Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.... 00 .... 0') lLeft) Scott and Kent Pfeiffer buzzed their 250 Yamaha to first in cleaa and second overaH.lTop right) Bob Maxweilishown) and Scott Atchison took the checkered .. first 12&cc Pro.IRlghtlln the proce88 of bailing off, Scott Coutts reaches for the kill button. He and Daryl Folks were stili second 12&cc Pro. cropping up along the route. Johnson, taking his tum on the runner-up machine, bailed hard on the third loop. He suffered deep .Abrasions on his left elbow, but brought the bike into the pits at the halfway point so that Davis could take over. Up front Wallingsford had passed -SCott Pfeiffer to take the physical lead. lthougn Harden crashed in his section, they maintained their pace, turning in a 2:0~ lap. The Pfeiffen slowed to a 2: 10, and the 250cc class ,lead was taken by Fitch and Steele; they were a little less than a minute ahead as they staned the last loop. The last loop. was a trouble free one for the overall leaden, as the Bob Popiel, Niles USIleTY and Len Davidson. prepped machine ran flawlessly from beginning to end. Wallingsford was waiting at the finish line while Harden rode the last 40 miles. Still remembering the incident at Mexicali where his rear tire and wheel came apan while leading the race with a few miles to go, he remarked, ''I'll know we've won when I see Scot crOSll the fmish line. " At 2:06 p.m. Scot crossed the finish line. "Brent did really good on the first pan of his leg. He passed a lot of guys and really made it easy for me, because all I had to do was ride a good pace. I was never really in bad dust and the rain helped. Everytime Brent got on the bike he gained time on everyone else. AlII had to do was keep on cruisin', " related Harden. "The dust was only bad in a couple of spots, really," said Wallingsford. "The fint loop was the wont. After that it staned raining and that took care of a lot of it. But the dust wasn't really that had. I got htmg up a couple of' times on some roach, but the only trouble we really had was the axle nut coming off," added Brent, referring to the time on the second loop when he looked down at the front end and discovered the axle nut was mlssmg. The forks' pinch bolts held the wheel in place and the axle nut was replaced at the next pit. Harden had one comment about the weather. "Did you get in that hail at the road crossing (rider changeover point)? It was huning me and I was still sitting inside the camperl" While the HardenlWallingsford win was never really in doubt, the battle for the 250cc Pro win and second overall went down to the .wire. The Pfeiffen knew they were behind and rode BTTW, as did the leaden, Fitch and Steele. But the latter pair came up with a rear flat 20 miles from the finish. Watches were brandished when Kent Pfeiffer crossed the finish line at 2:14. The group knew they had to finish three and a half minutes in front of Fitch/Steele to win. While waiting, Scott explained the reason for their slow third lap. "The air falter just got clogged up. I think we put too much oil on it. It wasn't sucking enough air and the engine kept on dying. We lost about seven minutes on that lap, then changed it on the founh and that took about three minutes." The three and a half minutes came and went without Fitch's arrival, gi.ving the Roy's Boys team the class WIn. Fitch arrived at the 6nish at 2:21 to gamer second 250cc Pro. The flat tire hadn't been caused by a rock; Fitch said he got it while hammering through an enlarged section of whoops. The founh bike in was the Team Husqvama 4~0 XC of Clark and Kelly, with Kelly having ridden all but 40 miles. When Casey Folks told Kelly that the first Ironman Pro was in for a good chunk of the purse, Tom offered to go out and ride 40 more. "I couldn't believe it," he said. "When I came into the pits after the third lap they told me I was running second (in class). Then I had to work; ride harder." The work paid off; they were indeed second Open Pro. . After having to ride the first lap without a front brake, losing a shift lever, then having to have the rear shocks changed, then having his partner crash and leaving him to ride a lap and a half by himself, including half a lap with half a handlebar, Kevin Davis brought in the Johnson/Davis Maico for fifth overall, third Open Pro. Sixth and seventh overall went to a pair of 250 Huskies. Dan Ashcraft and Chuck Stearns brought their Up-Tite Husqvama/Vilting Air-sponsored machine in for sixth overall, third 250cc Pro. Rich Zajic teamed with Jeff Matthews to finish seventh overall, founh 250cc Pro. In at eighth overall was the fant 125cc machine, the Atchison/Maxwell Yamaha. "We didn't have any trouble," said Maxwell. "We just ran a smart race. We knew how rough this one was, and you have to finish to win. Both of us set a consistent, fast pace and the bike ran good all the way." Folks and Coutts fmished a few minutes behind the winner to take second 125cc Pro on their Sponsman Cycles/R.C. Builden Husky. Finishing next were the third and fourth place 125cc teams, Billy Hill/Randy Honeycutt and Charles Heen/Scott Morris. Bob Davidson rode solo, and after four long loops placed 12th overall and took fant in the lronman Pro class. Davidson rode a 250 Husky sponsored by Valley Plastering. Ken Guio, 56, Big Piney, Wyoming's goodwill ambassador to the motorcycle world, was second. The next bike in after Davidson was the Over ~O Pro-winning Yamaha of John "Smokebomb" Gaetz and Rick Shirey, sponsored by Dick Allen's Yamaha. Gary Chanen and Al Guzman were leading the Over 50 Pro class staning the fmal loop, but their bike gave up the ghost, and gave the lead back to the Sam BassiAn Knapp Husky. They weren't without their troubles, however, and after being stuck in third gear on the last loop, the bike seized. That left Bass, 46, with a three quanen of a mile push to the finish, which he made for the class win. Bass, co-promoter of the 400, added $2200 of his own money to the purse on the following day, bringing it up to $12,200. The Sponsman class saw the 450 CR Husky of Crockett Wirthlin and Randy Chamben in or near the lead most of the way, and they took the overall win, finishing 15th in the combined standings. They were sponsored by Richard N. Brand, Sun Survey and Southwest M/C Sales of Arizona. The team of Mark Benshoof and Jamies Avels got off to a late stan when they took a wrong tum on the way to the race and ended up staninE behind everybody. They pushed tt(.;ar Benshoofs A/C & Heating 250 Yamaha to within three minutes of the leader at the fmish. • Results PROFESSIONAl OPEN: 1. Scott Ha-donIB,aoll WeIIingoford 8:11:38 (Huol; 2. Tom KellylTeny Clertt 8:42:26 (HusI; 3. Jedt Joh.-vKlWin Devio 9:00:04 (Moil; 4. Ron SmithITom _lYoml. 2!iO: 1. Kaoll PleifferI5cxm Pleiffer 8:28:53 lYoml; 2. Troy F"~ch/KlWin S _ 8:31.34 lYoml; o.n lVhaaftl Chuck S - . . (Hull: 4. Rich bjic/Jolf _ (Huol. 125: 1. Scott Atehioon/Bob _ _ 9:57.14 lYoml: 2. Dervt ~ eo.- 9-24.14 IHuol: 3. Bm Hill FI8ndy Honeycutt 9:25.34 (SuzI; 4. ChIrtes Milto - . . M. Scott _ IHual: 5. BMI Mlmo. IJim _ lYoml. OVER 30: 1. John "SmoIt_" GoetzIRick Shirey 9:48.05 (Yoml. OVER 38: 1. s.m _Art Knipp 10:03.44 (Husl. IRONMAN: ,. Bob o.vIdoon 9:32.44 lYoml; 2. Ken Guio (Huol; 3. Leroy B_lYom). SPORTSMAN OPEN: 1. Cnx:Icon WorthIinIFI8ndy C _ 9:56.37 (Huol: 2 . _ ' - - T_lYoml. . 2!iO: ,. M..dlonohoofl.JomioA_9:58.31lYom): 2. 1138; 3. Rob _ ""'-llYoml. 125: ,. fIovd er.hyfJocly _ , 0:11.50 lHusI: 2. Seen ~ lYoml: 3. Roger Z--.J II

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