Area Roundup : Thirteen County Drivers to Compete at Riverside

Thirteen Orange County drivers are scheduled to compete in the California Sports Car Club’s “Free-for-All” races in conjunction with The Times-Nissan Grand Prix of Endurance scheduled this weekend at Riverside International Raceway.

Four of the drivers are entered in the Formula Ford-Club Ford race that is scheduled to begin at 3:45 p.m. Saturday. Among those entered and their vehicles are Mark Verbosky (Irvine), Crossle; Lew Milkavich (Mission Viejo), Crossle; Bill Stevens (Costa Mesa), Lola; and Dan English (Irvine), Crossle.

Nine other area drivers will be in the field for an eight-class car race with will immediately follow the Formula Ford competition. Among those entered include Derrick Van (Santa Ana), Mazda; George Chun (Huntington Beach), Toyota Starlet; Ken McNichol (Garden Grove), Sports Renault; Don Parsons (Mission Viejo), Triumph; Gary Hayes (El Toro), Sports Renault; Eric Swenson (Garden Grove), Fiat Spider; Larry Karagheusian (Laguna Hills), Datsun; Jim Larkin (Laguna Niguel), Lotus; and Steve Equina (Irvine), Sports Renault.

Led by Olympic gold medalist Ron Brown, James McDonald and Otis Grant, the Los Angeles Rams basketball team will meet the South Coast Community Church Hot Shots in a charity basketball game at 7 p.m. Saturday at University High School.

Hot Shot player-coach Dennis Hamilton, former Los Angeles Laker and Atlanta Hawk, will counter with New York Giant quarterback Jeff Rutledge, Southern California College basketball star Ken Bardsley, former Athlete in Action player Ron Gottschalk and Robin Umphrey, a member of Cal Poly Pomona’s 1984-85 NCAA Women’s Division 2 championship basketball team.

Tickets, in the form of tax deductible donations, are $4 for adults and $3 for children 12 and under and will be available at the door Saturday night. Ram players will be available during halftime and after the game for pictures and autographs.

The eighth annual Ektelon National Racquetball Championships, featuring nearly 100 of the world’s top men and women professionals competing for a combined purse of $40,000, will be May 1-5 in The Sports Gallery at Anaheim.

The Ektelon national finals is the most prestigious tournament in racquetball and, for the sixth straight year, ESPN will televise the men’s and women’s final matches.

Defending champion Bret Harnett, a 20-year-old from Las Vegas, will be challenged by a 32-player field that includes 1983 and 1984 national champion Mike Yellen, of Southfield, Mich., 1982 national champion Dave Peck, and five-time national champion and 1981 Ektelon titlist Marty Hogan. The men’s championship purse is $10,000.

Toronto’s 43-year-old Heather McKay will be seeking an unprecedented fourth consecutive Ektelon women’s division championship. Costa Mesa’s Lynn Adams will challenge McKay for the $7,000 first prize.

Steve Scott, one of the premier 1,500-meter runners in the world, and Ruth Wysocki, Olympic trials winner in the 1,500, will compete in the Laguna Beach Education Foundation’s 10K run Sunday, beginning at 8 a.m., at Laguna Beach.

Scott holds the American indoor mile record with a 3:31.5 and also established himself as the fastest American miler of all time, with his 3:49.68 in 1981.

Wysocki finished second to Mary Decker in the recent Sunkist Meet in the Sports Arena. Tom Wysocki, one of the nation’s top 10,000-meter road racers, also will run Sunday.

A fee of $10 (with T-shirt) or $6 (without) will benefit the Laguna Beach Public Schools.

Four California girls have qualified to represent their state in Seventeen Magazine’s 10th annual Tennis Tournament of Champions, which will be May 7-11 at the Marguerite Recreation Center in Mission Viejo.

Cammy MacGregor, 16, of Palos Verdes, Krista Amend, 15, of Rolling Hills Estates, Lucinda Gurney, 14, of Palos Verdes Estates, and Iwalani McCalla, 13, of Los Altos, will be among 159 teen-age girls who will play in the national tournament.

Each state in the U.S., including Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, will be represented by three players, one for each age division in the tournament (18, 16 and 14-and-under).

The American Speedsoccer Assn. will have its first all high-school tournament this weekend and next weekend at the Los Caballeros Racquet and Sports Club in Fountain Valley.

The tournament will consist of 16 teams from the Southern California area, with qualifying rounds played this weekend and the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship game being played next weekend.

Admission is $2 for adults (all-day) and $1 for children under 16. For more information, please call the American Speedsoccer Assn. at 557-9272.

Around the Area

UC Irvine will not be eligible for the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. men’s track and field team title at the PCAA championships in May at UCI. The conference sanction was handed down after it was discovered that UCI had used an ineligible athlete in last year’s PCAA championships. . . . Merlin Olsen will be the Master of Ceremonies at the second Orange County Special Olympics Celebrity Sports Banquet at 7:30 tonight at the Doubletree Hotel in Orange. The benefit will honor Don Hewitt, Ram equipment manager, for his community service. Tickets are $50 per person and are tax deductible. For more information contact Ed Chevallier at 962-3662 or Special Olympics at 995-2225. . . . Three members of the 1984 U.S. Olympic Gymnastic Team will compete in the Orange County Gymnastics Classic April 26 and 27 at Cal State Fullerton. Former Olympians Pam Bileck, Michelle Dusserre and Marie Roethlisberger will join top women gymnasts from California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona in the meet. Competition begins at 7 p.m. both nights. For more information call 895-2909. . . . Southern California Over-the-Line still has openings for men’s and women’s teams in the annual tournament at Huntington State Beach (Pacific Coast Highway at Brookhurst). Cost is $21 per team. All teams are guaranteed four games. For more information, contact Russ Johnson (213) 630-2298. . . . Former Newport Harbor middle-distance runner Brian Theriot will compete in the mile field of the Pepsi Invitational. The meet will be May 18 at UCLA’s Drake Stadium. The mile will feature Brazil’s Joaquim Cruz, Olympic 800 champion, and America’s Steve Scott and Sydney Maree.