Motor Racing / Scott Newman : Jones, Sweeney Defend Titles in Ascot Sprint Doubleheader

The season’s only two-day program for the California Racing Assn. sprint cars is set for Saturday and Sunday nights at Ascot Park with a 50-lap main event heading the Saturday program and 40-lapper topping Sunday’s racing on the half-mile dirt track in Gardena.

Bubby Jones of Glen Avon and Mike Sweeney of Carson, drivers heading in opposite directions so far this season, will both be back to defend the titles they won last Labor Day weekend.

For Jones, the Kraco-CRA champion the last two years, it’s been a season to forget. After forming a new team, Jones decided to give up campaigning exclusively with CRA and chose to try his hand in the East and Midwest. The results have been disappointing. He has only two wins this season, one in the Firecracker 50 at Ascot in July, but will try to repeat his 50-lap win of a year ago.

For Sweeney, a 28-year-old, third-generation driver, things have gone super this season. He trails standings leader Eddie Wirth of Hermosa Beach by only 13 points and has chalked up 7 of his 12 lifetime victories in 1985, including the last Ascot feature two weeks ago.

He scored his victory in the 40-lapper last year when he zoomed around Dean Thompson on a restart with two laps to go and went on to win. This year Sweeney is tied with Thompson for the most victories at Ascot, six.

Other challengers in the weekend program include Rip Williams of Garden Grove, Brad Noffsinger of Huntington Beach and rookie Bobby George of Bellflower, who won his first main event last Saturday night at Santa Maria, holding off Thompson for the win while Sweeney finished fourth.

George, a transplanted Hawaiian, was the first rookie to win a CRA main event since Lee James turned the trick in 1975. He also became the 14th driver to win a main event in the 34 races held so far.

STOCK CARS--A two-day open competition program is scheduled for Mesa Marin Speedway in Bakersfield this weekend with Whittier’s Vince Giamformaggio the driver to beat in the $46,650 program. Giamformaggio is working on two-race winning streak on the swift half-mile paved oval. Saturday’s racing will include qualifying, heats, a B trophy dash and a 25-lap feature for the 10 fastest qualifiers. Sunday’s program will consist of a 15-lap C main, a 40-lap B main and the 100-lap feature that pays $5,000 to win. . . . Saugus Speedway will feature Sportsman cars, street stocks, Figure 8s and a Destruction Derby Saturday night. Claimer stocks will race tonight at Saugus. . . . Street stocks will take center stage Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway with a 50-lap feature. On Monday night at the same track, the Pro-Mod division will compete in a $10,000 program featuring two 50-lap main events. . . . Ascot will have a doubleheader Monday night featuring a 150-lap International Enduro on the infield road course and 25-lap North vs. South mini-stock event on the quarter-mile oval.

No matter what happens, it figures to be a very profitable Labor Day weekend for NASCAR driver Bill Elliott of Dawsonville, Ga. If he can win the Southern 500 Sunday at Darlington, S.C., Elliott will collect a cool $1 million. Even if he finishes last, he is assured of $100,000 payoff. The $1 million is a bonus posted by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to any driver who wins three of the four big races on the Winston Cup schedule--the Daytona 500, the Winston 500 at Talladega, Ala., the World 600 at Charlotte, N.C. and the Southern 500. Elliott is assured of the $100,000 for having won at Daytona and Talladega in his Ford Thunderbird. In his last Darlington start, Elliott came home first in the TranSouth 500 in April, his first win on the tricky 1 3/8-mile track.

SPEEDWAY MOTORCYCLES--Lance King of Sepulveda heads a quartet of California riders who will compete in the Speedway World Final Saturday afternoon at Odsal Stadium in Bradford, England. King finished third last year behind Denmark’s Erik Gunderson and Hans Nielsen. Both Danes and Shawn Moran of Huntington Beach appear to be the top competition for King Saturday. King, who competed for Cradley Heath in the British Speedway League for three year, elected to remain in the U.S. this season and is trying to become only the third rider ever to win the World title while not competing in the British League. Others were Anders Michanek of Sweden in 1974, and Egon Mueller in 1983. The other U.S. entrants are Sam Ermolenko of Cypress and John Cook of Roseville, each competing in his first World Final.

OFF-ROAD--The final round of the Gran Prix series will be held at San Bernardino’s Orange Show Stadium Sept. 14. Ivan Stewart and Roger Mears are tied in the Grand National Sport Truck overall standings with 182 points. Mark Hanson, driving a Firebird, leads the Ultra-Stock class by 20 points over Vince Tjelmeland, racing in a Fiero, but triple points are offered in the final.

SPORTS CARS--The California Cooler National Championships will be held this weekend at Riverside International Speedway. The Lucas Challenge is scheduled Saturday, and a race in the Mazda pro series will be held Sunday. The leader in the series is Ken Twaits, of San Diego. Twaits can win a $10,000 bonus offered by his sponsors, if he wins his fourth series race Sunday.