Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ CN l-o Q) ..c S ~ o Z lMry Roe.... bIats the winning bike through the wild. of Baja. Roe.... end partner Jack Johnson both rode smoothly: encountered no major problems. By Dale Brown Photos by Suzie Mann and Brown ENSENADA·LA PAZ, B.C., MEXICO, NOV. 7·9 At 6:05 a.m. on a cool Wednesday morning, Larry Roeseler gunned his 390cc Husqvarna away from the start line in Ensenada. Nineteen hours, 48 minutes, 4.24 seconds and 985 miles later, partner jack johnson . h line th h crossed the fi 1DlS at e ot er end of the Baja peninsula in La Paz - backwards. johnson and 8 Roescler took-the overall win. leading a sweep that would fmd Husqvama mounted entrants winning all five motorcycle classes in the Negra Modelo/SCORE Baja 1000. Finishing second motorcycle, third overall, was the ~90cc Husky of Scot Harden and Brent Wallingsford, an hour and 21 minutes behind the lead. er after being slowed by a rockinduced hole in the cases. The third bike into La Paz belonged to the 250cc Class 21 winning team of Rick Finger and Jeff Kaplan, another Team Husqvarna entry. Dick Vick and John Watkins, long dominant in SCORE's Class ~8 for riders over 38. "decided to see wh~t we could do against the. youngsters" by entering ClasS 30, for riders over 30. With Husqvama team manager Niles Usscry joining the effort, they won. Nearly 1000 miles is a long way to go on a 125cc motorcycle; possibly that's why there were only four starters in Class 20, although three of them fmisbed. Scott Coutts and Scott Pfeiffer, alo~g _ with Mark Zoller, riding an R/C Builders~Anaheim Husqvama-sponsored machine, were the winners. In Class ~8. Rod Gilliland and Zane Prather took their ~9Occ Husky to victory, almost one hour exactly in front of second place. . There were 272. staners. to.tal 1D the event, and 121 fimshers Wlthm the 44· hour limit. Among the motor~c1es, there were.47 starters and ~~ flDlShers, for a fimsher percentage of 70% compared to ~9% for the four· wheelers. The first motO!cycle out of Enscnada was the Amencan Honda XR500 ridden by Bill Tarling. Tarling held the lead as the course moved northeast to the first check at EI ~ayo, then southeast towards Sa~ Matals Pass and the town of San Fehpe. Gary Drean and Morgan Malocco. also on American Honda entries. shared the top five positions with Wallingsford a?d Roescler. The ~arly order w~s d,~fi~ult to determme as of ~hlS ~ntlng. due to the lack of passmg tun~ from checks one and two available at the La Paz headquarters. One contender for the overall win dropped out early. The Bruce Ogilvie/ Chuck Miller Yamaha had its ignition CJuitat ~an Matais. Tarling dropped out around check ,three with a trashed wheel. First into the check was Drean, followed closely by Wallingsford. Malocco and Roescler both hit the check on the same minute, with Larry ahead on time by about a minute. Fourteen minutes behind the overall leader, Finger had established the Class 21 lead at check three. Zoller, who rode from Ojos Negros to San Felipe, was well ahead of the other 125cc pursuers on the Coutts/Pfeiffer machine. D.A. Davidson and Jeff Buckamier appeared to have the early lead but at check three it was the Ron Bishop/ Mike Harper Can·Am in front. Running second was the VickiWatltins/ Usscry Husky, despite a bad seizure in the early going. Two minutes behind them was the Las Vegas 4OQ·sponsored Husky of Casey Folks and Sam Bass. After San Felipe, the course ran directly south along the eastern edge of the peninsula, past Puertocitos, Bahia San Luis Gonzaga and then inland to EI Crucero, which was the fourth check at 343.11 miles. It was along this stretch that the order among the leaders began changing. Drean, who was passed by Wallingsford and then later by Roescler when he came up with a flat: reportedly had a rock put a hole in the boltom of the engine cases. He managed to keep going by stuffing the hole with a piece of wood and using straps to hold the wood in place. WalIingsford, who was ill the lead. also hit a rock, and the rock bent the right side of the skid plate and caused it to puncture the sidecase near the countershaft sprocket. The transmis· sion quickly lost all its oil and started making loud noises. Brent managed to find a quart of oil in the possession of some Mexicans, and he manaKed to persuade them to donate it to his cause. The oil went right through the hole and soon Brent was back where he started. Getting oil where he could, he continued on for .40 miles. Finally, at EI Crucero, the Husky was laid on its side, the sidecaR was cleaned, and silicone seal applied over the hole. After the seal had dried, the trans was refilled with oil and Brent took off, down over an hour. Just to be sure, an additional layer of silicone seal was placed on later, but they had no more troubles despite the bike running so long without oil. "It ran like a top," said Harden after the race. Roeseler was the first rider into EI Crucero, arriving there at 12:49 p.m. Malocco·came in 11 minutes later, followed by Drean and Wallingsford. Fmger still held the Class 21 lead, hitting EI Crucero an hour before the . teams of A.L. Haydis/Darrell Hutchim (Yam) and Keith Leighty/Fred Germain (Hon). In Class 20, the Coutts/Pfeiffer/ Zoller entry had a 24·minute lead ovc.r the Leckich Tuning Yamaha of Brent Leckich and Joe Lockhart. The only other bike in the class still running, the Midas Muffler Yamaha of Scott Atchison and Tom Kelley, was delayed by a sputtering ignition, which was replaced by one from a play rider.'s bike at San Felipe. In Class ~O, the lead had been taken over by Thumper McDowell and John White on their Duralube/Anaheim Husqvarna-sponsored machine. Bish· op and Harper, whose Can-Am was

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