Area Roundup : Cirello Enjoys Early Success at Speedway

While Bobby Schwartz, 1986 U.S. speedway motorcycle champion, continues to dominate the weekly racing program at the Orange County Fairgrounds, Trinon Cirello, a 17-year-old junior at Newport Harbor High School, has enjoyed success in only his second year of racing.

Cirello, the 1984 U.S. junior champion, has become a fixture among Division I riders on the Southern California circuit. He has recorded second- and fourth-place finishes in handicap main events in the opening seven weeks of racing at Costa Mesa.

Cirello is hoping his consistent performances will earn him a position in the U.S. championship qualifying rounds scheduled to begin in August. No rider has won both the junior championship and the national championship.

Schwartz continued his record-breaking pace at Costa Mesa with his fourth consecutive victory in the scratch main event last week. Schwartz has won five of the seven scratch main events at Costa Mesa this season.

Although Schwartz and Cirello will return to race at 8 tonight, popular Bobby Ott of Balboa is out of action indefinitely with a torn Achilles’ tendon suffered when he crashed with Keith Larsen and tangled his foot in the spokes of his motorcycle’s rear tire last week. Ott, who finished second in the 1987 U.S. championship, had two pins placed in his right heel.

Gates open at 6:30 p.m. with parking and programs free. Children age 12 and under will be admitted free.

Kristen Hanssen, currently the top-ranked female triathlete, will compete in the third Orange County Performing Arts Center Triathlon on June 5. The race includes a 1.5-mile swim in Lake Mission Viejo, a 35-kilometer bike race and a 10-kilometer run. The triathlon is a fund-raiser for the Performing Arts Center.

Hanssen will be competing against Colleen Cannon, a former triathlete of the year and two-time defending champion of the Performing Arts Center Triathlon. Scott Tinley, a two-time Hawaii Ironman champion who won the Performing Arts event in 1986, will lead the men’s field.

For registration information, call 846-0813.

The fifth Youth Track Invitation will be held Saturday and Sunday at the UC Irvine track. Organized by Time Machine USA, the meet is the largest youth invitational in Southern California, attracting 1,100 athletes from Arizona, New Mexico, Northern California and the local area. The event serves as a qualifying meet for the 1988 TAC National Youth Athletics Track Championships, which will be held at Mt. San Antonio College, June 29-July 2.

The Southern California 9-Ball Billiards championship will be held at the Elks Lodge, 212 Elk Lane, in Santa Ana today through Sunday. Thirty-two of the top players in the world, including No. 1-ranked Mike Sigel of Towson, Md., will compete for $32,000 in prize money. Local players competing include Keith McCready of Anaheim, Dean DeForest of Costa Mesa and Robin Bell of Costa Mesa, the only woman in the field. There will be three sessions each day, at noon, 4 and 8 p.m. The finals will be at the third session Sunday. Proceeds will benefit the Elks children’s charities. For information, call (213) 396-2421.

The third Florence Crittenton Services golf tournament will be held Monday at the Yorba Linda Country Club. The $100 entry fee will benefit Florence Crittenton Services, a private, nonprofit residential treatment program for emotionally troubled adolescent girls. For information, call 637-1346 or 998-0548.

Entries are being accepted for the sixth Vince Ferragamo Special Olympics Celebrity Golf Classic, to be held June 7 at Los Coyotes Country Club in Buena Park. Proceeds will benefit the Orange County Special Olympics. For information, call 843-5975.