Superbike Event Is a First for Fontana

Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey, two lifetime friends who forged careers as national and world motorcycle champions while fiercely competitive against each other, will be back in the spotlight this weekend as grand marshals of the Yamaha Superbike Challenge at California Speedway.

Lawson, from Upland, won four world Grand Prix championships from 1984 to 1989. Rainey, from Downey, won three in a row from 1990 to 1992 and was on his way to a fourth when a crash at Italy’s Misano circuit in 1993 severed his spinal cord at the mid-chest level.

“Wayne and I have been buddies and competitors since we were 7 or so and racing against each other at the old Trojan Speedway,” Lawson reminisced at his Upland home. “Now we’re into SuperKarts, but we’re both looking forward to watching the superbikes at Fontana.

“I think a lot of changes have taken place with the perception of motorcycles since Wayne and I started out. Back 20 years or so, the public idea of a biker was a Hell’s Angel on a Harley. Now, it’s cool to ride a motorcycle, even a Harley. It took a couple of generations to lose that bad image.

“And for a good image, there’s nothing as exciting as watching a couple of riders going through a turn at 150 [mph] handlebar-to-handlebar. They’ll be doing that at California Speedway.”

In a racing analogy, Lawson calls superbikes the NASCAR of motorcycles--production-looking but built for competition--while Grand Prix bikes are similar to Formula One cars, built specifically for racing. Grand Prix is the premier event on the world platform, with riders earning as much as $9 million a year, but, like F1, it has not captured the attention of the American public, which focuses on superbikes.

Lawson has not ridden the 2.3-mile, 21-turn motorcycle course at Fontana on a bike, but he has driven it in a car.

“It has long straightaways with tight corners, which is great for passing, which makes it great for spectators. And it’s a track where you can see all the way around. If the people come out, I think they’ll be amazed how much fun it is to watch a national championship road race.”

The Yamaha Superbike Challenge, the second and third rounds of the AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship series, is the first top-level motorcycle road race in the greater Los Angeles area since 1996 when superbikes raced at the Pomona Fairplex parking lot.

There will be two 100-kilometer races, one Saturday at 2 p.m. and one Sunday at 3:30. Favorites include Honda’s Nicky Hayden, 20, winner of the Daytona 200--a race Lawson won twice--and winner of the last four superbike races; Suzuki’s Mat Mladin, defending AMA superbike champion; Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom, runner-up to Mladin last year and defending 600 Supersport champion; and Yamaha’s Anthony Gobert, 600 Supersport runner-up last year.

These days, their motorcycle careers over, Lawson retired and Rainey disabled, their passion is 250-powered SuperKarts, faster than world-class Grand Prix bikes.

“You can’t imagine what a blast it is to get up around 175 [mph] in one of those things, with your butt an inch or less from the pavement. And compared to race cars, they’re downright cheap. You can build a championship SuperKart for $15,000, a fraction of what guys spend on formula cars.

“And if speed is what they want, the SuperKarts were eight or nine seconds a lap faster than the Busch Grand National [stock] cars at Laguna Seca. And they’re safe, as safe as you can be going that fast. I’ve been around them for 10 years and only seen one guy get upside down and he did a stupid thing. They’re so light that if they spin, they’ll stop almost immediately instead of sliding down the track hitting things the way cars behave.”

Rainey, despite his paralysis, drives a SuperKart that Lawson hand-built and presented to his former rival.

“Wayne’s as tough in the kart as he was on a bike,” Lawson said. “I know, he beat me in a heat at the last race.”

American Speed Assn.

Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace and Darrell Waltrip are among drivers who sent time racing on short tracks with the American Speed Assn. before moving up to NASCAR’s Winston Cup.

Kyle Busch, a 16-year-old high school student from Las Vegas, is hoping to follow the same path. Actually, racing in the ASA this year is a bit of a detour for Busch.

He was primed to race in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck series this year for Jack Roush before a new NASCAR rule barred him from driving in their touring series until his 18th birthday.

“I’ll be back in the No. 99 truck May 2, 2003,” Busch said. “This year I’m in the ASA driving for Noah Yoder. It’s good for me. The competition is tough, the whole field separated by half a second, so it’ll be good experience until I get my truck ride back.”

Before NASCAR decided that someone who couldn’t buy cigarettes until he was 18 couldn’t advertise them either, Busch drove in six Craftsman races for Roush last year. He had the fastest time in practice last November at California Speedway only to be removed from the truck moments before qualifying when it was ruled he could not drive in an event sponsored by Marlboro.

Busch, younger brother of Winston Cup driver Kurt Busch, will be in Yoder’s No. 07 Ford when the ASA makes its second appearance at Irwindale Speedway this weekend with the TireRack.com 300.

Although his car has a Ford chassis, it is powered by a Chevrolet Vortec engine used by every car in the series.

“We call it a Monte Taurus,” Busch said. “It’s good training for the trucks. Both run on radial tires and the ASA car weighs 3,000 pounds, which is comparable with the 3,300-pound trucks. They drive like a Southwest Tour car, or the late models I drove at Las Vegas.”

Kurt Busch, 23, won his first Winston Cup race two weeks ago at Bristol, Tenn.

In the ASA opener at Lakeland, Fla., Busch qualified second and held the lead briefly until a mechanical problem cost him 10 positions while sitting in the pits getting repaired. He finished 11th.

“It’s pretty neat, running for Yoder. He’s a Ford dealer in Hicksville, Ohio, and has a great organization, with volunteers working on pit stops. I spent all spring break back in Hicksville working on the car.”

Although Sunday’s 300-lap main event will be Busch’s first time on the half-mile oval, he has raced several times in legend cars on the tiny third-mile oval inside the main track.

Qualifying is at 4 p.m. Saturday, with the track’s weekly program to follow. The 300-lap main event, Sunday at 1, will be televised live over TNN with former Winston Cup champion Buddy Baker doing the commentary.

Long Beach Grand Prix

Chris Pook, founder of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and newly named president of CART, will return to the seaside race next week as grand marshal.

“There couldn’t have been a better choice,” said Jim Michaelian, who replaced Pook as president of the Grand Prix Assn. of Long Beach. “What better time to recognize his efforts than to honor him on his first return to Long Beach as CART president and chief executive officer.”

Pook will take part in pre-race ceremonies on April 14.

Last Laps

Riverside’s Everett Burns, whose son Todd won the late model main event last week at Irwindale Speedway, will be racing in the super stock feature Saturday night at Perris Auto Speedway, where he won his first main event two weeks ago. Also on the busy program will be street stocks, lightning sprint cars, California champ trucks and cruisers.

The speedway motorcycle season will have its annual preview on April 13 when defending U.S. champion Chris Manchester takes on the Costa Mesa regulars at the Orange County Fairgrounds oval. The weekly speedway season will start May 4.

Necrology

Ray Brock, one of racing’s biggest supporters from his days as an editor for Hot Rod magazine to his working with Wally Parks to create the National Hot Rod Assn., died of a heart attack last Tuesday. He was 74. Brock also helped start the SEMA Show, one of the largest specialty equipment trade expositions in the country, and was a member of the SEMA Industry Hall of Fame.

A memorial service will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the Petersen Automotive Museum. His family requests that donations be sent to the NHRA Motorsports Museum or the Petersen Museum.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

NASCAR WINSTON CUP

Samsung/RadioShack 500

* When: Today, qualifying (Fox Sports Net, 1 p.m.); Sunday, race (Channel 11, 10:30 a.m.).

* Where: Texas Motor Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles, 24 degrees banking in turns), Fort Worth.

* Race distance: 500 miles, 334 laps.

BUSCH GRAND NATIONAL

O’Reilly 300

* When: Saturday, race (Channel 11, 11 a.m.).

* Where: Texas Motor Speedway.

* Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.

NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSN.

SummitRacing.com Nationals

* When: Today, qualifying, 2 p.m.; Saturday, qualifying (ESPN2, 5 p.m., tape); Sunday, eliminations, (ESPN2, 7 p.m., tape).

* Where: The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

SUPERBIKE

Yamaha Challenge

* What: 100-kilometer races, rounds 2 and 3 of 16-race AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship series.

* Where: 2.3-mile, 21-turn course, California Speedway, Fontana.

* When: Today, practice and qualifying, 8:30 a.m.; Saturday, practice and qualifying, 8 a.m., Yamaha West Region Dealers 100k, 2 p.m.; Sunday, practice 9 a.m., Yamaha 100k, 3:15 p.m.

* Supporting races: Saturday, Superstocks, 60k. Sunday, Supersport, noon, followed by 250 Grand Prix, Formula Xtreme, all 60k.

* Television: 2 p.m. Saturday, Speed Channel, re-air at 7 p.m.; 3 p.m. Sunday, Speed Channel, re-air at 5 p.m.

* Tickets: General admission $30, children 12 and under free; reserved seats, $40, adult and child. Two-day ticket, $50, reserved $60.