Cycle News

Mike Baker heads toward t he fin ish li ne at the California /Nevada border. The Yamaha rider took fifth overall and f irst place in the 250cc class . Team Green 's Larry Roeseler. who has never won the Barstow-to-Vegas race . crossed the finish line in third overall. eight minutes beh ind Smith . The 1984 B-to-V winner Chris Crandall claimed second overall on an ATK 604 four-stroke. Here he rolls int o pit three at Whiskey Pete's. 8 titi on was KTM 's Scot Harden wh o finish ed 19th overall despite riding 40 mil es o n a -fIa t rear tire, and Troy Rayn or wh o took third just. two places back in 21st overa ll. The first 250cc con tender to cross the fin ish line was Yam ah a/Pro'Tec/ Oran ge Count y Cycle/M alcolm Smith/ Oak lev/Spectro/Tsubaki / Acerbis/Dun lop-backed Bak er in fifth overa ll. "No fall s, no fIats - a boring rid e," sa id Baker. "It would 've been better if it was tighter but they .ca n o nly do so much with wha t they've gOI out here." . Second in the 250cc di vision was claimed by Kawasaki's H un n icu tt in ninth over a ll , with Yam ah a mounted Roben Nolin in thi rd. Bak er wa s fo ll ow ed home b y Sweetland (six th overall) a nd HalIgath overa lled the 125cc clas s 'in sevent h. Second 125ccwentto Jimm y Lewi s, wh o was disappointed with h is II th overa ll fini sh. " I was all the way to abo ut sixth a t one time a nd I ended up 13th," sai d Lewi s. " O n th ese road s the little bik es don't hav e a cha nce." A neck-in-neck battl e for third 125cc ended just shan of pit three when J ohn Braasch 's engine let loose and left J oey Lane to cru ise home . alo ne. The most unusualcomplaint of th e day was by Alan Roc of Australia who finished 12th overall in his first race in the United States. " It wasn't fast eno ug h," said Roc, who raced a CR 500 fro m Mid City H onda/Kawasaki. " We' re used to racin g aro und 220 kil om eters (137 mil es) in abo ut o ne hou r a nd 50 minutes, and the bikes do up to 180 kil om eters an hou r (112 mph )." Roe described the co urs e as, " A hell of a lot to ughe r th an we expec ted. It was a lot slower, a lot rockier and really tough on th e bod y - I' ve pretty much had it." The most courageous rid e of the event finished in 641st overall, when Tommy Roberts crossed the finish lin e at the head of th e Minibike class. The l l- year-old, Roberts, believed to be th e youngest rider ever to co mp lete B-to-V , received a sta nd ing ova tio n on hi s way through pit th ree and rai sed a lot of eyebrows at finish. "There was a big, giant uphill after th e second gas. That was th e on ly time I had a problem - it was really silty," said Roberts . In th e Wom en's class , Anna Cody Merri t was the overall wi nner, riding in the Expert class on a Kawasaki KXI25 ..Merrit cro ssed the finish line 187 overall, beating the next Wom en fin isher, Expert Yam aha YZ250W Rmounted Kerri e Brok aw , who finish ed in 258th overa ll. The th ird Wom an finish er was H onda CR250mounted Pa trice Pa yne. Payn e rod e in the Intermedia te class and started th e event in th e seco nd wave. She finished 50 Ist overa ll. Top Intermediate rider was Yam aha 250cc rid er Erik Wolfe who cro ssed th e finish line in 75th overall, while th e next Intermediate was Vet Open rid er Wiley D. Rassm ussen , piloting a Husky. H e finished 81st overall. First Novice rider was .Phillip Wurster in 159th overall. He topped th e 250c c Novice class riding a Honda. Second Novice was Open Honda rider Harold Harris in 174th overa ll. Nate Evens, riding a Yamaha 250, was first Beginn er in 295th . • Result s 0 1 A : L Dan Sm ith (KTM ); 2. Chr is Crandall (A TK); 3. Larry Roeseler (Kaw ); 4. Bruce Ogilvie (Han); 5. Mika Baker (Vam); 6. Garth Sweetl and (ATK); 7. Eric Hall gat h (Yam); 8 . Derri ck Paiement (Kaw); 9. Ted Hunn icutt (Kaw); 10. Robert Nolin (Yaml; 11. Jimmy Lew is (Vam); 12. Al an Roe (Han); 13. Randy Moseley (Vam); 14. Danny Hammel (Ka w) ; 15 . Gr an t Pale nske (Vam); 16. Kenj i Gauthier (SUl); 17. Paul Kra use (ATK); 18. Ron ' Je nni ngs (Vam); 19. Scot Harden (KTM); 20. Andy Seagal (Vam).

• Cover