Ascot Win Would Finish Cycle Sweep for Shobert

Don (Bubba) Shobert can officially become only the third rider in the 32-year history of the American Motorcyclist Assn. competition to score wins in all five categories of competition with a victory next Saturday in Ascot Park’s 8th Annual Spring half-mile national.

Shobert, 23, who has competed on the AMA national tour since 1980, has scored 10 victories in mile races and has ridden to victory once in a TT steeplechase, road race and short-track feature. His short track and road race triumphs came last year, and his first TT victory came on March 30 at Ascot.

Only Dick Mann, the 1963 and 1971 national champion and Kenny Roberts, the 1973-1974 No. 1 rider, had been able to win in all five types of racing and Roberts did it all in one year--1975. Roberts, who retired last year after winning the world championship twice and finishing second, won 33 AMA nationals in his career while Mann, who owns a motorcycle supply firm, accounted for 24.

Shobert, who rides a factory-sponsored Honda, actually has won a half-mile event, but it came last year when he was allowed to compete while protesting a suspension for fighting. When his protest was turned down, AMA officials took away his July 14 victory at Hagerstown, Md., and gave it to Randy Goss.

Despite the suspension and the loss of the Hagerstown race, Shobert finished first or second in 11 of the last 12 National events, but still lost the championship to his Honda teammate, Ricky Graham of Seaside by one point, 285-284.

Once again, the Lubbock, Tex., rider is on a hot streak, having won the last two national events--the TT at Ascot and the mile race at Sacramento. The Sacramento victory put Shobert in the points lead over Harley Davidson rider Scott Parker of Flint, Mich., 51-43.

Parker, the defending champion in this race, along with a pair of four-time winners, Randy Goss of Hartland, Mich., and Jay Springsteen of Lapeer, Mich., figure to give Shobert his toughest battle in the 20-lap feature.