Motor Racing / Shav Glick : Torrid Shobert Seeks First Victory at Ascot

Bubba Shobert has been riding motorcycles since he was 6 and racing since he was 8, but he has never had a hot streak like the one he’s on now.

Shobert, 23, won his first Camel Pro dirt track national championship last year, but this year he has been even more impressive. In the last four American Motorcyclist Assn. championship races, the Honda factory rider has won twice and been second twice.

His victories at Phoenix and San Jose gave Shobert a special niche in motorcycle record books.

When he won the half-mile at Phoenix two weeks ago, he became only the third rider--Dick Mann and Kenny Roberts were the first two--to win every type of race on the grand national tour. Previously, he had won races in short track, TT steeplechase, mile and road racing.

When he won last Sunday at San Jose, it was his 14th triumph at the classic mile distance. He had shared the record of 13 with Ricky Graham and Jay Springsteen, both of whom he beat at San Jose.

Saturday night, on the half-mile track at Ascot Park, Shobert will attempt to stretch his lead over Harley-Davidson rider Scott Parker in the Camel Pro standings.

Shobert finished second to Alex Jorgensen in the national TT at Ascot earlier this spring and won the TT in 1985, but he has yet to win on the half-mile at Ascot. He has finished second twice, including last September to Ronnie Jones.

After winning the No. 1 plate last year, Shobert moved from Lubbock, Tex., where he had lived all his life, to Carmel Valley.

“It’s a lot easier to live in California because so many of the races are in this area,” Shobert said.

Jack Johnson, a hometown Las Vegas racer who has won the Mint 400 three times on a motorcycle and twice in a desert buggy, will try for No. 6 in a truck.

Johnson, 33, will make his debut as a truck driver Saturday in the 19th annual Mint 400, driving a Nissan in the modified mini-pickup class. It is the same truck that Sherman Balch drove to victory in the Frontier 250 last December.

“It’ll be quite an adjustment from my buggy,” Johnson said. “Reaction time and the weight shift will be much different. You can’t hit the rocks as hard with a truck, and it can’t fly as far.”

The driver to beat in Johnson’s class will be Manny Esquerra, who has won the event seven of eight times he has competed. Esquerra, 43, drives a Ford Ranger prepared by Bill Stroppe.

The Mint 400 course has been changed after 10 years, shifting from the northeast side of Las Vegas to the south side of the gambling strip. The move was made to provide more viewing areas for spectators, who have numbered as many as 90,000 according to police estimates.

“It’s still the same old Nevada desert,” Esquerra said. “To be honest, it’s not one of my favorite courses. But our results have been good, so I’ll grin and bear it.”

Esquerra is leading in SCORE/High Desert Racing Assn. points after beating Nissan driver Roger Mears in both the Parker 400 and the Great Mojave 250.

Defending champion Jim Temple of Las Vegas will drive a Volkswagen-powered two-seat Raceco buggy with his son Mark. They tuned up by winning first overall in the Great Mojave 250.

MOTORCYCLES--Sam Ermolenko, the No. 3-ranked speedway rider in the world last year, will continue his busman’s holiday from the British Speedway League when he competes against the top local riders at Ascot Park’s South Bay Stadium tonight and at Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa Friday night. Ermolenko, who lives in Cypress, spent most of last year competing in Southern California and was very successful at South Bay. On Friday, he will try to become the seventh different winner in as many races on the 1/10th-mile oval. . . . The California Motosports Club will hold its weekly races Friday night at Ascot Park. . . . Rising road-racing rider Todd Brubaker has been named to ride for Team Sunset in the AMA/MotoWorld U.S. Endurance Series race May 17 at Sears Point in Northern California. Brubaker, of Balboa, will replace regular Team Sunset rider Walt Nitto who is still recuperating from injuries and will miss the Sears Point race, the only round of the series in California.

STOCK CARS--Mark Perry of Sylmar, who won his first modified main event last Saturday night, will try for two in a row when he heads a field of top drivers in this Saturday night’s races at Saugus Speedway. In addition to the modifieds, the mini stocks, street stocks and Figure 8 cars also will be in action. . . . The second in an eight-race series matching the NASCAR sportsman cars from Saugus and the pro stockers of the Winston Series at Ascot will be held Sunday night at the Gardena track. Jeff Phillips of Camarillo, who won the series opener at Saugus, will lead the invaders against the local Ascot drivers, headed by three-time winner Ron Meyer of Lake Elsinore. . . . Saturday night’s racing at Bakersfield Speedway will feature pro-mod and street stock divisions. . . . Mark Norris, who ended Mike Hagerman’s three-race streak last Saturday, will try to do it again when the super-stocks take to the 3/8-mile paved oval at Cajon Speedway Saturday night.

SPRINT CARS--The Southwest tour by the California Racing Assn. sprinters will open tonight with a full program at 81 Speedway in Wichita, Kan. The CRA drivers then will stop at Tulsa Friday night and Oklahoma City Saturday night. Brad Noffsinger, winner of the last two races at Ascot Park, will try to hold his points lead over Mike Sweeney. Rip Williams is third and Jimmy Oskie fourth.

MIDGETS--Three-quarter midgets will compete Saturday night at Ventura Raceway with Terry Ferrar of Ojai seeking his second straight victory. Also expected to compete is P.J. Jones, the 16-year-old son of former driver Parnelli Jones who won the 10-lap semifeature in his first start in a TQ midget at Ventura. . . . The U.S. Auto Club’s Jolly Rancher Western States series continues Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway where point leader Rusty Rassmussen of Fresno will try to pad his advantage over Robby Flock of Industry.

RALLY--The field in the annual One Lap of America, the longest car endurance rally in the country, will leave the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach today after the only stop in the 8,400-mile event that started from Detroit on May 3. The field will take off at 11 a.m., heading north, then will turn east across the mountains and the plains states back to Detroit.

BOAT DRAGS--The 1986 season opener at Sunshine Marina at Bullhead City, Ariz., will be held Saturday and Sunday. Qualifying begins Saturday at 8:30 a.m. with eliminations starting Sunday at 9 a.m.