Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126806
(Above) Dan Ashcraft brings the w inning 500XC to the completion of the California loop. Bill Saltzman (below) teamed w ith George Erl in Class 38. Rick Kryger soloed to second in the Over 30 class on his Honda. David Lapriak and Bill Harris were the winners. goggles were ici ng a nd fogging a ll day , a nd engines were seizing. Ch arles Welk an d Michael McGowen rode a H onda CR250 to victory in Class 21 (250cc), while Kevin Ca se so loed to th e Class 20 (125cc) win. David La p riak and Bill H arr is rode th eir Honda to a o ne -ho ur margin of victory ove r Ri ck Kryger in Cla ss 30 (riders over 30 years of age). Cla ss 38 (riders over 38 years of age) was won b y H usqvarn a-rn ounted vet erans George Erl an d Bill Saltzman (U pTire Husqvarna/Bill Saltzman Motorcycles). Class 22 SCORE/HDRA Desert Series: Round 1 SmithlAshcraft take snowy desertopener By Matt Hilgenberg PARKER , AZ, FE B. 2 Team Husqvarn a 's " Dan -am ic Duo" of Dan Ashcraft and Dan Sm i th took the overa ll win and the Class 22 (Open) crown, in the P ar ker 400, their second win in as many years. Second motorcycle o verall was piloted . ' by Husky nders Larry Roeseler and Kurt Pfeiffer on a 51 OTX ' fo ur-stro k e . . 12 The 12th run ni ng of the Parker 400, and the first round ohhe 1f985 SCO RE/ H DRA (H ig h Desert Raeing Assn .) Desert Series wa s run in rainy , below-40-deg ree temperatures th at turned into snow before most of th e competitors com p leted th e fir st (Ca liforn ia) loop. The freak weather p layed havacon 'je tti hg 'a d nh' the riders'cvisidn .~ Smith was the first rid er to leave th e start ing line, a t 6:25 a. m. He was passed momentarily by Jimmy Means (Han), but regained th e lead before handing th e 1985500XC over to Ash cra ft, who had a on e-min ut e lead a t ch eckpoint one over Means an d Ro eseIer. Means gave h is ride to brother Phil Means, wh o crashed jus t a fter Thunder All ey in th e ro ckpile, He was able to ge t up and fini sh the lap. At th e Ca li fornia finish , the leaders were just beginn ing to hit a few sn owfla kes, and th e tem perature was down to a bou t 35 degrees. Smi th / Ashcra ft finished th eir first loop in two hours, o ne minute, for an a verage speed of 54.5 mph. Fourth-p lace sta rters Garth Swee tlan d an d Mark Hildebrand (H us) were seco nd to cross the finish line for loop o ne , postin g a ti me o f two hours, fou r "m in u tes to ta ke ove r seco nd spot on elapsed time. Roeseler a nd Pfeiffer were o ne minute back in th ird. Ba rstow-to-Vegas a nd Whi skey Pete wi n ner Chris Cra nd a ll tea med wit h Mik e Bak er on the AT K four -stroke; they were fourth a t the start of th e Ari zon a loops, two minutes behind Roeseler. Alex Martinez crashed near the starting line, and was tak en to Ha vasu Regi onal Hospital for treatmen t of a badly crush ed finger. Smith rod e the first Arizona loop, an d was th e fir st rider to encounter the whiteness of Swansea, a ghost town on the back side of the course. H e sai d r ';' h ' s all white ba there, t he snow's covering the grou nd. ,It a lso mak es th e co urse a little slick." Water was getting betw een Smith's Ro lloHs an d h is go gg les len ses, sometimes freezin g solid. He com p leted th e first loop with no kn ob s on the rear tire a n d a low front tir e. They wer e in an d back out of th e pits with a new front wh eel a nd a full gas tank in just minutes, with Ashcraft in the pilot's ch air. Roeseler wa s next to com plete the first Arizona la p , six minutes back. Pfeiff er took on fuel a nd head ed after Ashcraft. Sweetland and Mean s came through almost even , four minutes adrift of Roeseler. Means got a £1a t tire durin g th e lap, but managed to mak e up the lost time. Ashcraft hit more bad weather, but didn 't slow down. He mainta in ed the six-minute advan tage over Pfeiffer as he won with an elapsed time of five hours , 17 minutes and four seconds. Pfeiff er ap peared next , and oversho t th e last turn befor e th e finish. He stall ed th e big four-st rok e, and cou ld n ' t get it restarted. Spectators began tryin g to push- start him , but wer e warn ed to sto p bef o re the y reached the fini sh . The bike still didn 't start, and PfeiHer push ed himself acr oss th e line. Riders must finish under the ir own po wer to be ru led an o fficial fin ish er; to receive ou tside assis ta nce would mean disqualification. Means was anothe r six m inutes behind Pfeiffer, to tak e third overa ll, th ird in the class . Team Honda 's sole entry was Randy Mo ra les, who was rid in g solo. He finish ed the Ca li forn ia side in fourth spot - seven min ut es beh ind th e leader s - the n crashed 60 mile s into the firs t Arizona lap a nd retired. Class 21 Brett Howell and Dave Chase (H us) led the 250s off th e start. Howell pulled to a one-m inute lead by the fir st check, a nd Chase put another minute on Welk/McGowen by the finish of th e loop. Scott and Kent Pfeiffer were in th ird place for much of the Cali fornia sid , 'after stArting eighth, ·Ken t