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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125847
Algy S.C.D.R.E.s again at Parker 400 By Mike Anson Photos By Dennis Greene PARKER , A RIZ., FEB . 9 Kawasaki rider Al Baker just keeps taking Mickey Thompson's money. He took home a billfold full (about $10,000) from Th ompson's SCORE race at Riverside Raceway last October an d th is past Saturd ay Baker and Steve Hallid ay, o n a factory Kawasaki "It only hurts when we laugh, guys." AI Baker and Steve Halliday co -rode a 450 Kaw to first bike at the Parker 400 . Algy gets it sideways out in front of everybody. Note t rick y disc up f ro nt. Bill Silvertho rn tHus) gets a ch ec k stub in his be er ca n . The bike later retired with clutch problems. 8 400 , did it aga in. The lime -gre en Kaw asaki w as t h e first ma chine to leave th e sta rt ing lin e at Parker, Ari zona in th is y ear's edition of th e Parker 400 and th ree lap s la ter (tw o in to Ariz o na and o ne in California) it w as th e first to finis h . Baker and Halliday co vered th e ac tu al 35 9-m ile co urse in seven hours and 24 minutes , and even th ough they covered th e co urse during d ayli gh t ho u rs, it was a pair of locals fro m nearby Blythe, Ca lifo rnia, ages 4 1 an d 50 , in a Funco bu ggy who took th e overall win in seven h ours and two minutes. For th e past two yea rs the Par ker race has b een under th e sanction o f NO RRA, bu t wi th tha t group of off-road promo ters disb anded, the Par k er C h am b er of C o m m erce co ntacted Mickey Thompson to stage the eve n t. Th omp s on 's SCORE organization d id a fine job . The co urse wa s we l l m ark ed a nd th e co mm unication between checkpoints and the p its w as excelle nt. As the rid ers passed the checkpoints, th e in fo rmatio n was rad ioed b ack to t he st ar ti ng line and posted o n larg e ch alk boards . Fro m th e, pi ts, each rider's crew co uld foll ow his progress all th e w ay aro und t he co urse . Before: the race, SCORE. sent out questionnaires; th ey w anted t o find ou t wh at rule chan ges the racers wanted. T hey got 1800 responses and so me of the changes were in corporated in th e Parker 400. 'On e of Thompson's ch anges was to separate th e cars and the bikes 'by on e hour; the last bike was to leave at eigh t a.m, an d th e first ca r off the line was at nine a.m, With only 18 cycle entries, this put Baker, who drew number on e off the line at 7 :4 2 charging up th e hill looking into a beautiful Arizona sunrise with 17 o the rs , including Bill Silverth orn on a Honda 350 and Curt Skinner on a H onda 125 , follo wing at one-minute in terval s. The race th is y ear wa s "energy crisised " to 35 9 miles; two, 110-mile laps in Arizona and one , 139·mile lap in California. The first loop w as in A ri zona ; th e riders left from a newly-constructed st arting line r amp and 100-feet of still -we t co ncre te in the Blue Water Marina and after the loop finished just 100 yards away. Fr om th e Arizona finish, the riders were given 20 minutes of down time ; 20 m inutes to travel the four miles to the gas st atio n on the California side, add fuel and chan ge riders. No work, other than add gaso line, could be done during the 20 min utes, Thompson got permission from the Arizona and California Highway Patrols to let the b ikes travel on the p ublic roads between the loops as long as they had a SCORE escort. A t his gas stop prior to leaving on the California loop , Baker sat waiting at the start line with a flat front tire. His crew w as set up and waiting abo ut 300 yards up the co ur se and when Baker got the gree n flag, he raced to the waiting crew. T hey set th e bike on two five-gallon gas can s laid flat, ch anged the rubber and sent h im on his w ay in less than three min utes, Bro ken bikes were co mm o n ; one rider came: in with the fender on the rear tire - the terrain had ripped the gu ts o ut of th e shocks, leaving only th e sp rings wh ich dangled from th e mounts. In making provisions for the bikers, SCORE transported gasoline to the in acc essib le check p oin ts where , if a rid er needed gas, the SCOR E crews would d o th e pouring. T his lef t the pit crew s fr ee to move aro un d to the chec kp oin ts th at co uld be reached easily by car o r van. One of the surprises was the great show ing by Cu rt Skinner and Donald Feld scher o n a 125 cc Honda ; they finished thir d o verall in th e b ike co m pe titio n and fir st in th e 12 5 cc class (theirs was th e o nly I 25cc ent ry) . A t th e rider's meeting the evening before th e race , Mickey Thompson des cribed the first mile of th e Ariz on a lap as a " d estroyer" - he was right. But once th ey cle ared t hat fir st mile th e going go t better ; th e terrain followed san d washes and dirt ro ad s with th e cou rse- arranged so they alternated between th e tw o. SCORE had 10 checkpoin ts for each loop and some additional floatin g checkpoin ts. In all, Thomp so n had 123 pe ople watch ing fo r co urse cutting including some in airplanes (f o ur) and a ch opper. S CO R E also had th e gasoline situation we ll in h and. Two gas stations, one o n each side of th e bo rd er served as th e o ffi cial fu el sto ps . Thompson arr anged fo r all th e pumps to be full o f premium an d for the stations to sell only to race vehicl es. Sin ce all this is very much agains t co mpany policy, the station ope rators w ill remain unnamed, but with the racer's thanks. Ther e w as ano ther n ew twist for a majo r off-ro ad race - the trophy presentation w as he ld at 12:30 Sunday and the winners got their ch ecks when they picked up t hei r trophies . "Who wants to wait aro und all day fo r a trophy and weeks or months fo r their money," T hom pso n told the meeting. Right on, Mickey. • Results OVERALL : 1. AI Baker/Steve Halliday (Kaw) . 7: 2 4 : 4 9 . 2. John W atk ln s/Todd Martella ( H us ), 8 :02:68. 3. Cu rt Skinner/Donald Feldscher ( H o n ) , 8 :14:59. 125 : 1. Curt S k inner/Dona ld Feldscher ( H On 1 8 : 14 :59 . i\ . 25 : 1. William Oury /Robert Oury (Hon). 9 :46 :55 . 2. Leo n ard Scott/Dave J ac o bs o n (SU Z!.. 9 :53 : 18 . O ...EN : 1. A I Ba k er/Stev e Ha ll iday (Kaw) . 7 :24:49. 2 . J o h n W at k ln s/Tod d Martella (HU S), 8:02 :68 . 3 . Danny ROb inson/ M ike Harper (H u S) . 8: 19: 2 6 . John Watki ns and Todd Martella finished second o verall, second in class after 359 long mil es.