Larsen Is No Fish Out of Water on Southland Speedway Circuit : Motorcycling: Former Newport Harbor High water polo standout has been consistent rider going into tonight’s Fair Derby.

Three years ago, Josh Larsen reached a fork in the road toward athletic success.

Larsen was a junior at Newport Harbor High School, where he played goalie on the Sailors’ perennially successful water polo team.

“The coaches told me I could have gone to any college I wanted to,” Larsen said.

But Larsen also envisioned a career as a speedway motorcycle racer. He began racing junior speedway bikes when he was 7 and won consecutive national junior titles in 1986-87. The next logical step was turning professional.

Larsen made the move to become a professional rider at 16, sacrificing his high school eligibility to race on four Southern California tracks. Instead of defending the goal against shots from a “hole-man,” Larsen turned his attention to getting the “hole-shot” on a lightweight bike capable of speeds up to 90 m.p.h.

“I decided I’d rather race,” Larsen said. “I liked school, but I’d rather work on my bikes or ride.”

Larsen took a high school equivalency test to earn his diploma during his senior year and became a full-time racer last year. He made an immediate impact in the speedway world.

Larsen won a record 13 handicap main events last year, including a season-ending victory at Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino, where he started 70 yards behind the starting line. Larsen overcame seven other riders in the eight-lap race to claim the victory.

This season, the 19-year-old from Balboa is third behind Mike Faria and Bobby Schwartz in the points standings to determine the 12 local riders who will compete in the U.S. Championship Oct. 12 at the Orange County Fairgrounds.

Larsen has won only one scratch and two handicap main events this season, but he has been a model of consistency by qualifying for main events in almost 70% of the races he has entered at the four Southern California tracks.

This week, he finished second in the scratch and handicap main events at Glen Helen and will be aiming for a victory in the 23rd Fair Derby at 8 tonight at the Fairgrounds.

The Fair Derby, which traditionally draws the biggest crowd of the season, will match each rider in three heat races. The top 16 scoring riders will move into the semifinals. The top two finishers in each semifinal advance to the four-lap main event.

“It’s a lot more fun racing in the Fair Derby than the national championship,” Larsen said. “If you have a bad night, you can always go out to the fair and have a good time.”

Larsen qualified for his first national championship last year but had a forgettable evening. He collided with Steve Lucero and Bobby Schwartz in the first heat race and never recovered, scoring only three points in five heats. “I ruined my No. 1 bike and it was all downhill after that,” Larsen said. “It took four restarts to finish the first race. That was the worst night I’ve ever had. But I was glad to be there.”

This year, Larsen has formed a unique partnership with Russell Racing of Downey. He gives 40% of his earnings to owner Don Russell. Russell has supplied Larsen with three bikes--an English-built Godden, a Czechoslovakian-built Jawa and an Italian-built GM.

Russell, who also sponsors Faria and Scott Brant, met Larsen when Larsen turned professional. Russell saw unlimited potential in the teen-ager.

“You could see Josh was polished, mature and dedicated to the sport, but he needed help,” Russell said. “He owned only one bike and he babied that bike. I talked to him about a sponsorship and now he has three of my bikes.”

Russell has become Larsen’s sponsor, mechanic and surrogate father this season and is continually surprised by Larsen’s maturity and success.

“He’s a 19-year-old kid who has all of my equipment, and he takes care of it like it was his very own,” Russell said. “Every time he comes to the track, the bikes look brand new. He’s grown up awfully quick and has become one of the most consistent riders on the circuit.

“Josh doesn’t get too up or down. He hardly shows his emotions. When he loses a race, he’ll take a little walk, think it over and then move on. Oh, he does get excited when he beats Bobby (Schwartz) or Mike (Faria). But usually, he’s all business.”

Larsen’s business will likely take him to Great Britain, where he plans to compete in the British Speedway League next year. He visited long-time friend Greg Hancock, who rides for Cradley Heath, following the 1990 season and did some test riding at Cradley and Wolverhampton following meetings in October.

Larsen declined offers to race overseas this season, saying, “I didn’t feel I was mentally ready to live there for eight months and race. I’m definitely going next season. I would like to stay here, but if I’m going to be a world champion, I have to go to England and race.”

Pairings have been announced for the two semifinal races leading to the World Final, with Billy Hamill of Monrovia earning the best draw of four American overseas riders still in the hunt for the championship.

Hamill is among 16 riders who will compete in the semifinal at Rouno, Soviet Union, Aug. 18. Hamill’s top competitors figure to be Swedish riders Per Jonsson and Jimmy Nilsen, English riders Jeremy Doncaster and Paul Thorp and Italian Armando Castagna.

Three other American riders--Ronnie Correy of Fullerton, Sam Ermolenko of Cypress and Kelly Moran of Huntington Beach--will face stronger competition in the other semifinal Aug. 11 at Abensberg, West Germany.

The field in West Germany includes the world’s best riders--Danes Hans Nielsen, Jan Pedersen and Tommy Knudsen. Kelvin Tatum of Great Britain and locals Klaus Lausch and Gerd Riss of West Germany are also in the 16-rider field.

The top eight finishers at each semifinal advance to the World Final Aug. 31 at Ullevi Stadium in Gothenberg, Sweden.

Notes

The Coors Motorcycle Thrill Show is scheduled at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Fairgrounds arena. Featured attraction is 11-year-old daredevil Z-Bo, who will jump a lineup of cars on a 125cc motorcycle. . . . Also scheduled to appear is Doug Domokos, the self-proclaimed Wheelie King, who will ride an ATV on a high wire 20 feet above the ground. . . . Kari Day will ride a motorcycle up a half-pipe, turn in the air 180 degrees and ride back down a ramp. . . . The final act scheduled is the Sphere of Fear. Monte Perlin and his crew will ride motorcycles inside a giant steel mesh globe. . . . There is no racing scheduled July 26 at the Fairgrounds because of a rodeo, but eight Southland riders will travel to the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn to compete in a Southern California-Northern California test match series July 26. The race will be broadcast on KORG (1190-AM).