Area Roundup : Ermolenko Returning to Ride at Fairgrounds
Speedway motorcyclist Sam Ermolenko of Cypress, who has finished third in the world championships the past two seasons, will ride at 8 tonight in the weekly racing program at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.
Ermolenko rides for Wolverhampton in the British Speedway League but is returning home under a rider agreement program between the league’s promoters and Harry Oxley, a Costa Mesa promoter.
Ermolenko has ridden in Europe the past five seasons and is the only American rider besides former world champion Bruce Penhall to qualify for three consecutive World Final races (1985-87).
Ermolenko has failed to win the U.S. championship the past two seasons after qualifying for the races at Costa Mesa. In 1986, he collided with Bobby Schwartz in his first heat race and was disqualified. Ermolenko won his remaining four races, but Schwartz won the title.
Last year, Ermolenko qualified for the U.S. championship but was unable to race after he broke his ankle and wrist in Denmark a week before the race. Ermolenko won the Spring Classic series race at Costa Mesa in March but finished behind Schwartz in the two-race series.
Schwartz and Phil Collins of Manchester, England, have won the scratch main events in the opening two weeks of the season.
Gates open at 6:30, with parking and programs free of charge. General admission is $7, and children ages 12 and under are admitted free.
More than 200 top surfers and body boarders from around the nation will compete in the $15,000 Ocean Pacific South Coast surfing contest--the fifth stop of the U.S. Pro tour--April 22-24 at Salt Creek County Beach in Laguna Niguel.
Mike Lambresi of Carlsbad, the defending U.S surfing champion, and Mike Stewart of Hawaii, the U.S. body boarding champion, are scheduled to compete.
There will be a $12,000 purse. The winner of the body boarding competition will receive $1,200 and the surfing winner $3,000.
Surfing will start at 7 a.m. each day, and the finals are scheduled for 2 p.m. on the 24th.
Randy Stoklos, one of the best professional beach volleyball players in the world, will present two free clinics, Saturday and Sunday, on Main Beach in Laguna Beach.
The clinics will run from 2-4 p.m. each day, and Stoklos talk about volleyball strategy and answer questions.
Stoklos plays on the professional tour with Sinjin Smith. The pair has won 32 of 47 tour events over the last two seasons and, at one point last season, won 10 in a row. Stoklos, 27, attended UCLA, where he was a starter on the 1980 national championship team.