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(Above left) Dan Smith had an easy time winning B to V. running relaxed enough to wheelie for the camera. (Top right) Bruce Ogilvie reflects on his 11 O-mile chase of Smith. (Above right) Dave Lapraik checked across the line in fourth. B to V is baek; Smith is out front By Dale Brown BARSTOW, CAlLAS VEGAS, 'V, OV.26 Team Husqvarna's Dan Smith took the first wave of the checkered flag, but it was a victory for motorcyclists in general as the classic Barstow to Las Vegas hare and hound was run after a tough nine-year battle. Smith covered the 150 mile in three and a half hours to finish six minutes ahead Hon- 6 da's Bruce Ogilvie. In taking thewin, Smith also secured the n4mber one plate in the AMA District 37 Heavyweight class. ine year of work, input, protest, political and bureaucratic failures and successes finally seemed worthwhile on Wednesday afternoon when the race cleared its last hurdle as the Sierra Club's last-ditch appeal was denied. When the banner dropped for the Expertstartat8a.m. on Saturday, there were tears in the eyes of tbose who had worked so hard to make the event happen. One tbousand and 50 riders had a chance at an experience not available since 1974. The race didn't go off without incident, however. Rigbt past the smokebomb there was an incident of apparent cour e a botage. Ribbon was removed and most of the riders wound up following a sandwasb the wrong way. Most all got back on course, with a delay of anywhere from a couple of minutes to a half hour. When the banner did drop for the first of three starts, Chris Crandall took the lead followed by Dan A hcraIt. Smith (after a four-kick start) and the rest of the gang. But then the leaders took the turn down that errant wash. "I got lost; there must have been a hundred people lost," said Smith later. "Finally I went cross country a couple of miles and found the course." While most riders followed the wash, not everybody did. Honda's Bruce Ogilvie was one of tberew who went straight. "I went from J 5th to the lead when everybody went left," related the desert veteran, "I was all by myself." "When I first picked up the course, I couldn't see any dust. Then I started picking up a little of it, and I finally passed Bruce for the lead just before first gas," Smith concluded. For the remainder of the race be was unchallenged; even when he highsided and crashed after meeting a rock in a sandwash corner. While mith and Ogilvie were running up front, two potential oppenent were having their troubles. Ashcraft, Smith's Husky teammate, was reportedly the victim of an ignition failure, and Crandall had undisclosed dif[iculties that dropped him to 389th at the finish. With Smith leading the way back onto the course, the racing was going on in earnest. Al Baker was up with the front runners on bis Honda XR500, as were fellow Honda thumper rider David Lapraik and Yamaha TT600 pilot Randy Morales,-a rela• tive newcomer to the desert. Also in the top 10 was a three-way battle for the top 250cc spot between Honda teamsters Kent and Kurt pfeiffer and Hu ky's Larry Roeseler. "We had a good race going," said Kent Pfeiffer after tbe race was over. "I was racing with my little brother going into gas one, but he crashed." Actually, it was Kent's unwary doing that caused Kurt to crash. "Comingoutof the first gas I was right behind Kent when he threw a softball-sized rock and it caught me right in the mouth. As a matter of fact, it knocked me right off the bike and I spent a couple of minutes on the ground getting my stuff back together," muttered the younger brother through a swollen lip. Following the first gas at Razor l (J I lit I .l.:i