Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

..... ~ 0. <: .' Duane Summers and John Rudder were fifth overall. first in the 125cc division on their Cagiva Corrado Maddii Replica. Com ing in eighth overall . first Class 30 were Pete Sheehan and Bob Da vidson. on a big -bore water-coole d KTM. Vegas 400 Strong were making up considerable time as they missed the stan by three minutes ! " J ust dumb , that's what happ ened ," said G erber.. "We thought we had more time and looked ' up to see our start take off while we were still gelling ready." As th e race wore on, me chanical problems took many out. But some wouldn't give up. Jamie Simms an d Sa m Rames were cha ll en gi ng for the o vera ll Sportsman class lead when th eir countershaft bearing blew out. They split the cas es of a back-up bike to ge t a replacement bearing an d somehow got it installed. They ended up winning the 250cc Sponsmans. On e- a rm rider John Van Hoove cra she d a nd broke his wrist, but panner Dal e McCarter finished th e race to pi ck up fifth in th e 250cc Sportsman class . Pfeiffer an d Roeseler continued to pull awa y from the field opening up a 12-minute gap on the Pasqualouo/ Steele M-Star. Morales/Miller were within a minute or two of the M-Star until Morales closed the gap to just 30 seconds. Accusations of course CUlling were leveled by the Pasqua10110 camp to promoter Folks, but eventually the protest was denied as Folks felt that Morales did not cut the course but took a legal line around the silt. Folks gave riders a go-ahead to use that lin e at the riders' meeting. Pasqualotto's M-Star expired on the last lap. When Pfeiffer turned the bike over to Roeseler for the last time, they had to replace the rear wheel as the sprocket was completely worn out. Roeseler took off with a six-minute lead but had to stop at the alternate gas stop to tighten a bolt on the brake stay arm . But Roeseler only lost a minute and soon made it back up in the mountains. No one except Smith could come close to riding as well up there, but Smith was out of contention . Roeseler came into the finish lin e with a substantia l lead over Miller. "I co u ld n ' t do even one pushu p right now, " stated a n ex hau sted R oeseler. "Kurt kept us in this , he rode super." " He' s something els e," said Pfeiff er in referen ce to LR (as th ey ca ll h im ). " As sic k a s he was, h e j u st p ut it to th em." Miller and Morales wer e ver y happy o ver second ove ra ll , first Open bike. Th ey h ad to replace two rear wheels as the sprocket teet h act uall y bent un der the p ower (cont inued from page 24) 28 Howell co u ld n' t ride again, JI10rris had to ride the rest of the way solo, a very tough proposition indeed. Howell h ad hit a rock in the dust and crushed his rear wheel. "I never even saw it, I just went through the air before I knew what was happening," said Howell. Pit Captain Dave Chase changed th e rear wheel before sending Morris out. Race promoter Casey Folks hired a water truck to water th e. pit areas 'to keep th e dust down. At th e end of th e first loop, Ashcraft was th e first bike in with a twominute lead over Pasqualouo, "We decided to let Smith ride the second loops since he is stronger" said Ashcraft. Kevin Steele relieved P.asqua10110 while Miller -too k over for Morales. Pfeiffer turned the 250cc lead bike over to Roeseler who had been sick a ll week . "I came 'do wn with a bad cold/flu and still don't feel good, " said Roeseler as he waited for Pfeiffer. "I 'm just going to ride smooth and try to conserve my energy." The pair of SCOll Morris and Daryl Folks put their 250cc Husky into third place at the end of loop one while Class 30 rider Pete Sheehan had moved way up to l lth overalll Rudder came in for gas after running out twice on the first loop, forcing the Team Cagiva rider to carry extra gas with him on his subsequent rides . Ronnie Odem (Suz) passed Rudder but then ran out of gas himself. Both teams ended up in the pits . just 30 seconds apart. At the end of the first lap, Smith handed the big Husky back over to Ashcraft with a five-minute lead over Steele. Miller came into the gas just ahead of Roeseler, but Pfeiffer beat Morales out of the gas stop when Miller/Morales ' stop took longer than expected as they checked over the bike. The Kevin Welch/Troy Fitch team (Cag) was still in the top five, but they ended up DNF for the day. The Class 30 en tr y o f Sheehan/Bob Davidson was sm o ki ng as Davidson brought the Duralube-sponsored KTM into the pits ninth overall. The I 25cc team of 15-year-old Mi ke Palmer and 14-year-old J eff Korhonen (Yam) hung right in there. It was only their third race on a 125. • Strategy was an importan t pan of a long. tough race. Riders had to go fast but conserve their bikes. The extremely tough c.ourse was taking its toll on motors and suspension. By the end of the second lap, shock changes were common as the constant pounding did its damage. In addition, there were other factors . Randy Morales reponed that he was flat out in fifth gear when he encountered a play rider on a three- wheeler coming backwards on th e co urse. Morales had to lay the Honda down and slid into the spectator. Luckily no one was hurt except for the ATV rider's ears as Morales let him know in brutall y frank language a bou t the error o f his ways. Smith pitted at th e end of lap two with a blown base gasket. The pit crew tried to seal th e leak with sil icone and sent Ashcraft out still with the lead but without much hope the Husky would make it. Sure enough, the radio soon reported that Ashcraft only made it about five miles out across the dry lake before seizing. Since the rules didn 't allow for pit crew access to any place but in the pits, it looked like the leaders were oUL But then Ashcraft came slowly ' riding back into the pits - he had managed to get the bike started, Roeseler inherited the lead when Steele bailed off on a road crossing just before the main pits. The Husky pit crew decided to replace the entire 'to p end of the Ashcraft/Smith Husky. "Hey it's a long, long race and anything can happen, " said Bob Ash craft, "Things looked hopelessin '83 and we hung in there and ended up winning, We're not giving up this early into the race." They decided to replace the rear shock as it was blown and had caused Smith to crash earlier. The crash may have done the damage to the engine. A water line leaked. causing loss of the precious coolant. After 30 m inutes or so , Ashcraft fired up the Husky an d took off . but didn't get eight mil es before a weakened rod bearing let go , end ing the defending cha m p io ns ' ride. Disaster struck the Morris/Howell Husky when the 250XC seized a n d put th em out al so . T eam Husky wa s down to one bike lef t in th e race, but it was the one leading. Sweetland and Hiideb rand also had to repla ce a shock and a flat tir e but were sti ll running in th e to p 10. T he team of ' Shawn G er ber and Bra d of their bike. Third overall went to the team of Shawn Gerber and Brad Strong on their KTM, even after they missed the stan. You wonder how they might have done if they had made the stan on time. They had to pass a lot of riders. Fourth overall and second 250cc was the team of Morris/Folks. "Boy, does my dad lay o u t a tough course," said Folks. "They sure are fun though. I grew up riding them so we 're used to th em.': Fifth o vera ll a nd first 125cc bike was the Summ er /Rudd er Cagiva. The Sheehan /Davidson ca me in a t eig h t o vera ll , first Class 30. They were up to fourth overall before breaking a shock. " I think a ro ck got ca u g h t in the linkage," said Sheehan. " We had to wait on a replacement shock at the a lt erna te gas stop and lost an hour. H ey, we wanted to win overall to prove the 'old' guys could still do it." They were sponsored by KTM, Dura. lube, Valley P lastering, Hallman , Sportsman Cycle. Motorcycle Tire Service and Z Racing Products. The teams of Dermie Close/Butch Laswell took the Open Sportsman win followed by the father/son team of Sam and Damon Bass .. Bass 'is the copromoter of the race, putting up the prize money . It was Damon's first race. "Damon really loves the tough sections," said Sam Bass. "He made upTfi-m iriutes on our competition on tha t loop-two section." The lronman award to the first solo rider went to Honda rider Glen Warren for the second year in a row. Over 300 miles solo on what is considered one of the toughest race courses around. Promoter Folks has promised if there is a Las Vegas 400 next year there will be no pre-riding. • Results OVERA l l : 1. Larry Roeseler/ Kurt Pfeiffer (Hus); 2. Randy Mo rales/Chuck M ill er (Han); 3. Shaw n Gerbe r/Bra d St ron g (KTM) ; 4 . Scott Morris/ Daryl Folks (Hus); 5 . Duane Summers/John Rudder (Cog); 6. Paul Kli ne / Davis Hoesch (Han); 7. Dermie Close/ Butch Laswell (Honl : 8. Pete Sheehan/ Bob Davidson (KTM); 9. Garth Sw eet land/ M ar k Hil debrand (Husl; 10 . Sam Bass/Damon Bass (Hus). OPEN: 1. Morales /Miller; 2 . Ge rber /Strong; 3. Sw eetl and / Hil debr anct 250: 1. Roeseler / Pfeiff er; 2. Morris/Folks; 3. Kline /Heesch . , 25 : 1. Summers/Rudder; 2 . Ronnie Odom / Bryan Folks (Suz) ; 3. Chris McDonal d/ James McGrath IKTMI. CLASS 30: 1. Sheehan /Davidson; 2. Ed Siven / · Kevin Colan (Hus ); 3. Gary Prater/Jon Ogren (Yaml. OPEN SPRTSMAN : 1. Close/ l asw ell ; 2. Bass/· Bass; 3. D. Stephens/J . Stephens (Hus) . 25 0 SPRTSMAN : 1. Jamie Simms/Sam Rames (Hus); 2. Barry Torgensen / Dave Cadish (Han); 3 . Scott Feltcher/ M ark Morris (Hus) . • IRONMAN: 1. Glen Warren (Han); 2. Karl Seibe rling (KTMI ; 3. Jon Thomson (KTMI .

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