Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ . ~ ,:" '- :E) The Larry Roeseler/Mora les team was running th ird before encountering carburetor problems. causing the bike to run out of gas several times. session to tak e up th e slack in th e lat er sta ges o f the ran '. Roeseler a nd Mo rales al so ra n in to di ffic u lt ies ea rl y in th e ra ce when thei r O pen class Ka wasaki ran o u t of gas for th e fir st of wha t was LO becom e man y times before the event was o ver. " O ur prob lems sta rt ed ea rl y," R oesel e r sa id . " R a n d y wen t u p through Oj os Negros a n d th e bike 'was running so rich it would hard ly r un . Wh en I got do wn to the desert i t ra n a bit better bu t we ra n ri ch a ll day a nd kept runn in g out o f gas. I ran o u t twi ce and Rand y ran o ut once. It', a long race a nd a ny th ing can ha p pen , b ut o nce you've had 15 or 20 m inues down lime waiting fo r gas th ere isn 't m uc h yo u ca n do ex ceptJrope tha t everyo ne else ha s bad luck LOO . " Ashcraft ', cha rge co n tin ue d a , he h ea d ed sout h towa rd t h e rider cha nge a t Borrego . As he po wered in to th e fir st o f the dusty des ert terrain just 190 miles 111 10 Ihe ra ce. Ashcraft had mad e u p hi , ' n in em inute starring defi cit to ta ke o ver th e ph ysical lead a nd was more th an 20 minu tes a head o n adjusted time. " T he bike's worki ng so good ." sa id A sh cruft a, he wa tched O gil vie take th e big red thum per o u t inr o th e 200 mi le so u the rn loop through an Felipe. "The thi ng is really ma ki ng some h o rsepo wer a nd it sti ll so u n ds g rea t. Usua lly by thi s time the b ikes are mak i ng some no ise up in th e to p end but o urs isn 't making any at a ll so we're doing reall y we ll. " Th e 250 cc Hunn icuu /H ow ell tea m had the rim e-adjusted seco nd place as th ey raced throug h th e Borrego pit, just a few rriinutes faste r th an th e Haines/H arden /LaPone Over-30 tea m which was roc keting up through the pack on their Hond a XR 625R. just a co u p le o f minute, bac k in a close rare for fou n h overa ll were the Roeseler/M or al es KX500 a nd th e J oey Lane/Ma rk Va nscoun C R250, clea ring th e p it just 18 seco nds in Irorttof Baj a rook ies Paul Krause, Kevin Steele a nd Don Li eb o n th e fift h p lace ATK en try. Fra n k Chase a n d J ohn Braasch h ad the I25('c lead a nd th e Husqvarna en try o f Casey Folks a nd Dick Bur leson was a lre ady wa y ahead o f their nearest Over-Sf riva ls. T he H onda b litz ron rinued as Ogi lvie powere d through the San Felipe loop. ~' he pa ssed th e halfwa y point of th e race just before Sa n R a fa el , Ogi lvi e h ad p us h ed th e XR600R 's a vera ge speed u p LO 60.36 mph. When he storm ed ba ck o n to H igh wa y 3 for the rider cha nge a t th e road lead in g into " like's Sk y Ran ch o , th e Honda Tea m was a full 29 m inu tes a head o f AI Ba ker a nd Ran d y Norma n. wh o had pushe d their AI Baker's XR, On lv XR 625R to second in th e ph ysical sta ndi ng, hut were abo u t 10 m in u tes beh in d H un n icu tt and Howell on co rre cted time. " We ' re tr ying a, hard as we can , th at', fo r sure ," sa id Hunn icu tt a, he wa tch ed H o well power o ff tow ard Mike's ky Ra ncho a fter a slo we rth a n- usual pit fo r a wh eel cha nge an d brak e repa irs. " I had a few problem, co mi ng o u t of Sa n Ra fael. Chris Haines. Scot Harden and Danny laPorte team ed up on a Honda XR600 to finish third overall. Harden dropped out w ith a broken hand . I think th ere musr've been so me din in th e dump ca n because a bo u t half a mj le o u t from th e pit th e bike started LO di e. After abou t 15 m iles it fina lly d ied a nd I h ad to flu sh th e ca rb o u t to get it goi ng agai n . I lost a bit of time clea n ing it o ut a nd before th at I wa s goi ng a bo ut 40 m ph o n a 100 m ph d in road, so it cos t us so m e ti me. " Moral es a lso had gas problems in th e Sa n Felipe loop. After fin din g a good lin e across Diabl o Dry LIke an d laun ching the Roeseler/Mo ral es Kawasaki u p into second , o vera ll , Mo ral e, lost 20 minutes wa iting for gas shortl y aft erwards. T h e Kra u se/ Siecl e/Lieb ATK entry a lso lost tim e i n th.. so uthern loop wh en Li eb selected the lo nger bu t sa fer ro u te a ro u nd th e edge o f Diab lo Dry Lake LO avo id bogging down in th e muddy co nd i tio ns. By th e end o f the San Fel ipe loop, th e 125cc field was thi n ni ng rapidly. J eff " tiller and J ohn R udder's T eam Cagiva entry ga l to withi n even minutes o f Chase and Braasch but dropped o u t wi th ig n ition pro blems near Sa n Felipe, givi ng th e Chas el Braasch H u sky a n a lmost un bea rab le lead o f o ne hou r a nd 10 minutes o ver th e o n I)' o th er 125cc en try - a Ya maha team he aded by San Diego 's Earl Rober ts, But Chase a nd Braasch were soon out of th e ru n ni ng a fter they spu n th ei r flywheel a nd ru in ed th eir cra n ks ha ft and a ll Roberts had LO do was fini sh to tak e th e class win . Almo st nine hours into th e race . with just 160 miles to go, Ashcraft wa s still going stro ng when he h it th e Pacifi c Coast at Ca ma lu. The XR600R was sti ll way out in front of the competi tio n a nd h adn ' t m issed a bea t. H eadlig hts carne on by th e tim e As hcra ft h anded the bi ke over a t Urua p an a nd as crowd, gathe red aro u nd the fini sh lin e in Ensenada. Og il vie launched th e fi nal 70-mile sprint to th e chec kered flag . " We h ad such a b ig lead I was co nce nt ra ti ng o n ta ki ngi t easy ," sa id O g il vie. "A lot of ti m es I wa s co n sc io us ly slowi ng do w n, n o t wanting to mak e a mi sta ke a n d mess it up . By th at tim e a ll we had to do was fini sh ." Og il vie kep t th e pa ce go ing right up to the end, crossing the fin ish li ne wit h a tota l elapsed tim e o f 12 h ours, IWO m in ut es a nd 14 seco n ds LO give T eam H o n da a winn in g avera ge o f 57.24 mph -, " I t' s been a long day, " sa id O gi lvie, who no w has two Baja 1000 wi ns in a row to add LO hi s four win, in th e Baja 500. " Da n won it fo r us today. We were 19th o ff the line bu t he gOI us in to the lead p hys ica lly aft er o n lv 100 miles. Af ter that i t was easy ." . " It 's a bo u t time I won this race aga in - th e o nl y ot her time was with Da n S mi th in 1983 ." sa id a n o b vio us l y happ y As h craft , who th anked Ho nd a , H ondaline, ProH onda Oil, Sh oei , SCali USA, Du nlop a nd P ro C ircu i t. " We had a grea t ri de. The o n ly problem I had th is yea r 'wa s wit h a tel ephon e po le cov ered with d in th at th e Mex ica ns had pu t across th e road. I sa w it bu t not unt il I was righ t o n it. I lock ed 11

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