Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

could barely see Jeff Kaplan ; Bolton on a 125cc Can -Am , Jeff on a 250 Husky. Ken Miller (25 0 Hus) charged a fte r Rich Binckley, a Washington racer on an 390 Husky mov ing very fast espe cia lly through the virgin cross country portion just before th e long uphill with th e backside the same .as the front . Jack Froelich was the first Seni or entry to enter the sandwash road sec tion past the downhill. The Number 13 bike ridden by Brent Wallingsford flew b.v Froelich way before check one. The green-plated Sportsman class headed into the mountains just as the sun broke over the mountains . Randy Neal got past Davis ' partner Tom Kelly and was streaking down the long trail that parallels Highway 53. This section is fast but has several tricky crossgrain ruts. Tom Holms found this out when his 250 KTM bit the dust with the gas pits in sight. Neal just started ac ross the highway when his Husky seized horribly. Watching Kelly and R oesel e r pass by , t he dejected racer loaded his bike in the truck. Wayne Allen, riding Morgan J Malocco's 400 got out of shape on the road that runs beside the tracks . Hitting the bottom of a ditch, the young man got off very hard going very fast. The Guio clan had the course wired; T agg pushing the Husky down th e powerline road just ahead of Bob Rutten. riding a Harley. The other Gu io team member was Ron Loomis, riding with Ken . Yamaha rider Charlie Hamill teamed with Jeff Robbins. Charl ie took the first leg and had his 125cc b ike screaming as he picked up the old ] car course before the sum m it. Coming off the summit, Ron Ellenburg. Mike McDaniel and George Antill blasted down th e next section of car course th en into the silt beds. Scott Atchison braced himself entering the silt but to his amazement the dust didn't st ir. Rod Ahls trom and Todd Hunter were glad of this because they were right behind Scott. Torsten Corum and Ke vin Bise entered the p its and changed partners. Gregg Harwood took the bike from Bise , Steve Webb took over for Torsten , Tom Kelly had mounted the KTM about the same time Wallingsford was heading into the pits . Scot Harden mounted th e Husky and took off after Roesel er and Kell y. T he Roeseler/johnson team decided to rid e co m p le te loops instead of the ch eckpoint cha nge system. " The Iron Man , Rolf Tibblin of Tibblin Racing Products riding solo , sai d at the sta rt he would just take his time and was running 19th overa ll. Rick Finger took the bike from Kaplan a nd headed into th e cross cou nt ry section just before th e fas t. slippery gr a d ed road . The "Big 0 " Bruce O gil vie wa s hot on h is trail. Sid Tarbett sho t through the p atchy bla cktop section so sm oo th ly yo u wou ld never gu ess a ha zard was th ere . Ken Bail ey led Len Sikorski through the fast up and d own roll ers ; Cotton Guio was right beh ind . Kevin Welch was leading Bruce Lewellyn up ' th e sandwash road. n When th e cou rse entered th e sa nd y pu ckerbush secti on , Lewellyn was thinking how gl ad he would be when J ack Fr oelich took over. If Bruce had known Jack had a broken foot and he was going to ride the whole thing a lone . he m ight hav e headed for th e nea rest cas ino. R ick Schumaker would find himse lf in th e sa m e boat lat er . Fred Ha nsen . tak ing over for Mike Maze . was smokin ' down th e powerline road int o ch eck three , the alternate ga s. J eff Robbins and Leroy Kyger were not far behind. 'I Sam Bass, the hot shoe of Las Veg as , I ...... ..... M 0.. < l Tom Kelly leads overall co-winner Larry Roesele r early in the race. RoeselerlJohnson win Las Vegas 400 By Gary laudig JEAN . NV . APR. 16 T h e 390 Husqvarna-mounted team of Larry R oeseler and Jack J oh nson won the Las Vegas 400 off-road race , beating fellow Husky pilots Brent Wallingsford and Scot Harden, who 1 2 led much of th e race only to suecumb to rear-wheel spoke troubles on the last lap. Assembled approximat ely one mil e west of Pop's Oasis wer e some of th e " H igh Rollers" of off-road ra cing, Race Director Casey Folks sta ted the race would sta rt at exactly 5:45 a. m, a nd it di d. T he nighr -Iong rain settle d th e pre-run powder and silt. providing unl imited visabilitv , Kevin Davis fanned his KTM engi ne . th e green flag d ro pped a nd Da vis headed down the p avem en t to th e desert. The next two to the start line were Randy Neal (390 Hus) a nd Larry Roeseler (O R Hus). Crossing under th e freewa y. the bikes headed up a rocky trai l leading to th e base of th e Spring Mountains. T om Bolt on

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