Motor Racing / Shav Glick : Faria Is Favorite in U.S. Speedway Championships

Speedway motorcyclist Mike Faria of Colton, who won five of six qualifying races, will be favored to unseat defending champion Alan Christian of Huntington Beach when the United States Speedway Championships are held Saturday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

Also expected to contend are two British League veterans, Sam Ermolenko of Corona and Lance King of Fountain Valley, who were seeded into the program without having to ride in the qualifying races because of past performances. Ermolenko was the only American to qualify for the World Speedway Finals, but he finished out of the money after losing in a runoff a year ago.

Faria, the track champion at San Bernardino, Victorville and Ventura, has been close to winning the national title for several years. He was third last year, after being upset by Mike Curoso in his final heat, and he was second in 1982 to Shawn Moran and again in 1983 to Shawn’s brother, Kelly. Neither Moran brother is in this year’s championship round.

Surprisingly, Bob Ott, recently crowned California State champion from Redondo Beach, failed to qualify. He is the second alternate.

Tuff McBride, a New Yorker who now lives in Grand Terrace, moved into the 16-rider field when Eddie Ingels of Pinole suffered a broken wrist. McBride is the first non-California rider to qualify for the national competition in many years.

Gary Hicks of Glen Avon and Bart Bast of Auburn, relatives of famous former speedway champions, will be competing in their first national championship races. Hicks, 17, is the grandnephew of former world champion Jack Milne, and Bast is the nephew of seven-time U.S. champion Mike Bast. Hicks’ grandfather, Cordy Milne, is a former national champion. Also in his first national competition is Ronnie Correy of Fullerton.

Other riders include Bobby Schwartz of Costa Mesa, last year’s runner-up; Robert Pfetzing of Garden Grove and John Sandona of Reche Canyon, who tied for second in the qualifying rounds; Brad Oxley of San Clemente, track champion at Costa Mesa; Keith Chrisco of Costa Mesa, Steve Lucero of Riverside and two Northern Californians, John Cook of Roseville and Jim Sisemore of Woodland.

The first of 20 four-lap heats will start at 8 o’clock.

Ermolenko and King will tune up against California riders tonight at Ascot Park in a benefit program for Kids Search, Inc., a nonprofit corporation engaged in finding missing children.

OFF-ROAD RACING--Steve Millen has already clinched the truck championship in Mickey Thompson’s Gran Prix series, but he will go to extremes to try and win the season’s final race Saturday night at the L. A. County Fairgrounds in Pomona. Millen will run Saturday at Laguna Seca to qualify for the American Racing Series race, fly to Pomona for the truck race and fly back to Monterey for Sunday’s ARS final. Because he will be unable to qualify his Toyota pickup for Saturday night’s race, Millen will start at the rear of the field. Although Millen has the individual title and Toyota its fourth straight manufacturers crown, several class championships will at stake at Pomona. Monte Crawford holds a 14-point lead over Greg George in the UltraStock series, while both the 3-wheel and 4-wheel ATV titles are up for grabs. . . . Marty Tripes will hold the second of his Outlaw Nationals, featuring unlimited single-seat desert buggies, Saturday night at El Cajon Speedway. Favorites are Tommy Croft and Jim Fishback.

ROAD RACING--After winning the Camel GTU national championship last week in Ohio, Tom Kendall, 19, will try for his second International Motor Sports Assn. crown Sunday in the 6-hour Firestone Firehawk endurance race at Riverside International Speedway. The Flintridge teen-ager holds a one-point lead over Max Jones of Long Beach, who is Kendall’s co-driver in a Nissan 300ZX Turbo. Jones will attempt to win the pole--and pick up one point--on Saturday so that the co-drivers will be co-champions. A field of more than 60 cars is expected for the $28,500 event, which will start at 11 a.m. Sunday. . . . Ted Prappas of Los Angeles edged Roberto Quintanilla of Mexico City to win the final West Coast Atlantic Racing championship. Following the final race, WCAR president Gudrun Shea announced her resignation and the dissolution of the racing organization.

STOCK CARS--Dan Press of Saugus, winner of last week’s open competition show at El Cajon, will try for a similar win Saturday night in a 100-lap main event at the Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino. Also in the event, which will run in two 50-lap segments, will be Mesa Marin champion Rick Carelli of Denver, Dick Cobb of Las Vegas and local favorites Rick and Randy Becker of Highland. There will also be a 40-lap street stock main event.

INDY CARS--Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal and Long Beach Grand Prix winner Michael Andretti will continue their battle for the CART/PPG Indy Car World Series championship Sunday at Laguna Seca in the Champion Spark Plug 300. Rahal holds a two-point lead over Andretti with three races remaining, Sunday on the Monterey Peninsula, Oct. 19 at Phoenix and Nov. 9 at Miami. . . . Also scheduled Sunday is a Super Vee race featuring Didier Theys of Belgium, Steve Bren of Los Angeles and Scott Atchison of Bakersfield, who are only four points apart in the standings after nine races.

SPRINT CARS--Duane Feduska, who charged from 14th to finish fourth behind Mike Sweeney in last week’s California Racing Assn. race at Ascot Park, hopes to keep his comeback humming Saturday night on the Ascot oval. Feduska, who had been sidelined most of the season, is driving for Larry Bright of Torrance. . . . Three-time CRA champion Dean Thompson is rumored to be leaving retirement for late-season races this year. . . . Doug Wolfgang of Sioux Falls, S.D., a four-time winner of the U.S. Nationals at Knoxville, Iowa, will drive at Ascot Park Oct. 23-25 in the 20th running of the Pacific Coast Nationals.

MIDGETS--Robby Flock of Industry and Rusty Rasmussen of Fresno, each with five wins this season, will resume their battle for the United States Auto Club’s Western States championship Sunday night at Ascot Park. Flock holds a 64-point lead and has won twice at Ascot this year. Rasmussen has not won on the quarter-mile dirt oval. Denise Bennet of San Pedro, 10th in the standings, will also be looking for her first win. P.J. Jones, Parnelli’s son, is also entered. In the TQ half of the midget program, Dennis Hart of Ventura needs only to make the race to win the National Midget Racing Assn. championship.

SUPERMODIFIEDS--Saugus Speedway will close its 1986 season Saturday night with a USAC Skoal National Supermodified series race. The last USAC race on Saugus’ one-third mile paved oval was 20 years ago when Parnelli Jones won a midget race there. Ken Hamilton of Boise, Ida., has a 38-point lead over Dave Fitzgerald of Salt Lake City, with only 40 points available in the season’s final race. Among the entrants are Billy Vukovich, Wally Pankratz and stock car veteran Jimmy Insolo. . . . Vintage cars of the Western Racing Assn. will also perform Saturday night at Saugus, with drivers including Cal Niday, Roy Prosser, Walt James and Rosie Rousell in cars from the ‘30s and ‘40s.