Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Larry Roeseler (shown) teamed with Dan Smith. led from start to finish on a 51 Occ four-stroke Husky. It's Smith's fourth Parker 400 win. John Braash became the first rider in Parker 400 history to complete the event solo on a 125cc motorcycle. He won his class. The winning team: Larry Roeseler (left) and Dan Smith. here we are. Four in a row feels great"~ The Scott Morris/Daryl Folks Husky team finished eighth overall and wound up taking third in Class 21 (126-25Occ). . J4th Annual SCORE Parker 400 SmithjRoese/er set sizzling Parker pace By Amie and Tom Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren PARKER, AZ., JAN 3J Team Husqvarna's top duo of Dan Smith and Larry Roeseler kept up a sizzling pace for more than five-and-a-half hours to win the SeQRE Parker 400. With an average speed of just over 53 mph, Husky's formidable "A" team led the tough 302-mile race from start to finish, making it four Parker vicrories in a row for Smith. "We were really hoping to pull it off," said Smith at the finish. "Con, sidering that we were the first bike to start and that Larry and 1 are very, compatible on the bike, we thought we had a pretty good c11ance. Our ride was relatively trouble free and Riders were up at the crack of dawn preparing for the start of the race. In an cHon to keep the bikes out in from of the trucks and cars, the first motorcycles were scheduled to start at 6:00 a.m., with the bikes leaving two at a time every 30 seconds. The start was delayed umil it was light enough for safe riding, and then the race was on. Smith, on the Smith/ Roeseler four-stroke Husky, and a Honda piloted by the Arizona duo of Bob Russell and Gary Wells, powered off the line on the first minute. With the advamage of a dust-free run at the head of the field, Smith wasted no time and had the big Husky hard on the gas in the early stages of the I IO-mile California loop. He soon shook free of the Russell/ Wells Honda and was 20 seconds ahead of the Arizona entry as the course crossed Highway 95 for the first time, seven miles into the race. Smith continued his high-speed run and, despite stopping once to fix a fouled plug, had built his lead to four minutes by the time he handed the bike over to teammate Roeseler at Thunder Alley. . "I was riding my butt off out there," said Smith. "I was having fun though. The four-stroke works so good on these roads. It sl ides so well 1 felt like Bubba Shobert. It's JUSt so tractable ,it's hard to believe." Dan Ashcraft, who rode to victory as Smith's partner in last year's Parker 400, was riding with Randy Morales under Team Honda colors. The pair put in a determined effort to take their firsl major win on the big Honda thumper. Mora'les made short work of the early stages of the race, overtaking Jimmy Means and Derrick Paiement before the seven mile mark, and was starting to make up time on Smith as the course cleared Rice and started the run towards South Thunder Alley. Morales handed over to Ashcraft fonhe second half of the loop and the bid to make up time cominued. Ashcraft had the XR600 almost within striking dist:anceof the front-running Husky, which was now in the hands of Larry Roeseler, when disaster stuck about 85 miles into the race. "I got up to where 1 was riding in Larry's dust and I could see him about 15 seconds in from of me," said Ashcraft. "That put me ahead on time, but I was riding on a flat rear tire and all of a sudden the bike wem sideways and the tire came off the rim ~ompletely. I had to stop and cut it off and then ride the rest of the loop on the rim." Even riding on the rim, Ashcraft wasn't backing off and his sideways, still-hard-on-the-gas riding style, which was accompanied by spokes popping out of the rear wheel, thrilled spectators nc;:ar the finish of the California loop. To further add to Ash· craft's troubles, the big Honda ran out of gas about 100 yards from the finish of the loop and had to be pushed in. Running on the rim cost Ashcraft

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