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Smith First to Finish Desert Race

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Associated Press

Dan Smith, aboard a 500cc Husqvarna motorcycle, was the first to finish Saturday in a field of more than 1,200 riders in the 162-mile Barstow-to-Las Vegas motorcycle race.

Smith, 22, of Visalia, Calif., completed the desert course in 3 hours 53 minutes to win the overall expert division for riders of motorcycles with engines larger than 250cc.

Chuck Miller finished second aboard a 500cc Honda, with Larry Roeseler third on a 510cc Husqvarna.

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Scott Harden was fourth, Neil Christman fifth. Christman rode a 250cc Honda motorcycle and was the winner of the 250cc open expert class.

The winner of the women’s open expert division was Dana Bell, a mother of four from Long Beach. She finished 158th overall.

The racers were let out in four waves, beginning at 7:30 a.m. and ending about 8:45 a.m. The weather was clear, windy and cold. Race officials said recent rains packed down the soft desert sand and reduced dust.

The starting point was at Harvard Road, about 25 miles east of Barstow, and the finish line was just across the Nevada border. About half the race was on existing dirt roads, the rest on wide-open desert.

Long attacked by environmentalists as irreversibly destructive to the desert’s delicate life systems, the 162-mile race was defended by organizers, who insisted that they have regard for the plant and animal life the racers encounter.

But Peter Burk, a member of the Sierra Club and leader of a group advocating a national park for the Mojave Desert, said the desert cannot withstand the punishment of a dirt bike race.

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The Bureau of Land Management sanctioned the race but limited the number of participants to 1,200 and imposed strict controls over the course, pit areas and spectators to limit its environmental impact.

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