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George Erl and Gary V and er pool po wered t heir Husqvarna to victory in the '
Over 38 class. f ini shing 48th overall . They averaged 50.57 mph .
Hu sqvama' s D an A shcraft (above) and Dan Sm it h (below, standing next
to Ashcraft at the finish line). won the SCO RE Parker 400 desert race .
13th Annual SCORE Pa rker 400
SmithlAshcraft nab
Parker desert win
By Farren Williams
PARKER, AZ, FEB. I
Team Husqvarna's Dan Ashcraft and Dan
Smith edged a Clas s One, u n limited singlesea ter driven by Tom Koch, of R idgecrest,
California , to take the overall win at the 13th
Annual SCORE Parker 400 offroad/desert race, held in th e
Mojave desert near th e California / Arizona border. The
10
Husqvarna p air finished th e race in
five hours ,'slx m inutes, 43 seco nds; to
post an a verage speed o f a lmost 62
mph .
Taking seco nd in th e Open motorcycle d ivision, (as well as fourth overa ll), wa s th e Pa rk er, Arizona h om etown tea m o f P h il Means and Jim
Means (Hon), The pai r-clocked in at
5:20:29, for a n ave rage speed o f 59.33
m ph. Newl y-signed factory M-Star
riders Randy Moral es a nd Derreck
Pa iem ent cla imed third pl ace ( 15th
overa ll) with a 5:37:25.4 tim e. T he
pair will ride for M- ta r this seaso n a t
all SC O RE events a nd 0 -37 desert
races. The p rivateer team of Bo b Russell and Gary Wells (H o n) claimed
fourth (21st overa ll ) by clocki ng in at
5:48:22 flat. Hu sq va rn a -m o un red
Alan Ba rker soloed to fift h p lace
~ 2 7 t h o vera ll) with a 5:55:21.9 showmg.
Posting victories in other m otorcycle classes were Robert Stroud and
C h ris Strang (250cc class winners ,
Ho n ); Ray Guilbeau (125cc class winner); Bill Harris a nd Jimmy Sones
(O ver 30 winners, H on ), and G eorge
Earl (O ver 38 winner).
The race's Cal iforn ia loop, a ro ug h
11 5-mile secti on th at began adjacen t
to S ta te Hi ghwa y 62 near Vid al Junction , took rid ers over lava ro ck piles,
through rock y wash es, up a h ighspeed, power lin e road known as
T h un der All ey, a nd past th e World
Wa r II tra ining grounds for Gen.
George S. Pa rton 's tan k co rps.
After completi ng the initial section of the course, riders load ed up
their bikes, took th em across th e
Colorado River, and ran back-toback laps on the lOl -mile loop th at
made up the Ar izona sea ion . The
fina l hal f of the race took riders
through a sa ndy was h, pas t corra ls,
ranches, an a ba ndoned mining to wn ,
and a r u gged canyon wall. In a ll, th e
course led 46 motorcycle riders a nd
4 I I to ta l entries - o n ly 14 short o f
th e ma xi m um a llowed - o ver 3 17
miles o f ro ugh, u n forgi ving desert
terrain .
Neither hi gh-speed fire ro ads, nor
slo w-speed rock piles hampered th e
Sm ithl Ash craft effort. T heir victorv
ma rked th e thi rd co nsecu tive vear th e
d uo has cla imed th e two -wh eel title
a t SCORE's Parker 400. The win al so
m ark ed Smith 's third maj or desert
victory in rece n t months. H e won th e
a n n ua l AMA 0-37 Barstow-to-Vegas
H ar e & Hound in late Nov ember , and
claimed Whiskey Pete's World C hampionship Hare & Hound III in
J anuary.
Husqvarna -m ounted J ona s Par
G aff was Flagged away as th e firs t
officia l co mpeti to r a t 6:25 a.m, Sm ith
beg an th e ride for Husqvarna's fa cto ry team , sta rt ing II th behind Pa r
Gaff in a field o f 14 Open class
motorcycles. By th e time he reached
-T h u nder All ey, Sm ith had p assed th e
field a nd helda slim leadoversecond- ·
running Phil Means. " Everyth ing
went rea l well for me," Smith said. " I
had a bad starting pos ition, but th ere
was no d us t a nd I passed everyo ne ."
Wh en he reac hed T h u n der Alley,
Smi th surrendered h is mo torcvcl e to
Ashcraft.
.
" When Dan ga ve me the bike, we
were in the lead," Ashcra ft said.
" Abo u t two mil es up T hunder Alley
the Means brot hers got past us. We
bo th pitted in T hu nder Alley. I got
out (o f th e pits ) behind them. and five
or six miles lat er, in the rocks, I
pass ed them back. I never saw them
a ga in." Ashcraft finished the loop in
first pl ace, powering his big Husq varna 500 Cross Cou ntry a cross. th e
fini sh line approximatel y fou r m in utes ahead of th e Means brothers '
Honda .
ali
SC Morris, wh o was teamed with
Daryl Fo lks, both of La s Vegas , Nevada , led 250cc class rid ers in to th e
first California checkpo int , bu t Stroud
jumped into the lead in the final
stages to finish first by th e end of the loop. Guy Kib be set th e earl y pa ce in
th e 125cc division, and went o n to
finish th e loop in top position. Jim
Fish back was the first Over 30 rider
th rough chec kpoi nt o ne, and George
Erl led co mpeti tors in th e Ov er 38
division.
Smith increased the pace for the
Husq va rna tea m wh en competi tio n
resu m ed on th e o ther side o f th e
Colorado Ri ver. He reac hed chec kp oint two in Ari zon a with a sixm inute adva n tage o ver Phil Means,
a n d h el d th e edge unt il th e end o f th e
loop, where Ashcraft took over. A few
minutes later, Ashcra ft was pi ck in g
himself , and h is mot o rcycle, u p o ff
th e ground .
"When I sta rted th e last Ari zon a
lo op. I got o n ly two miles up th e
wash , a nd hit a roc k," said Ash craft.
" It put a big ding in th e front rim. I
did a bo u t an 80 mph handstand in
th e sa nd wa sh. That really sh ook me
up; it to ok me a whil e to recover.
La ter I kept ca tch in g three-wh eel
g u ys wh o wouldn't move over. This
on e gu y wh o wou ldn 't move got
squirrely and went wid e into a turn .
He threw up so me rocks at me a nd
bu sted m y visor." Once Ashcra ft got
a ro u nd th e ATVs, h e easi ly m otored
to th e fin ish lin e, where Smi th
p atientl y wa s sta nd ing, waiting for
hi s p artner to tak e th e win.
Ph il a nd Jimmy Means m anaged
to fini sh second in spite of numerous
problems. " I sta rted the race; " J im
