next Friday at UC Berkeley. The teams will also play Feb. 9 in Cedar City, Utah; Feb. 11 in Amarillo, Tex.; Feb. 13 in Denver and Feb. 14 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The first Major League Baseball Players Alumni Assn. benefit golf tournament will be played Feb. 9 at the Mission Viejo Country Club.

In addition to the scramble-format tournament that will match each foursome with a former major league player, there will be a barbecue lunch, a cocktail reception, a baseball memorabilia auction, a door-prize raffle and an awards banquet.

The cost per person is $195, with proceeds going to the Orange County Burn Assn. and the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Assn. benefit fund.

Ernie Banks, Billy Martin and Bob Lemon are among the former stars scheduled to play. Pitchers Don Sutton of the Angels and Bert Blyleven of Minnesota and free-agent third baseman Graig Nettles are among the current major league players who will participate.

A limited number of reservations are left. For information, call John Hopkins at 640-1770.

Area Notes Experts from UC Irvine, UCLA, Washington State, the University of Maryland and the Mayo Clinic will discuss sports medicine topics at a conference at the Irvine Hilton Feb. 13 and 14. The conference, sponsored by the Spenco Medical Corp. and UC Irvine, will cover subjects ranging from drug use and abuse in sports, nutrition in the prevention and treatment of overuse injury, and sudden cardiac death in athletes. Cost is $30. For more information, call (818) 989-3432. . . . The second of two UC Irvine-Sportech Triathlons will be Feb. 15. Entry fee is $20. For more information, call 854-0364.