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/126839
> W ~ ~ ...J o Z :) > c:: c:: :) > en '" 0 ..... ~ 0 00 :I: a.. O"l ...... ~ ~ C'J .... v .0 e .. . V 0. ir: v (Above) Anthony Pasqualotto (shown and Billy Hill tea med up to w in by 2:06.19. (Below) Kurt Pfeiffer rolled in for second overa ll . Scott M o rris (shown) and Darryl Fo lks finished fourth overall but won t he C lass 21 d ivision. Their t ime was 12:05:07.2. SCORE/BORA Desert Series Pasqualotto/ Bil 1 win Frontier 500 By larry Langley BEATTY NV, SEPT. 7 In all sports, there are participants who have to live with the knowledge that they can't . WIn t h e " bi one; "h ey c h 0 k e or h ave some Ig t other problems that prevent them from win ningoneof their sport's premier , . events. Anthony Pasqualotto joined Ivan Lendl an d Hana · . k d i f' Man dikova this wee en In 1- 12 ,. , nally shaking off th at ill-fitting la bel wh en h e won th e 1985 versi on of the ~I!~ta~!U? ~~'l _~31!S~ ~ !~~ _~r_op_t~e! 500 o ff-road race. Onl y 36% o f th e sta rters legall y fin ish ed th e race. Pasqual otr o 's sha re of th e win was esp ecia lly sweet. He led Whiskey Pete's Wor ld Champion sh ip a nd th e Las Vegas 400 before breaking. He wanted to especia lly credit M-Star for p rov iding a new 1 9~~ air-«:?.?lt;,t! ..5~9~s _e!l~~!~_~~~e~ . "It seemed every time we broke, it was because of th e water-cooling in one form or an oth er ," said Pasq ua lo tto. "T h is ne w ai r-cooled bike reverts back to a less complicat ed motorcycle a nd it ran p erfect Ly. Now I know h ow th e Husk ys ran so go od with th eir six sp eeds an d wide ratio transm issions. Th e M-Star's wid e-ratio tra n n y ma de th e bike so m uch eas ier to ride ." Th e winning team di d n' t ha ve a ny ma jor problems, j us t a fro nt fla t tire, repl acing the brakes and one cras h whil e trying to co pe with the si lt. Th ey beat the Husky tea m of Kurt Pfeiffer and Sco t H arden by jus t o ne minu te a nd 54 seco n ds - a p rett y sma ll ma rg in a fter a lm ost I I ~ ho urs of bru ta l ra ci n g . P feiffer and Harde n were d isa p poin ted in not winn ing , but felt they ga ve it th eir best shot. " T he bi ke just wasn 't running good a nd at one p oi nt, we were 25 minu tes do wn but sa id , ' th e hell wi th it,' a nd just tri ed to go as fast as we co u ld, and we sta rte d pull in g up on them," said a very ti red Hard en afterwa rds . Pasqualotto agreed . "We knew we had a lead on th em a nd just had to fini sh with in 15 seco nds of th em for the win . I co u ld see th eir dus t, but we kept th e bike in front a ll th e wa y to th e finish. Oh yea h , in th at la st sectio n, the re were four trucks still co m ing , very dangerous!" (The la st few miles of th e co u rse used th e o u tgo ingcou rse a ndsomes lo w-run ning trucks hadn 't clear ed th e secti on before th e bikes returned.) Pasqual otto a nd Hill were sponsored by Las Vega s Suzu ki , M-Star, O'Neal , Gear, Max irna and Dunlop. The Honda team of Randy Moral es an d Derri ck Pai ement led the race for 400 m iles before th eir H onda CR500 ga ve u p th e ghos t. As it turns ou t, they were d isqual ified for being o ff ~? ~~~_ ~::~:«;,~ .!:a_t~~~~ _'.Y el ls..:~~~ Beatty. Rep ortedly, Mora les en ded u p on a section of last yea r' s co u rse. They ha d a lead o f up to n in e minutes before th ey bro ke. The T eam Husky du o of Dan Smith a nd Dan Ash craft co nt in ued to suff er en gine probl ems wit h th ei r 500XC Husky. Smith starte d th e ra ce and turn ed the bi ke over to Ashcraft while ru n n ing in th ird place righ t behind Pasqualotto nea r Pah rump, but reported th a t the bike wasn' t runn ing well on top en d . Ash cra ft go t by P as q ua lotto a n d s tarted to reel Mo ra les in , but th en sta rted dropping back a t La th rop Well s. At Beatty, Ash craft pu lled in for ga s a nd a ride r cha nge, a nd th e crew rep laced the rea r tir e. Wh en Smi th wen t to start it, th e bi ke had no co m p ressio n , so they decid ed to replace th e to p en d , figuring it was a long ra ce and th ey m ight h ave a cha nce to ca tch u p . T he y got goi ng a n ho u r lat er but fin ally h ung it up at T onapah . T h e 250c c cl a ss ba ttle q u ickl y turned in to a two-team race between the H usq varnas o f Brett H ow ell / Charlie Morris Jr. a nd Darr yl Folks/ Scott Morri s. Th e Folks/M orri s (Sports ma n Cycl e/Duralube) team p u lled a one -m in u te lead into Beatty _ and steadily stretche d it out over the ra ce. The team of Garth Sweetl and and Ma rk Hildebrand fro m Phoen ix , Arizona , ra n into problems ea rly when their bike' s tan kcame off a nd th ey had to sto p fo r repair s, which put th em 15 minutes down . H ow bad was tha t? They fin ished just 15 minutes behind th e leaders, third overa ll . " It was a reaL cha llenging co urse" said Sweetl and. . • Th e 560-m ile co urse w as to ugh . Extrem ely tough. Most of th e riders called it th e m ost cha llenging co urse they haA~VF! ~id~~g ,, ~~.~ \Pf FPjillmSS