Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Kurt and Scott Pfeiffer rode to victory in Class 21. along with the overall motorcycle win. (Below) Class 38 winner Richard Jackson. Dan Smith comes into town with a shredded rear tire and ailing motor. The pieces of tire kept whipping him in the back. . minutes off the winning pace for second in Class 22. Tops in Class 20 was the late entry of Keith and Kevin Senn, on a Beach. Yamaha/East-West M.C./Bellflower Yamaha-sponsored entry. Their winning time was just one-minute, 46seconds ahead of Cagiva 's Ed Foland, who was runner-up in the class. Class 22 SCORE Off-Road Series: Round 2 Pfeiffers fly at San Felipe By Matt Hilgenberg SAN FELIPE, MEXICO, MAR. 24 Scott and Kurt Pfeiffer teamed up on a Husqvarna 250CR to take top motorcycle honors in the SCORE San Felipe 250. The race covers 245 miles of some of the roughest terrain in North America, yet aboard a 'mere' 250, the Pfeiffers passed 13 other teams to cross the finish line second, just 12 three minutes behind pre-race favorites Dan Smith and Dan Ashcraft. Considering the six-'minute, 30second deficit at the start, this made their elapsed time five hours, IO minutes and 48.35 second , nearly four-minutes ahead of the two Dans. The Smith/Ashcraft team faced several problems - including a crash, a flat tire, and two seizures - but still managed to capture the Class 22 win, and second motorcycle overall. Early leader Randy Morales finished eight bike more than I was on it. The front brake locked up on the beach and I got off; I lost the lenses in my glasses, and couldn't see more than 100 feet in front of me. At the lake, I got the wind knocked out of me, and laid there for five or six minutes before I could continue." His finishing time was 5:47:58.29. Class 21 The first vehicle to leave San Felipe on the grueling, one-lap course was Chuck Miller~ on a Honda XR500. The first stretch of the race, Diablo Dry Lake, laid claim to the Honda, so co-rider Kevin Hopkins never got a chance to ride. Second off the line, Smith was passed in the fast, dry lake by fifth starter Randy Morales on a Yamaha TT600. Morales was riding solo this race since his partner, Chuck Stearns, broke his collarbone while pre-running on Thursday. Bill Boyer was the fourth to leave the line, but numerous difficulties slowed the speedster before day's end. At the first checkpoint. Morales held the lead by a slim, lO-second . margin over Smith. Smith soon passed the Yamaha, and handed the riding chores to Ashcraft. At Oasis, Ashcraft hit a stadium-type jump, and crashed. He was knocked "a little dingy," but continued on to EI Chinero, where Smith resumed riding. About 30 miles before the finish, "Sana Dan-O" suffered a flat tire, but continued on. The extra strain was soon too much for the engine, and it seized coming off the powerline road. When Smith arrived at the finish, as the first' bike, he was wide open in first gear, and the engine was barely making enough power to move. The tire was shredded. "I think it juSt blew up," Smith said at the finish, "I had to push it over the line." Commenting on another off-road win, Smith said, "We got lucky this time, we had a lot of problems." Morales was the third bike to cross the finish line, and he was also riding on a destroyed rear tire. "It sure was rough; I was in the dust and couldn't make upany time, butthat's racing." Boyer, coming off a second-place finish at this year's Parker 400, was teamed with Ted Van der Raadt this' weekend. He crashed on the dry lake, and again on the beach. "I was ofhhe . When Kurt Pfeiffer came screaming into town just three minutes after Smith, the crowd was cheering. The Pfeiffer team, sponsored by Up-Tite Husqvarna, had appreRtly just taken the overall win. As it turned out, a Class 2 dune buggy was the overall winner, a happening as unusual as a 250 defeating the Open class bikes. "I broke a pipe near the start," Kurt said, "we lost seven minutes changing it at the first check. Later, I hit a rock and banged my chin on the bars, and the brake cable got hooked on the nose-piece of my helmet. Other than that, things went smoothly." Scott's portion of the tour was less eventful. "I passed Van den Raadt and Larry Fife in the wash after the Summit, and didn't see anybody after that. When I heard Ashcraft was having problems I gasseq it." Fife and Craig Adams suffered a flat near the finish, but got second in Class 21, with an elapsed time of 5:25:20.62. Dave Chase, the initial 250cc bike to leave the start, finished third, along with co-pilot Brett Howell, on another Husky 250CR. Class 20 The first bike in the class to finish was the Cagiva of Ed Foland and Gordon Clark. Since they were also the first to start, and nobody else had been seen, Clark figured. they had won. J ustthen, Kevin Senn came flying into the finish area. The Yamahamounted Senn had managed to make enough time, even though the dust, to win the class. "We lost two shift levers on the way. The first one was on the lake, just after the start. There was an extra one in the fanny pack, but I couldn't find it. I used a pair of Vice-grips, but it didn't work very well. At the first check, we found the lever and replaced it, and just started haulin' to make up time." FoJaJlJi:lllcw.q rea.r .slJ~ nel!J:",h.e

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