Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

...... ..... $-, 0.. ~ Kurt Pfeiffer (show n) teamed up w ith Larry Roeseler t o take the 250cc and overall w ins at the ninth running of the Las Vegas 400 . Las VeglU'400: Roeselerl Pfeiffer upset big bi.es By larry langley L AS VEGAS. NV. APR. 13 Team Husky riders L a rry Roesel er and Kurt P feiffer put their 250XC Husky (Bel-Ray/ Autolite/Hallman/jones/Scott USA) in to the victo ry circle for the overall win a t the . A I 400 N in th. nn ua Las Vegas professional desert race. T he duo followed u p their class win at the Great Mojave 250 two 24 weeks ago by dominating their class and taking the overall wi n also. T he course was composed of four laps around twp 40-mile loops. The first loop was the lo n ger of the two bu t easier. The second loop was tough , even by Nevada standards. It wound its way up into the mountains where riders faced rocks. extreme ly soft sand and even water crossings. Some sections were so n arrow that the threewheel riders had to push their vehic1esover the rocks. Roeseler's experience in tough terrain enabled him to Chuck Miller and Randy Morales rode the two-stroke Honda CR500R to second overall. first Open class bike. It was Morales' first ride on a CR . ex ten d his lead eac h time through hi s loop. While th e first loop was more o f a fa st " big bore" type loop. Pfeiffer more than held his own aga in st th e much bigger di splacem ent ma chines. The race sta rted a t 6:00 a.m. with a 250cciO pen cla ss ma ss start. After a short bomb run . th e racers turned to run straight into th e su n. Combined with th e h eavy dust. visabi lity wa s n early none-ex istent for th e rid ers in the pa ck . Breakin g free in to th e lead was Dan Ash craft who wa s teamed with Dan Smith. " I really worked hard on m y start. I knew how im p orta n t it wa s going to be in th e dust" sa id Ashcraft. " It's so much easier out front." Carlos Serrano was second on a H usky teamed with Scot Harden but th eir ride ended just 10 miles out when th e bottom end let go on their 500XC. Both were very disappointed as they felt th ey co u ld have won. Anthony Pasqualotto powered his M-Star to c h a lle n ge Ashcraft with R a n d y Mora les (teamed wi th Chuck Miller) right on his fender for third . Mora lesl Miller were riding a two-stroke Honda C R500 instead of their fo ur-stroke XR500. T hey were confident even though Morales was st ill getting used to the big two-stroke. The bike was basically stock except for a new International Mo tosports (I MS) gas tank that added considerably to their fuel supply. Fourth was P feiffer. " T h e .d usl .~.a;; ,s,? Pilc:i .u.n.til abou.! .!~ ~ '.t~~f: way point. Then things stre tched out enough to clear up a bit," sta ted Pfeiffer . Running fifth was Arizona rider Garth Swee tla nd (H us) who wa s teamed with Mark Hildebrand. ' Next was a n o the r Arizona rid er. jimmy Means jr. (H us) wh o was paired with hi s brother Phil. Second 250cc bike wa s th e Honda of Ro bert Todd and Michael Pow ers with T od d on board th e fir st loop. Morales clipped a rock in th e dust tr ying to pass Pasqualotto a n d bail ed. but got right ba ck with onl y torn leathers a s darnage. While th e Open and 250cc classes were battling around th e loop. the 125s and Class 30 ride rs sta rted. I twas Whiskey Pete's Class 30 winner Pete Sheeh an (KT M) fighting for the lead with I 25cc rider john Rudder (Ca g ). R udder a nd partner Duane Summers wou ld event ua lly end up fifth overa ll. first 125. The next sta rt was the Sportsman class and Dermie Close took th e lead at the bomb on a C R500 H on da . Close was teamed with ' Pro -j u m p er Bu tch Laswell and th ey would also eventua lly win their class. Meanwh ile. Brett Howell (Hus) limped in o ff the course after bail in g hard. A very painfu l rib inj ury pu t partner Charlie Morris j r. on the Husky much earlier tha n p lanned. If ..... _ (Co ntinu ed to pag« 28)

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