Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126619
(Top) The winning crew: Creckers. Larry and Kevin Roeseler. Chuck Miller and Diane Elias. (Above) Scott Pfeiffer and brother Kent won Class 21. SCORE/Pernod Off-Road Series: Round three Roeseler/Miller smoke to close Baja Internacional win By Dale Brown Photos by Lance Bryson and Brown ENSENADA, B.C., MEX., JU NE 5 Yamaha-moun ted Larry Roeseler and Chuck Miller staved off the charges of Husky teamsters Scot Harden and Brent Wallingsford to take the overall and Class 22 (Open) win in the SCORE/Pernod Baja InternacionaI. The winning duo smoked their YZ490around the 440-mile course in seven hours, 12 57 minutes and 18.90 seconds . They were the onl y team to co m p le te the race in under eight hours, and th ey topped th e runn ers-up by four minut es. T ak ing third overall a nd first in the 250cc Class 21 were SCOll and Kent Pfeiffer o n a Pr emier Yamaha/ H allman/Wh it e Bro s.ljones Gogg les/LR Raci ng -sponsored Yama ha water-purner. T hey had q uite a ba ttle goi ng with th e Husq vama of T om Kell y a n d .Da n Ashcra ft bef ore mechan ical trouble struck th e la tter pair and forc ed th em to settle for second in class and fourth overa ll. The o ther Pf eiffer, Ku rt , teamed up with Donn ie Morrison to claim top spot in the 125cc Class 20. Their win n ing margin was nearly 30 minutes. The Up-Tire Husky-mounted du o o f George Erl and R ich ard j ackson o verca me adve rsity to wi n Class 30, for riders over 30 years o f age. Early in the race Erl crashed upon encountering a big jump built on a fast section of the course by native spectators. Despite cracking his tailbone a nd two ribs, he managed to get th e bike to j a ckson , who made up the time lost for a narrow win over the Honda of Steve Bell and Gary Drean. Cla ss 38, for riders over 38, was taken in a smooth ride by john Etchart and Dave Wood. Fellow Yama ha riders Ron Bishop and john Watkins finish ed just a hea d of th em bu t were overtaken on elapsed tim e. In a pre-run incident that dampene d th e spirits of most everyone, Pa rker and San Feli pe win ne r Bob Bal entine was severely injured on T uesda y. H e was struck by a Mexican vehicle while comi ng around a comer near Santo Tomas, badl y break in g his rig htleg a nd pe lvis. T he driver o f th e vehicle did no t stop, and it was a fo rtu itous happe nin g that Class 3 driver Rod Hall found Ba lentin e in th e bus hes five m inu tes after the accident. H all too k Bal ent in e to the highway wh ere Bob 's wi fe, Mich ele, drove him to th e border. Fro m there he was taken to University H ospital, wh ere he is current ly in cr itica l but sta ble co ndit ion following surgery late Tuesday ni ght. (For a ptesst im e update on Balent in e's conditio n, see p.8...Editor.) Fifty-on e motorcycles started th e race, beginning a 5:30 a.m. Miller, sta rt ing on the Yamaha/jT Ra cing/ H allman Racing /Scott Goggl es/ GSM /Bell HeimetslTerrycable/Dunlop Tires-sponsored entry, was th e second bike to leave th e lin e a nd he soon had th e lead . Roeseler got on at Tres H ermanos to take the bike south on the beach ro ute, th en up th ro ugh Mik e's Sky Ranch and down to Sa n Mara is Pass, where Miller would agai n get on . At check one La rry had a o ne m inute lead on the Chuck Stea rns/ Lee Scheffers H onda, but Wallingsford was dea d even on ela psed time with Roeseler , running th ree mi nutes beh ind after sta rting th ree mi nutes behind. T he Pf eiffer brothers were th e fir st to start in Class 2 1, wi th Kent taking it to Tres H ermanos to g ive to SCOll. H ow ever , Kell y and Ashcraft had started a m inute behi nd th em . and wi th Kell y tak in g ove r at T res Hermanos, the bikes were a lmost even on tim e at ch eck one. Th e Pf eiffer/Morrison Cl ass 20 Yam ah a . sponso re d b y Prem ier Yam ah a , Hallman , White Bros., jones Goggles a nd LR Ra cin g, had both th e physical and ela psed tim e lead a t chec k one. having pas sed th e two bikes th at sta rte d in front of th em . Closest was th e Peter Postel/Bill Po stel Honda, wh ich was running on th e same minu te with th e lead er, but had started ahead of them . In fro nt o f Cla ss 30 ran the Erll' j ackson a nd Bell /Drean tea ms. R ick Shirey and john " Smokebom b" Gaetz had gone fro m thei r rear sta rt position to with in a mi n ute o f th e lead ers at the first check, desp ite the combin atio n of h ea vy du st a nd ea rlymorni ng m ist that o ften left goggles use less. The Bish o p/Wa tkins team was the first into check one, but th ere were two teams who sta rted in bac k a nd were now runn in g even with the lead er - th e Etch art /Wood team a nd th e Husky of Arizonans Dave Miller a nd Wa yne Decklever. On the way down to the beach section of the co u rse, riders enco untered a sharp four-foot jump built on th e cou rse by locals. Among its victims were th e third place Class 21 team, Mark and Kent Miller (who broke th eir triple clamps) a nd George Erl, wh o injured himself in th e cras h as m ent ioned earli er i n th e s to ry. .Obstacles built on the co urse by native specta tors a re nothing new to Baja raci ng, but th is race seemed to ha ve a n unusua lly high incidence o f it. On th e way u p to Mik e's Roeseler sai d he had to open th ree gates. H arden had a lready take n o ver the lead on time at Colonet, the second check, and when Roeseler stopped to pit at the top of San Matais Pass to put Miller on the bik e. Harden roared past. He and Wallingsford were making the first Baja a p peara nce of the new Husky 500 CR, which the y had mated to a six-speed transmission for off-road racing. Kell y and Ashcraft had taken over the lead in Class 21 wh en Scou Pfeiffer had been forced into a ditch by a car pulling on to the co urse on his way to the beach. The two Husky ri ders were running an approximately equal pace with that of th e two lead Class 22 machines. La ter, on the way to Mike's, Pfeiffer was slowed wh en severa l spokes came adrift on th e rear wh eel. Running third in Class 21 was th e Honda of jeff Kaplan and Bruce Ogilvie. Ogil vie was doing most of the riding after Kaplan injured the cartilage on his righ t hand when he hit a co w whil e pre-running on Wednesda y. Acti on in other classes found Pfeiffer/Morrison leading Class 20, while Bell and Drean were slightly ahead of Erl and jackson in Class 30. Wood and Etchart had overtaken Bishop and Watkins in Cl ass 38. Miller passed Wall ingsford as th e co u rse went south to San Felipe. but "th e Husky maintained the lead on ~ ela psed time. Stearns a nd Scheffers were a bo u t 10 minutes back of the lead ers. At EI Crucero, the fifth ch eck and on th e route north fro m San Felipe, Ashc raft had a five-minute lead on • the Pfeiffers. But it was not to be, for the ill Iuck the pair hasendured through th e year str uck again. Ashcraft had the ex haus t system come apart on him and the bike lost a lm os t all its power. Wh ile Ashcraft ha d th e p ipe , replaced at th e to p o f Sa n Ma rais Pass, Kent Pfeiffer zip ped to a 16minute lead at Nuevo J u nc tion. Harden and Wall in gsford were still a pproxi ma tely two minutes ahead at N uevo Junction. Do wn th e road a few m iles a t Sa n ta Ca tarina, both teams changed riders. " Ch uck came o ff th e hill flying," sa id Roeselei later. " He got off th e bik e a nd shouted ' I can see 'em co m ingI' I just took ofC. " The run th rough the pin e woods surrounding EI Ra yo was to decide th e race. While Roeseler ha d no troubles (" I' ve never gone th ro ugh EI Ra yo so fast in m y life" ), Harden had the spark plug come o ut of th e head a nd it dro p ped him to seven minutes behi nd Larry at th e next check. Tha t mean t that they were fo u r minutes in a rrears on elapsed time, a nd it would p rove to be the difference at th e finish. Though Roeseler did not relinquish the lead , he d id sca re himself near Ojos Negro s. " It was real fast and choppy; a lot of big holes. I h it one a nd I thought I was going to bite the big one," sai d Roeseler, indi ca ting on the bike where he had been p itched onto th e rear fender. " I don 't know how I pulled m yself back on. The exhaust pipe hit me and the tire hit me. Look a t this spot on my leathersl" After gelling th e Husky underway, Harden gave it to Wallingsford at Ojos Negros for th e final run. At the finish, though , there was still the four-minute difference. " We had two wheel changes," said Brent. " O ne was a mandatory one a t th e halfway point. and th en another one when we got back to Valle de Trinidad and the tire was completely gone. So we had two wheel changes which we didn't plan on. At that time we were two m inutes ahead of them. but then w hatev~,r happened to Scot in the forest ...