Motor Racing : Lucero Seeking to Repeat Win in U.S. Speedway Championship

Steve Lucero, who will defend his United States Speedway motorcycle championship Saturday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, seems to be peaking at the right time.

Lucero, 25, won his second California State speedway championship two weeks ago at San Bernardino’s Glen Helen track after having won the Speedway USA track championship in Victorville, and last week captained the winning team at Costa Mesa.

In winning the state title, the rider from Riverside became the first two-time winner since the Bast brothers, Mike and Steve, dominated the event from 1970-79. Now he wants to break the U.S. jinx of not having a repeat winner since Kelly Moran in 1982 and ’83.

“It all comes to what you do on a single night,” Lucero said. “Last year I had the most unbelievable night you could imagine. I never thought in a million years that I would win (the national title) in the fourth round. Nobody had ever done that before.”

National championship events consist of 16 riders racing five rounds, each rider racing every other rider once. Four riders are in each heat with the winner receiving three points, second place two points and third place one point.

Lucero won his first four races last year and when no one else had more than 11 points, he was automatically the new champion--before the final round even started.

In the state championships, facing nearly the same field he will face in the nationals, he was perfect, winning all five heats for a maximum 15 points.

“I hadn’t won a scratch main (event) at Glen Helen all season and then I sweep the card,” he said. “It was just a question of gating (starting) well and riding well and having the right bike.”

Lucero switched bikes, from one British-built Godden to another, about a month ago and immediately went on his winning spree.

Speedway racing has been a way of life for Lucero since he began riding junior speedway events as a teen-ager in San Pablo, near Oakland.

“When I turned 16 and became eligible to ride regular speedway races, it was on a Monday,” he said. “The first thing I did was drive to Southern California on Tuesday to ride. I promised my mom I would graduate from high school so I took special classes, but mainly I lived down here and raced.

“The night before I graduated from Pinole Valley High School, I rode in a race, flew up to San Pablo to get my diploma, walked across the stage, headed for the airport and flew back down for another race.”

At 5 feet 8 inches and 180 pounds, Lucero is one of the biggest riders.

“If I was 20 pounds lighter, I’d really be fast,” he said, grinning. “But if I’m right on with my gating Saturday night, I’ll be tough to catch.”

Getting out of the starting gate is extremely important at Costa Mesa, the shortest speedway track in the world. It is only 140 yards around. In Europe, where speedway racing is a major sport, tracks are at least 440 yards around.

Two British League riders, former U.S. champion Shawn Moran and Ronnie Correy, are among the 16 starters.

Moran, who is ineligible for international competition because of a drinking incident earlier in the year, won the national title in 1982 but has been riding the longer European tracks all year.

Correy, the only American rider in the recent world individual championships, is riding as a replacement for Sam Ermolenko, who qualified by winning the American Final last June at Long Beach. Ermolenko is sidelined, however, with injuries suffered during the World Long Track semifinal round in West Germany.

“I know the British League guys will adapt well to the short track because this is where they started, but it takes a different technique, gating at a short track like Costa Mesa,” Lucero said. “Over there, you have your mind set on racing to the first turn. Over here, the first turn is on you before you realize it.”

Lucero raced in England in 1984, finishing third in the Under-21 World Championships.

“I would like to give (British racing) another chance to prove myself, but I’ve got other priorities now,” he said.

Lucero will marry Wendy Brant on May 19 after returning from a barnstorming trip to Australia next month with former world champion Ivan Mauger. Wendy’s brother, Scott, is also riding in the U.S. Nationals.

The riders to beat, Lucero believes, will be two 33-year-old former champions, Bobby Schwartz of Costa Mesa and Alan Christian of Huntington Beach, and 19-year-old Billy Hamill of Monrovia.

Schwartz, the 1986 champion, finished first in the national qualifying runoffs and Christian, the 1985 winner, was the points leader at Costa Mesa this season. Hamill is the overall points leader for all Southern California tracks.

“The only thing against Hamill is his lack of experience,” Lucero said of the teen-ager. “He is a rough, fast rider and I think he’s better than Ermolenko. I hope Billy goes to England because I think he has what it takes to stand on the top of the podium. Ermolenko hadn’t won much when he went to England but he went over there and became a champion.

“Billy and I have had our share of tangles this year but that’s because both of us ride hard and want to win so badly. That’s one of the things that makes him a great rider, his desire to win.”

STOCK CARS--A.J. Foyt, who was badly bruised in a crash during a practice run Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, remained hospitalized Wednesday with a sore neck and headache. The impact cracked Foyt’s helmet when it hit part of the protective roll cage, but X-rays were negative. Foyt, 54, withdrew from Sunday’s Winston Cup race in Charlotte and is questionable for the Oct. 15 Indy car race at Laguna Seca, according to Tex Powell, his crew chief.

Dan Press of Frazier Park will be out to win his ninth NASCAR Southwest Tour race in the Coors 100 Saturday night at Cajon Speedway in El Cajon. Press, 40, needs only to finish 18th or better in the final three races to take the championship. He holds the one-lap record on Cajon’s three-eighths mile paved oval. . . . Street stocks will race Friday night at Ventura Raceway.

Saugus Speedway will wind up its season Saturday night with a 150-lap factory stock enduro, a charity race for the Reid Rondell Stunt Foundation. Also on the program is a vintage car race, a celebrity challenge race and a stunt show. Saugus champions: sportsman--Will Harper, Tarzana; street stock--Steve Nickolai, Simi Valley; hobby--Brian Kelley, Arleta; jalopy--Scott Harmon, Reseda; mini--Garrett Yamada, North Hollywood; modified mini--Pat Dennison, Van Nuys.

SPRINT CARS--Ron Shuman and Rip Williams, winners last week in Arizona, will continue their chase of California Racing Assn. points leader Jerry Meyer in Saturday night’s 30-lap main event at Ascot Park. Defending champion Shuman is only 40 points and Williams is 54 points behind Meyer, who once held a 200-point advantage.

MIDGETS--The United States Auto Club’s Jolly Rancher Western States series for midgets and TQs will make its final appearance Sunday night on the quarter-mile track at Ascot Park. All remaining races will be for full midgets only on the half-mile oval.

MOTOCROSS--The race rained out at Ventura Raceway Sept. 23 has been rescheduled for Saturday night.

MOTORCYCLES--Scott Parker clinched the Camel Pro Series dirt track championship with his win last Saturday at San Jose, but he has plenty of incentive for the season finale Saturday night in Sacramento. A win in the Sacramento Mile would be Parker’s 10th this year and would break the record of nine in one season. Parker shares it with Bubba Shobert, who did it in 1986. Parker is defending champion and has won five of the last eight races at the Cal-Expo Fairgrounds. The rider from Swartz Creek, Mich., has also won every race this year on a mile track.

OFF-ROAD--Toyota won its seventh consecutive manufacturer’s championship in the Grand National truck class of the Mickey Thompson Gran Prix series when Ivan Stewart and Robby Gordon finished 1-2 last Saturday in Las Vegas. The season will end Oct. 28 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco and all Gordon needs to win the individual title is to finish the race.

The fourth round of the Miller High Life Challenge will be held Sunday at Glen Helen Park in San Bernardino. . . . Glenn Harris of Camarillo won the truck class of the SCORE-Canada Autocross in Montreal for the fourth year in a row, driving a General Grabber-equipped Mazda. . . . The 13th annual Great Temecula Tractor Race will be held Saturday and Sunday in a mud bog outside Temecula.

LAND SPEED--Al Teague of San Gabriel reached 392.97 m.p.h. in his streamliner Sunday at Bonneville Salt Flats in his continuing effort to break the 24-year-old land-speed record of 409.677 m.p.h. for piston-engine cars set by the Summers brothers, Bob and Bill.