VINTAGE MOTORCYCLE RACES CELEBRATE ASCOT GREATS

Source: VENTURA RACEWAY Media Relations/le
Date: 09/24/2008

VENTURA, California — Many of the greatest names in the history of flat track motorcycle racing will be reunited with their bikes and many of their fans Saturday at Ventura Raceway.

The occasion is the Vintage Outlaw Motorcycle Races: Ascot Reunion. The spectator gates open at 3 p.m. The practice sessions begin at 3, followed by an autograph session at 4 and the first heat races at 5.

“The main event is dedicated to the late Dick Hammer,” said Vintage Outlaw Motorcycle organizer Daniel Schoenewald. “He was among the winningest riders at Ascot Park.”

Parker said members of the Hammer family have indicated they will attend the event and watch the Dick Hammer Memorial Main Event.

Troy Lee Designs, designer of racing helmets, donated the $5,000 main event purse.

The event reunites riders that made their careers at Ascot Park, the famed track in Gardena that closed in 1990. Parker said Ventura Raceway Jim Naylor arranged with the Agajanian family, the promoters at Ascot Park, for the use of the Ascot name.

“It was motorcycle racing’s greatest half mile track,” Schoenewald said of Ascot. “We’ve invited the biggest names in the sport to come and celebrate Ascot’s history and enjoy the racing.”

The riders who have indicated they will be in attendance include Daytona 200 winner and 1970 Grand National champion Gene Romero, former World Champion Billy Hamill and Eddie Wirth, who won the Ascot flat track motorcycle champion and later became the 1985 CRA sprint car champ. Wirth is one of the few men to have won both a riding and driving championship at Ascot.

The autograph session will allow fans to visit with the sport’s living history.

More information on the Vintage Outlaw Motorcycle Races: Ascot Reunion is available at www.venturaraceway.com.

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