SportScope : Ex-Carson Driver Kirby Seeks 6th Victory of Year at Ascot

Mike Kirby, formerly of Carson, a part-time figure 8 performer at Ascot Raceway this season, will be shooting for his sixth win of the year Sunday night as part of a NASCAR card that includes pro stocks, bomber ovals and hobby stocks. Kirby, who lives in Long Beach, hasn’t competed in the full figure 8 season because his contract to drive sprint cars on the CRA circuit for Babbitt Enterprises of Redondo Beach has taken him out of town several times. The NASCAR program begins at 6. Other Ascot events this weekend include ATVs and KARTS in the South Bay Stadium at 7 Friday night and CMC motocross on the main oval at 7:30. Kirby, who ranks eighth in points, will try to move up in the CRA standings when the sprints get running at 8 p.m. Saturday.

The waves are expected to wane for this weekend’s finals of the Professional Surfing Assn. of America’s contest at Malibu’s Surfrider Beach, where about a dozen surfers from the South Bay are among nearly 200 competitors. Breakers to 10 feet were reported along the Southern California coast Thursday, the result of a pair of storms off Antarctica in conjunction with a full moon and hurricane Henrietta off the west Coast of Baja California. The swells are expected to slowly decrease through Sunday, the final day of the $35,000 event, the seventh stop of an 11-event tour.

The South Park Giants and the Bell Park A’s have won Gardena Recreation baseball titles. South Park, coached by Kevin Duncan, took a 4-2 victory over the Bell Park Pirates in the championship game of the Junior League for boys ages 13-15. The A’s, coached by Joe Medel, won the Pee Wee Division for boys ages 9-11 with an 8-4 victory over the Freeman Park Indians. Gabriel Matamoros had two hits and three runs batted in for the Giants. Wilbert Knutzen went three for three, drove in three runs and pitched the final three innings to pick up the victory for the A’s.