Schwartz Trying to Hold Milne Cup Another Year

Speedway rider Bobby Schwartz, who will be 43 in August, knows he won’t be around forever. He also knows he won’t exit without a fight.

And so it is that Schwartz will defend his Jack Milne Cup title Saturday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds.

“I’m excited about defending the title,” said Schwartz, who won last year’s inaugural event. “It’s a prestigious race. It does mean something because Jack Milne was a hero to me.

“There’s not that many big races left for me. Any race I can win now is good.”

Milne, the 1937 World Champion, influenced speedway in America and played a pivotal role in the development of the 31-year-old weekly program in Costa Mesa. The trophy itself is the restored Queen’s Coronation Cup that Milne won in Wembley, England, in 1937.

Years later Milne gave the trophy to rider/promoter Brad Oxley (12 at the time), who has since turned it into the centerpiece of Orange County’s big midseason event.

A half-dozen riders could dethrone Schwartz, but he has been riding well. Only once this season has he missed a main event. He is third in the points standings, trailing Oxley and Gary Hicks.

Schwartz says he will return for the 2000 season, and why not--he’s still beating most everyone. The competitive fire in him still burns too. That was evident June 5, after crashing in the handicap main after winning the scratch main. He slowed as much as he could after pulling up on Joe Winston, but when Schwartz slowed, Gary Ackroyd ran over him, sending him end over end. Schwartz injured his left wrist (which remains sore and affected his riding last week) and right thigh. Ackroyd was carried off on a stretcher. He was knocked unconscious briefly, and skipped last week’s race because he still had a sore neck and shoulder.

And Schwartz went off on Winston.

“I unfortunately yelled at him--and I shouldn’t have,” Schwartz said. “It was one of his first rides in the first division. He’s a very steady rider, very predictable, but just a little bit off the pace for what we’re doing. I think he has a chance to be good. But that’s what it takes for riders to become good.

“I’m sorry I got so explosive after it, [but] I wrecked and got hurt. I shouldn’t have done that because they need new up-and-coming guys. . . . I’m apologetic I showed any bad sportsmanship. If I could take it back, I would. The kid’s trying and doing the best he can. I was a kid trying hard, too, one time.”

Winston had been involved in an earlier accident in which Oxley ran up on him and crashed.

Oxley said Winston’s recent struggles--he also laid the bike down in one of his handicap heats Saturday--are “not even close to being a worst-case scenario.”

“Any guys who move to first division will struggle at first,” Oxley said. “He’s not the only guy who’s causing a little grief.”

In fact, Oxley called Winston very safe. “He’s just not running the pace with the guys he’s trying to hold the line on,” Oxley said.