Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(Above) Larry Roeseler hustles near the end of his flrst-Iap stint. (Below left) Chuck Rush and Fred Hansen took third overall. first 250cc. (Below right! Brent Wallingsford tackles a fast fireroad. Las Vegas 400 Team Husky duels to the finish By Dale Brow n JEAN, NV , APR . 22 Two Team Husky duos mounted on 390 O Rs battled all the way in the grueling 424-mile Las Vegas 400, setting up a lead of more than 30 minutes on the next finisher. The Brent 10 WaIlingsford/Scot Harden team started first and finished first, but the Jack johnson/Larry .Roe- seler entry fin ished right beh ind th em , winning on ela psed tim e by a scant two minutes and two seconds. The winning time was 10 hours. 54 minutes and II seconds. It was not a smooth. trouble-free ride for ei ther team . Both suffered fr om flat t ire s , b rake probl ems , crashes a nd other maladies as the exce p tio na lly tough course took its toll . " Yea h, it was tough . It really was . Problems? I'll hav e to make you a twopage list ," said Roeseler at th e fini sh . Finish ing third overa ll, first in th e 250cc class, was t he Las Vegas tea m of Chu ck Ru sh and Fred H ansen , Jr. on thei r Ground sh a kers M .C . /Ne vco Equipment Co .-sponsored Husky OR . They had about a 13-m inu te margin over th e seco nd p lace KTM of Rod Ahlst ro m and Bob Bal ent in e . Finishing ninth overall and first in the over 40 class was another H usky. this one ridden by Sam Bass and Art Kna pp . The 125cc win was tak en bv Ma rv Chapma n a nd Paul Emerson'. both Las Vegas riders. They had th eir share o f bike probl em s al ong the wa y, incl ud ing tw o fla t tires. a brok en cha in , and a broken chain tens ioner . They only rode three of th e 106-m ile loop s, a nd were ha lted fro m sta rti ng a fo u rt h la p d ue to approa c hi ng d arkness. There were 92 entries in t he ra ce , between th e eq u a ll y di vid ed P ro fession a ls going for 1;10.000 in pri ze m on ey, and Sportsmen co m peting for trophies. The race sta rt ed soo n after dawn , a nd th e Kevin Da vis/Jef f Harper KTM led th e wa y from their front ro w start. Two bi kes started every 30 seconds. The first section was very dusty, and there was no wind at the time to d issipate it. One of the early casu a lties was 125cc contender Tom Kell y. who hit a roc k in th e d ust a bo ut 40 mil es from th e start a nd crashed hard . H e was ta ken to t he hospi tal . treated for facia l cut s and abrasions , a nd rel eased later in the day -; no broken bones. Most tea ms ele ct ed to swit ch rid ers a t the hal fw a y p oint , t h e seco nd a lte rn a te ga s stop a t t he 55 mile mark . At thi s poi nt Da vis was sti ll leading it. over a no ther 250 cc KTM . th is one piloted by Bill Tarl ing. Hard en was up to third physically and rig ht near the lead on ela psed time. Hansen ran fou rt h. with Bob Balentine moving up to fifth d esp ite a crash . T he Lero y Kiger/Kevin Welch Can -Am was up in fro nt as well , ' but were bein g pursued by Roesele r . On t he second hal f of the loop . J ohnson took over fro m Roeseler a nd caugh t Wallingsfor d . who was ridi ng with a flat tire . Jack a nd Larry sta rted th e second loop in th e lead phys ically, but gremlins wer e in sto re for them as well. T he rear brake ba ck ing plate wasted itself and the rea r wh eel h ad to be, changed a t the 55 -m ile gas sto p . The tim e they lost doing that put Harden and W allingsford ba ck in front ph ysically, where th ey wer e to remain for the remainder of th e ra ce. Their sec ond lap time of 2:37.28 was the best of th e day. Jeff Harper , tak in g his tu rn on th e KTM , fell on the second half of th e second lap and lost his cla ss lead to Rush . He caught back up , but a broken swinga rm set them back when they had to replace it. Their fat e. however. was better than that of Tarling and teammate Craig Adams. They were running third in class when their swin garm broke. too . But it snapped com pletely and they were out of the ra ce . Out on the third loop, Ro eseler had a flat tire on the first half of the loop but as though fat e were compensating, Wallingsford came up with one on th e second half. Both teams were still very close on time. Rush and Hansen had settled into a _ secure lead in the 250 cc ranks by the third loop. with Ahlstrom and Ba lentine nearly 10 minutes back. Go ing into the fourth loop . again the two leading teams had difficulties. Roeseler fell, and so did Harden . But wh ile Roes eler go t go ing without damage , Harden had a flat rear tire . Later. Ro esele r and Johnson lost all stopping power in their rear brake , wh ile Wallingsford and Harden lost their rear brake rod . ' Forty m iles from the finish . J ohnson had a sca re when his rear tir e went flat , but he on ly ha d to rid e 20 m iles before he secured a new o ne . Wallingsford roared into the finish . flying well past what was originally th e

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