Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Yamaha support rider Cliff Thomas. a 22-year-old from Canoga Park. California. won B-to-V aboard a 250. 1986 AMA D-37jCoors Barstow -toVegas Hare and Hound Thomas tames Barstow-to-Yegas By Anne and Tom Van Beveren LAS VEGAS, NV, NOV. 29 Desert hotshot Cliff Thomas powered his Yamaha to victory in the 1986 Barstow-toVegas Hare and Hound, putting his name in the record books as the first rider ever to claim the overall win in the prestigious desert race aboard a 250cc motorcycle_ . " Compeung for the fIrst time _ in _the granddaddy of desert events, the 22-year-old rider from Canoga Park, California overcame factory- 6 sponsored teams and hundreds' o[ larger displacement bikes to win what h3;s always been considered a race tailor-made for Open class machmes. Thomas. of the Checkers M.C.. completed the tough 170-mile course in three-and-a-half hours, taking the checkered flag just over one minute ~ ahead of another 250 Yamaha piloted by Mike Baker of Orange, California. The first Open class bike to finish was a two-stroke Husky ridden into third overall by Team Husqvarna's Dan Ashcraft. Ashcraft finished just ahead of Eric Hallgath, who turned in an amazing performance on a 125 Yamaha. Fifth overall went to Team Husky ace and last year's B-to-V champion, Dap. Smith, who was riding his four-stroke Husky. The race, which was organized by AMAlD-37's Sports Committee, drew more than 2,000 requests for entries, but BLM land use restrictions limited the total number of riders to 1,200. The banner dropped on the first wave just after 7:30 a.m,. and 300 expert riders powered off the starting line just north of Barstow, California and headed east towards Las Vegas, Nevada. Riders in other classes followed in four waves, about 15 minutes apart. Riders battled [or position on lJ.!e sandy uphill of the bomb run, pushing f<;>r a place out of the dust at the front of the pack. As the experts swept past the strobe light that served as the bomb, Ted Hunnicutt, on an Open class Kawasaki, was battling for the lead with Ashcraft; Cliff Thomas was in hot pursuit. The three-way duel continued for the first 15 miles as the race paralleled 1-15, but when the course went under the highway for the first time at Basin Road, Bruce Ogilvie, this year's overall willner of the SCORE Baja 1000, blasted through to the front. Ogilvie (Honda XR600) went under the highway 15 seconds ahead of Hunnicutt, with Thomas in third and Ashcraft powering down the sand wash in fourth overall. Mike Baker's 250 was a few seconds behind in fifth, with Hallgath, who had abandoned his usual 250 Husky in favorofa new 125 Yamaha, holding the Cclass lead in sixth overall. Disrrict37 hotshot Charlie Morris, Jr. (250 Husky), Idaho's Dan Huskey (250 Suzuki), Ogilvie's Baja 1000 corider Chuck Miller (Honda 600) and Team Husky's Larry Roeseler (430 Husky) rounded out the top 10. The racers headed into the first gas at Rasor Road, and then continued their fast-paced run east towards the second gas at Halloran Springs. Ogilvie cominued his reign at the' .front of the pack and had stretched his lead out to a fu1145 seconds as the course crossed Zzyzx Road. Early frontrunner Hunnicutt had fallen off the pace and was back in fifth overall, letting Thomas take over second a scant five seconds in front of the hard charging Ashcraft. Baker had worked his way up into fourth overall, and Morris had pushed past Hallgath to take over fifth. Some rapid riding after the first gas had finally put the pre-race favorite on the map. Dan Smith, wbo won B-to-V in 1983 and 1985, was still in bandages after crashing at the Baja 1000 and .got off to a slow start that left him stuck back in the dust in the early running. But his bid to take a third win in the event was back on track by the time the pink-ribboned course reached Zzyzx Road and the Team Husky ace had pushed his way up into seventh overall. Hallgath's 125 screamed across Zzyzx RQad in eighth overall, with Baja ace Chuck Miller and another slow-start rider, Team Husky's Garth Sweetland, close behind. Ogilvie was Still in front a riders flashed through the second gas and started a large loop that ran to the east, away from the highway, led through Clark Mountains, then dropped down to gas three at Stateline. Thomas had cut Ogilvie's lead to 13 seconds as the course crossed Cima Road at the base of Clark Mountains, and was hard on the gas as he started into the steeper section of the race. Baker had elbowed his way into third overall goirIg into the mountains, just 11 seconds behind Thomas, leaving the Team Husky trio of Ashcraft, Smi th and Sweetland to fight it out for fourth place. Hallgath was showing just what's possible on a 125 in seventh overall, with Don Griewe's Open class Husky making its first appearance among the frontrunners in eighth. Roeseler was still hanging onto ninth overall, with Charlie Morris slipping back to 10th. _ With Thomas making up time behind him, Ogilvie was pushing hard as he set out to tackle the Clark Mountain section of the trail. But the Baja champ's hopes of bagging his second big name race this year were dashed when a routine rear flat reportedly developed into a race-stopping problem. His tire apparently came. completely ·off the rim and wound around the motorcycle:s swingarm. "I caught Ogilvie on the pass coming down into the third gas," Thomas told Cycle News. "I was making up time on him, but he got a flat tire thatdeslroyed itself and that's when I finally caught him."

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