Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Haines to make the loop through EI Chinero. Once Asbcrafl and Smith had their lead built up, they backed off to finish the race. "After the first two hours, we just cruised," said Ashcraft at the finish. "On the last part of the course, past Tres Herrnanos, I almost hit three cows. Tbere was cattle everywhere. And I had to open twO gates." Roeseler and Wallingsford, wbo had no other troubles than a couple of wheel cbanges, passed both the Hondas to finish physically in second. They passed johnson and Baker when that team also had LO change a pipe, according to reports. Then, late in e race, Roeseler overtook Rutten, who was having troubles getting his bike to stay in fifth gear. "The last 60 r 70 miles of the race was when I got ~y Rutten, and then I decided to see how much time I could make up. It nly turned out to be a couple of minutes, so I didn't really think we had a chance. The clutch problems Yo sterday really hurt us, because after t at we stayed pretty even on time." Rutten did indeed' finish only a COUple of minutes behind Roeseler, and he and Kelly wound up third ~verall. "Wejuslkepta steady pace," said Rutten, "Tom must have lost ffflh gear up around Mike's, and I was really afraid that Larry was going to bag me and put some time on me. But we were lucky and kept on going LOget third. I'm sure that AI and jack fiave second overall because of how far in front of us they were yesterday." _~As it turned out, johnson and Baker 'were 19 minutes out of first, but lJ minutes in front of third. Rutten and Kelly were 13 minutes in front of Roeseler and Wallingsford. Haines and Fishback took fifth; their only problem on Saturday being when Haines got some fishing net S~ught in the rear wheel near San Felipe and it took him l5 minutes to get untangled. Sixth went to the team of Stan Trotter and jim Tripp on a Husqvarna. Seventh was the Australian ream of Peter Stayt and Dan Farrell on a Yamaha 490 they flew up from Down Under. Stayt did most of the riding after Farrell fell and broke his collarbone early Friday. Stayt lost two hours getting his partner off the course and then returning to the bike. He finished the day, and then got help on Saturday from Mike Goodwin, 'a Class 30 rider whose partners had also been injured. Glass 21 The slim class of six teams found Duarte and Adams, who started first, leading through EI Rayo. But the American Honda CR250 of Kent and Kurt Pfeiffer (the latter subbing for brotber Scott, who was out with a broken wrist) bad the lead on elapsed time by that point. The two teams stayed close until the section over the Summit, where the Pfeiffers built up a nine-minute lead. They stretched that LO 20 by EI Chinero, but disaster struck sbortly thereafter. "We were testing an experimental ignition for Honda, and I guess it couldn't stand up to the heat," said Kurt. "We lost four or fi ve hours getting another ignition (also experimental) to the bike and getting it hooked up." With the Pfeiffers down, DUilrte and Adams held a six-minute lead on the Scott Anderson/Mike Sixbery Yamaha and the Dave Chase/Ray Conway Husky at San Matais on the second loop. At the end of the day, Duarte and Adams had stretched their lead over the Chase/Conway team to 45 minutes, with Anderson and Sixbery another six minutes back. The Pfeiffers limped in fourth, four hours down. Shortly afler the Saturday restart, Duarte and Adams had to replace a 1-0 Q) ..0 e Q) > o Z (Above) Larry Roesler was stylish on his way to fourth. (Below) Creig Adams was the Class 21 eowinner. Bob Rutten bounces along the treil en route to the third overell finish he shared with Tom Kelly. rear wheel and chain, and as a result dropped right behind several cars. "It was tough getting by them," said Adams, "Because some of them leave a trail of dust for miles. It gets kind of spooky." While the Honda riders were following their strategy of "going slow and easy and taking care of the bike," their competition was having all kinds of problems. Anderson and.Sixbery dropped out of the race, and the Chase/Conway bike had problems that cost them tbree hours on the day. The PfeiHers, riding LO finish just in case others ran into troubles, had troubles of their own on the dry lake right after the start. They lost tbeir second ignition, and finally replaced it with a stock unit. "We figure the experimental units were good for about 150 miles," said Pfeiffer. "Once we put the stock ignition back on we had a good run. No flats or any other troubles." The Pfeiffers finished second physically, but with all their downtime the day before, had to wait several hours to see if it would last. It didn't, and they placed third. Class 20 Postel and Morrison led virtually from tbe start, opening up a l5minute lead by the first time through Tres Posos. This was in spite of the fact that Postel nearly broke his foot while pre-running. The team ran out of gas once on Friday, and finished with a two-hour lead on the Ed Foland/Gordon Clark Cagiva, with only one other bike still in the running. Tbe second day was relatively uneventful, with Postel and Morrison extending their lead by an hour to finish three hours up. "Our strategy today was to go out and have some fun and don't break anything. I got a flat going into Diablo Dry Lake after I hit a rock and landed with my chest ,on the seat. Other tban that, it was really uneventful," said Postel. . For Foland and Clark, their finish was the first by a Cagiva in the Baja 1000. Class 30 After the race had progressed through two checkpoints, the contenders began to emerge. Running first for most of Friday was the Steve Skinner/jim Sones Honda XR500. Running second was the Prickett! Martella entry, and they trailed the leaders by eight minutes at £1 Chinero. After EI Chinero, however, Prickett fell, got lost and then was hit by another bike and the team dropped LO third behind the David Gruver/Art Day entry. Prickett and Martella soon moved back up to second and maintained thegapof about 20-25 minutes behind the leaders, ultimately finishing the day 23 minutes in arrears. Prickett and Martella took the bit by their teeth and rode hard on Saturday, being the first Class 30 riders to make it back LO Ensenada. "The bike ran perfectly," said Prickett, "We used the same wheels and tires, and never had LO adjust the chain. All we did was check the oil. But they (Skinner/Sones) had a flat at San Felipe." The good day enjoyed by Prickett· and Martella, coupled with the problems incurred by their opposition, meant that they took the overall win by a scant LO minutes. Gruver and Day finished third, followed by the Husky four-stroke of George Erl and Richard jackson. The duo suffered their share of mechanical trouble as well as crashes, having LO replace six ignitions. Erl, in fact, suffered bruised kidneys from having to carry spare ignitions in his fanny pack. Class 38 The senior citizen's class was a three-way battle for much of the first day between the Etchart!Wood Honda, the Koistra/Conway Honda and the Husky of Casey Folks and Max Switzer. Starting from the rear, Koistra and Conway took the lead on elapsed time at Tres Posos. Folks and Switzer had started first, and they held the physical lead around the loop and up past Mike's before they began to slow. Woods and Etchart charged into the physical lead, but Koistra and Conway stayed within _range of the starting differential. Finally, after leading through the penultimate check on the day, Koistra and Conway had troubles and dropped eight minutes. It was even worse for Folks and Switzer, who had LO change the piston and barrel before impounding, losing an hour between the loss of speed on the trail and the repair operation itself. John "Smokebomb" Gaetz and Dick Allen finished the day in third on their TT600. On Saturday Folks and Switzer came out of the gate swinging, and they passed the three machines to lead inLO the finish. But the other three teams also had pretty fair days. Wood, who said he had built up a 40-minute lead, lost 20 minutes getting fishing net out of his rear wheel. However, at the end Wood and Etchart took the win by only five minutes. Folks and Switzer could only close LO within 24 minutes of third place. "We just about had a perfect ride," said Wood when it was over. "Other than the fish net, absolutely no problems." • Results CLASS 20: 1. Peler Postel/Donnie Morrioon (Hon) 19:13.27.19; 2. Ed Folend/GOtdon CIert< (Cov) 22: 15:49.51; 3. Yenlto Ouesedll/Menuel Lu.... (Hus) 26: 29.18.01. CLASS 21: 1. lorry Fife Duene/Creig Adems (Hon) 17:49:39.45; 2. OlIVe Chese/Roy Conwey (Hus) 21:49:05.82: 3. Kent Pfeiffer/Ku" Pfeiffer (Hon) 23:32:03.48: 4. Gery OSler/John DelIVerS (Yem). CLASS 22: 1. Den Ashcrel1/Den Smith (Hus) 14:48: 10.03: 2. Jeel< Johnson/AI 8eker (Hon) 15: 07:41.81; 3. 80b Rutten/Tom Kelly (Hon) 15:18:51.15; 4. lorry Roeseler/8rentWellingsford (Hus); 5. Chris Heines/Jim Fishbeck (Hon); 6. S18n Potter/Jim Tripp (Husl: 7. Peter Stayt/Oan Farrell (Yam); 8. Tim Morton/Ron Lister cYam). CLASS 30: 1. 80b Priel

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