Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Scott and Kent Pfeiffer hustled to the Class 21 win over Dave Chase and Brett Howell. Only two ·250cc machines finished . men and john Rudde, who had a Cagiva in the same class, had their ride end near Diablo. But for Miller/Morales and Smith/ Ashcraft, the two overall leaders, the second half of the first loop was racing at its besl. Two and a half minutes was the starl differential; the first time they went through Mike's, Smith led by less than a mintue and the Husky team had almost three minutes wOrlh of elapsed time. Still, on the course, the twO passed and repassed each other several times. Roeseler and Pfeiffer had abOut nine minutes to make up before they could contend for the lead. Ashcraft was running out front as he crossed the Summit for the second time, but near EI Chinero he ran inLO a problem Baja racers have had LO endure since the racing began - and this time he ran into the problem very literally - someone going the wrong way on the course. "A Baja Bug was going backwards on the course," said Ashcrafllater. "I think I clipped the guy's from end and did a big endo. After I crashed they came running over and got me up, they said their engine was bad and they were trying to get LO the road. I was yelling at them, telling them they were stupid. That ended my day." Ashcraft was down four minutes on the Miller/Morales Honda by the time he got to EI Chinero, and with a crushed wound to his elbow, he was indeed out for the day. Behind them, also approaching EI Chinero, Roeseler had troubles. "The fuel line cracked," he said, "and while itdidn'tstop the engine, Iilidn't see the fuel leaking down on the cases. I ran out of gas eight miles from the pits, and by the time I could get some more we had lost an hour or more." The second running of the loop gave riders all the challenges they might have asked for and some they prayed to avoid. Dust from cars making their first passage of the loop raised tons of dust; some were courleous about letting the faster bikes ahead, some defiantly hostile. Recent rains added to the vehicle traffic and turned the beach section between EI Chinero and San Felipe into a 35mile affair of ruts and whoops. Rain ruts turned the ride out of Mike's into an E-ticket thrill ride; a real horror show the second time around when riders had LO negotiate it at nighl. The tight race f01 first ended t~e. . second time through San Matais Pass when Smith's machine seized. Fortunately he wound up on the highway and it was only a shorl time before the Team Husky chase van headed for Valle de Trinidand came by and stopped. "We tore right into it, replaced the barrel, piston, pipe, everything," said Smith. "It took us 38 minutes or something like that; pretty quick, really." The top three positions were more or less settled at that point. Well behind them, the Pfeiffer brothers had moved into LOp spot in Class 21 and were running fourth. Right behind them, like a minute the second time through Mike's, was the white and orange Marlboro/Playboy-sponsored Rahier/Hau Beemer leading Class 30. The BMW had been in front of the Pfeiffers going into EI Chino, this the result of Scott Pfeiffer having bought the farm - rancho might be a better word in this case - on the way in from Tres Pozos. Pfeiffer scu££ed up the rear of his leathers and lost his tool bag in the incidenl. The final 100 miles was not as smooth as the leadi-ng Honda team would have liked. Miller rode the finallegLO Valle de Trinidad; Morales into the finish. Before they got far, however, the Honda lost its lighting coil. They borrowed a battery-powered light, and although it took three batteries to make it in, the Honda flashed across the finish line shorlly after 9:00 p.m. "We had a great race with Dan and Dan," grinned Miller. "Until they had a problem we were all within 30 seconds of each other. We had the lighting problem and we lost the clutch coming in, but other than-that no problems, no flats. I fell off once coming over Mike's and Randy slid out once, but it was just a great race, really fun." When Smith finished he could manage a smile, but it was obvious that he was tired after having ridden all the way in from EI Chinero. "We tried to make it up but we couldn't do it," he said, favoring his left hand, which had been cut during the ride. Still, the gap at the end was 14 minutes; at Nuevo the final time through it was 29 minutes. Kurt Pfeiffer had to stop once on the final tour through Mike's to repair an oil line, but he turned the bike over LO Roeseler and the pair finished third with an elapsed time of 15:46:08.97. "The bike worked really I (Above) Gaston Rahier and Eddy Hau rode their BMW to first in Class 30. (Below) Casey Folks and Max Switzer won Class 38 by 50 minutes. well, I'm really pleased," said RoeseIer, who was just two weeks orr a Frontier 500 win with Pfeiffer and three weeks 0[£ an individual IS DE gold medal. Scott pfeiffer was the next rider to finish, sealing the Class 21 win. The Chase/Howell machine had been right with them until they lost two hours going LO Nuevo junction for the final time. At 16:37:34.39, the Rahier/Hau BMW was 10 minutes behind the Pfeiffers on elapsed time as they won Class 30, with Hau taking the final stretch. Rahier said of the experience, "It was high speed and very cold. It was a very good course technically; we enjoyed il. The problem was that it was our first time here." The only other riders finishing under 17 hours were the Class 38 winners, Switzer and Folks. Riding a Husky 4ooWR-based water-pumper, they had trailed jackson until the second time over the Summil. Then the Sporlsman Cycle duo nabbed the lead and held it to the finish. After crashing hard before the second stop at EI Chi nero, jackson gave his partner the bike to ride to San Felipe while he took a 40-minute rest. The rest was undoubtedly welcomed, but still he could not catch Switzer and Folks, and in the end, jackson lost second in class as well, by just 35 seconds. The Ron Bishop/ Mike Harper Husky made up the gap on the unng jackson in the final section and crossed the finish line a minute and a half ahead. The starting margin pared the edge to the 35 seconds. The other class winners, Clark and Foland, reported no major problems. Clark crashed off the start and hurt his elbow, and they broke a brake lever brackel. It was Cagiva's second consecutive class win in the 1000. FOrly-two motorcycles starled the event and 24 finished for a survivor ratio of better than 50%. Statistics for the entire field weren't as good, with 169 starting and 75 finishing in the 32-hour time limil. • Results CLASS 20: 1. Ed Folend/Gordon Clerk (Cog) 18:48:59.67. CLASS 21: 1. Scoll Pfeiffer/Kent Pfeiffer (Hus) 16:27:55.78; 2. Dove Chese/8rett Howell (Hus) 18:48.22.43. CLASS 22: 1. Chuck Miller/Rendy Moreles(Hon) 14:34:34.87; 2. Den Smith/Den Ashcroft (Hus) 14:48:56.92; 3. Lorry Roeseler/Kurt Pfeiffer (Hus) 15:48:08.97; 4. Merk Anderson/Bryen Benson (Hon) 18:48:43.98; 5. Arturo Vozquoz/Fernendo Cintore (Hon) 19:37:43.87; 6. 8i11 80yer/Morgen Melocco (Hon) 20:38:28.31; 7. Brell Geiley/Keith Tennis (Hon) 20:38:56.19. CLASS 30: 1. Geston Rehier/Eddy Heu (BMW) 16:37.34.39; 2. Jimmy Jones/John Etchert (Hon) 17:02:24.34: 3. Deve Gruver/Art Dey (Hon) 17:47:49.88: 4. Bob Prickett/Bred Menger (Hon) 18: 12:45.78; 5. Chris Heines/Jim Fishback (Hon) 18:37:40.65; 6. Dennis Greene/Rendell Jorden (Hon) 20:34:00.55; 7. Jerry Ehrherdt/Ronold Livingston (Yem) 23:22:58.77; 8. Creig Hoernke/ Weyne Ratliff (Hon) 24:44:36.11. CLASS 38: 1. Me. Switzer/Cosey Folks Jr. (Hus) 16:57:52.78; 2. Ron Bishop/Mike Herper (Hus) 17:48:04.06; 3. Richard JocItson/Gery Colbert (Hus) 17:48:39.11;4. Todd Mortell./JohnWotkins (BMW) 19:09:34.33; 5. Gene Dempey/Sam DempseylHon) 19:17:52.95; 6. Susumu Morioke (Hon) 25:03:111.112. 7

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