Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Brett Howell. at the controls of the winning Class 21 Husky. Ed and Jeff Foland won Class 20 by seven minutes. The most unique aspect of this year's Baja race was that it wasn't run in Baja. Due to conflicts with the Mexican government, a last-minute rescheduling moved the race to Lucerne Valley, 25 miles south of the desert community of Barstow. According to SCORE president SaJ Fish, "The course simulates many parts of Baja. It contains tight, rocky sections, silty sand washes, and highspeed open-desert sections. " The main di££erences, says Fish, are that, "there are no river crossings, no summit or big elevation changes, and no pine forests." took over, the problem continued. He could only reach a speed of 40 , mph on the fast, dry lake. He stopped to clean it with gas, only to have it clog up again. Chuck Pettigrew and Lonnie Lawrence, mounted on a Can-Am twostroke, fi,nished in third position, 2S minutes behind Ashcraft. It is the best SCORE finish in recent history for the marque. Neil Woolridge trekked all the way from South Africa to race at ,the Baja in Barstow 500km. He rode to a fourth place finish with Mark Davies, on a Honda CR480, with a time of 6: 19:50.!l6. Class 22 Dan Ashcraft. pictured here. teamed with Dan Smith to claim yet another overall victory in the SCORE off-road series. SCORE Off-Road Championship Series: RoundJ Husky's dynaDlic duo does it again By Matt Hilgenberg LUCERNE VALLEY, CA, JUNE 2 Team Husqvarna riders Dan Smith and Dan Ashcraft scored yet another victory at this year's running of the Baja Internacional, which was moved to California at the last minute and renamed the Baja in BarslOw. They were the second bike to leave the starting line, at 5:26 am, and quickly moved 28 into lead position, which they held until the finish. Team Honda's Bruce Ogilvie and Chuck Miller, on an XR500, were the nearest competition, closing to within a minute and a half atone point until the header pipe fell off, causing the bike to lose power. Ogilvie, a retired desert racer, was a last minute replacement for the injured Kevin Hopkins, who wasn't yet ready to ride. The surprise (to many) victor of the 250cc Class 21 was the team of Dave Chase and Brett Howell. They crossed the line just five minutes ahead (on corrected time) of Yamahamounted riders David Wasden and Ed Pierce. The pre-race favorites, Scott and Kent Pfeiffer, suffered a slow bike and rear wheel problems, settling for fourth in class. Kent said, "I pre-ran without any water in the radiator, and the engine blew up about a mile out. I took it home and tried fixing it, but I couldn't get it right in time for the race." The Garth Sweetland/Mark Hildebrand team was third. Cagiva orth America-sponsored riders Ed and Jeff Foland took Class 20 (125cc) over Steven Buckley and Bob Johnson. Buckley later contested the win, stating that the engine displacement was too large for the class. He put up the $250 necessary to tear down the Italian machine, but it was found to be legal, and Foland received the posted funds. After eight teams dropped from the competition prior to the race, only three bikes were entered in Class !lS, for riders over!lS years of age. Richard Jackson and Gary Colbert, on the '19S!l Smith/Ashcraft Husky, took the top honors there. Steve Subith and Bill Harris, riding a Hodda, were the quickest bike in Class !l0, SCORE's division for riders over !l0. Ten minutes back in second were Wes Anderson Jr., and Wayne Carlton. Three-time World Motocross Champion Gaston Rahier never turned out for registration on Friday, so the BMW Motorrad GmbH entry was scratched. Larry Roeseler and Kurt Pfeiffer aJso failed to show. Some champions were on hand, though, and they were again the winners by the end of the three. 107mile designated laps. Smith and Ashcraft continued a winning streak that should carry them to the top of SCORE's points championship once again this year. "I didn't have any problems at all," said Ashcraft. Smith said, "Me either, except early this morning. The bushes were throwing shadows across the trail, and I rut a rock I didn't see, and did a big 01' sixth-gear clicker. Other than that, everything went great." Their elapsed timeof £ive hours, 19 minutes worked out to an average of 60.202 mph. When Ogilvie finished, he said, ''I'm ready to go another two laps." Although he and Miller had closed to within a couple of minutes of the leaders, when the pipe fell off, "it made the bike run like a 125." Ogilvie rode the last 45 miles of each lap. He did his pre-running on Thursday and Friday, after taking care of pit duties as Honda's ATC team coordi· nator. Things didn't go so well for everybody. Wayne Schmidt, on an XR5OO, crashed just into the second loop. He rode back to the pits with a dazed look in his eyes and one hand tied to the handlebar. Schmidt told the medical crew he was OK, but later ended up in the hospital. Jim Buckingham and Bradley Skriver also had problems, and didn't complete the initial round. Skriver crashed after checkpoint one, but didn't notice a rear flat when they changed riders at check two. With Buckingham aboard, just five minutes away, the tire came apart. When he returned to the check to replace the wheel, rus crew had already left. They decided to retire there. Bill Boyer and Gary Jones, who ran well at the Parker 400, suffered problems stemming from a clogged air filter, and had to settle for fifth in class. The filter clogged up on Boyer 80 miles into the race. When Jones Class 21 Although Howell suffered a front flat 2!l miles from the start, the quickest bikes to complete the first lap were those of the top two class finishers, at one hour, 55 minutes. Just behind them were the Pfeiffer brothers, at 1:57. Glenn Campolla, riding an XR250 out of Long Beach, California, broke a foo~ just after the first pit, and had difficulties gelling it repaired. It took him nearly tltree hours to complete a lap. Chase picked up some speed on lap two, clicking off a 1:52 lap. Wasden and Pierce lost another couple minutes, coming in after a I:56 lap. "We had planned to split each lap in haH," said Wasden, "but couldn't get everything arranged and had to ride one whole lap each, then we split the last lap. I hadn't pre-run the first 50mile section of the course. That's where we lost some time." ' On the last lap, Kent Pfeiffer experienced rear wheel bearing problems. The bearings came out of the wheel, causing a potentially dangerous situation. To a racing team as experienced as Roy's Boys, all it meant was a loss of 10 to 15 minutes in elapsed time, dropping them to fourth, by a minute and a haH. At II: 17 a.m. Saturday morning, Howell crossed the finish line to claim the win. Five minutes later, Wasden rode his Gary Griffin/Montclair YamahaiP 8< G Equipment Rentals/Lubradyne/Ohlins-sponsored 'S4 YZ250 through. The SweetlandlHildebrand entry, a water-cooled Husky 250CR, received the checkered nag while Kent Pfei££er was visible from the finish area. Sweetland earned the third-place money. Class 38 The solo-riding winner of the San Felipe 250, Jackson, teamed with Colbert to take their class win by nearly 17 minutes over Honda CR500 riders Hal Bankhead and Ron Gray. The Husky riders left the starting line !l0 seconds after Bankhead, and were physically 24 seconds ahead at the completion of the initial lap. Lou Peralta and Gene Dempsey started first, but were down by 2!l minutes by the stan of lap two.

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