Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

HDRA president Walt Lott signals Frontier 500 co-winner Larry Roesler to a halt in Dayton. Roeseler and Kurt Pfeiffer won the event in 10:06.50. Hoeseler/ Pfeiffer master Frontier500 By Dale Brown LAS VEGAS/DAYTON, NV, ocr. 13 Team Husqvarna's Larry Roeseler and Kurt Pfeiffer turned in a steady ride and took advantage of the breaks that came their way to take the overall win in the third running of the Frontier 500 off-road race. It was a mild upset as their teammates, Dan Smith and Dan Ashcraft. had a big crash early 12 in the race and finished second, three minutes behind the winners. Smith and Ashcraft had won the first two editions of the race. Roeseler and Pfeiffer covered the 476 miles o( desolate Nevada desert between Las Vegas and Reno in 10 hours, six minutes and 50 seconds. Their grip on the overall win was a narrow 13-second margin over the first car. The 500, puton by the High Desert Racing Association and sponsored by .the Frontier Hotel, Nissan and Coors, continues to occupy its own niche in off-road racing. !L's the longest point-to-point race in the country, and among those races that run both motorcycles and cars, one of the roughest. This year's version was even rougher, due to the rains and '£lash floods that hit southern Nevada during the summer. Washouts littered the first 100 or so miles of the course, and as the day wore on, broken machinery littered the route as well. Fully half of the field failed to finish. Motorcycles were the first vehicles to start, leaving the line at loan, south of Las Vegas, two at a time every 15 seconds, beginning at 6:30 a.m. Over 30 class entrants Steve Subith and Bill Harris drew the number one stan slot, and Subith led the first 50 miles. The first 50 miles of the cour e is silty and rocky, and usually claims more than its fair share of the fourwheeled entrants. This time a few of the faster two-wheelers had their troubles. The first was Team Husky's Scot Harden, who was riding a 430-killed WR400 water-pumper with Daryl Folks. "About a half mile off the start I lost the clutch lever pivot bolt," said Harden later. "I had to go back to the pits. and the first person I passed when I got back on the course was Larry (Roeseler)." Harden had started fourth; Roeseler 19th. . mith started fifth: "I was right behind the leader (Subith), in his dust, and I hit one of those big rocks that are stuck in the ground. I went over the bars and bent the bike up quite a bit. "We had to take an II-minute pit at the first gas to straighten the bike up. Dan got on and rode 20 miles of my section while I got myself together," said Smith. After things had sorted themselves out somewhat, the leader at the 100mile mark was the Team Honda XR500 thumpe.r of Chuck Miller and Randy Morales. Running second was the Anthony Pasqualollo/Chuck Stearns M-Star, with Harden slashing his way to fourth. Once the course approached Highway 95, near Lathrop Wells, it paralleled Highway 95 all the way to Tonopah, the 265-mile mark in the course. Along the way it meandered through scenic old mining towns like Beatty and Goldfield. The checkpoint at Beally was 162 miles from the start, and it took the Miller/Morales Honda three hours and 38 minutes to get there. They were leading Pasqualottoand Harden in the Open class. In the 250cc class the lead belonged to Husky-riding Nevadans COll Morris and Jeff Phillips. Their time to Beatty was 3:50. Subith and Harris continued to lead the Cia s 30 contestants, while SCOll Anderson and Paul Palmer had the 125 lead on a Honda. Up the road another 50 miles or so, just past the crossing of the road to SCOlly'S Castle, the Miller/Morales effort ran into trouble. Miller crashed heavily, and although he tried to continue, the frame was broken behind the footpegs and the pounding soon added volumes to the wheelbase and fork rake. Pasqualollo and Stearns took over the lead and they were first to Tonopah, covering the distance in 5:52. They were about 10 minutes in front of Folks, who turned it over to Harden. The third bike into Tonopah was the Roeseler/Pfeiffer Husky with the former on board. Roeseler had passed Smith and Ashcraft when they pilled at the Scotty's crossing and changed both wheels. Phillips and Morris continued the lead in the 250s, covering the distance to Tonopah in 6:07. Subith/Harris and Anderson/Palmer were also still leading their classes. After Tonopah the course turned away from Highway 95 and ran due north to Gabbs. There, in greener territory, it again turned into a westerly direction as it headed for the finish line in the historic town of Dayton, about 40 miles from Reno. Stearns had taken over the leading M-Star at Tonopah. "We had a lead of over 10 minutes all the way up to Gabbs, from what I saw across the valley. At Gabbs we changed tires and the air (ilter - we lost maybe four or (ive minutes - then they w'ere all there and they all bagged me after I left the pits," said Stearns. "They" consisted of Pfeiffer, Ashcraft and Harden. Harden and Folks had been bothered by eizures much of the way, but were still in the

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