Shobert Shooting for Motorcycle Slam at Ascot

Bubba Shobert, a 23-year-old Texan from Lubbock, will have an opportunity Saturday night at Ascot Park to join Kenny Roberts and Dick (Buggsy) Mann as one of the most versatile riders in American motorcycle racing history.

Roberts and Mann, both former national champions, are the only riders to have won an AMA race on all five types of courses used in the Camel GT national championship series--the mile, the half-mile, short track, TT steeplechase and road.

Shobert, the series leader after winning three of the last four races, needs only to win the national half-mile at Ascot to complete the five-course slam. Shobert actually won a half-mile race last year at Hagerstown, Md., but lost it on a disqualification after being suspended for fighting. It also cost Shobert 28 points and the AMA championship, since he finished the season only one point behind champion Ricky Graham of Seaside, Calif.

One of Shobert’s wins this season was in a TT race at Ascot last March when leader Alex Jorgensen skidded on the final lap and Shobert cruised on to victory on his Honda.

Three-time AMA champion Jay Springsteen will be trying for a record 40th national win after getting No. 39 in a short-track feature last week at San Jose. It was Springsteen’s first win since August of 1983. He was sidelined most of last year with stomach ailments.

Pete Hames, 20, of Simi Valley, will carry hopes of local riders in the 20-lap main event.

OFF ROAD--The eighth annual SCORE Off Road Equipment Show will run Friday through Sunday at the Anaheim Convention Center. Featured will be a simulated desert race check point equipped with radio and medical teams and a pit with cars from several classes. This will give show goers an opportunity to see how a race functions. . . . When Steve Kelley upset favorite Walker Evans in the big pickup race at the Mint 400, Kelley’s riding partner was Evan Evans, Walker’s son. . . . The Raiders’ Bill Pickel spent a week preparing for his first off-road venture, only to have his truck fail 2 1/2 miles into the race. . . . Four-time Baja 1000 motorcycle champion Larry Roeseler has entered Sunday’s Virginia City Grand Prix, a desert race on a 22-mile course, two miles of which include the streets of the Nevada ghost town.

SPORTS CARS--Formula Atlantic cars of the West Coast Atlantic Racing series will compete Sunday in the California Cooler Grand Prix at Willow Springs. Defending champion is Hubert Phipps of Palm Beach, Fla., son of the Calumet Farm owners. Also at Willow Springs will be races in the SCCA Pro Sports Renault series and six Cal Club national classes. . . . Last month’s Nissan/Times Grand Prix of Endurance will be shown Friday at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN.

MOTOCROSS--The CMC four-stroke championships are scheduled Sunday at Carlsbad Raceway. . . . Weekly competition will continue Friday night at Ascot Park.

SPRINTS & MIDGETS--Robbie Flock will be back at Ascot on Sunday night to try for a second historic double. Last week he won both the U.S. Auto Club’s western regional midget series race and the National Midget Racing Assn.’s three-quarter feature. Only Danny McKnight had accomplished the feat before. . . . The CRA sprinters will race Friday night at Devils Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Tex., Saturday night at Lawton, Okla., and Sunday at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds before returning to Southern California.

STOCK CARS--Modifieds will return Saturday night to Saugus Speedway, where Ken Sapper, defending track champion, will be looking for his fourth win. Sapper set a track record of 15.86 seconds for the one-third mile oval last week.