Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126262
• IIG -= ~ t " ... 1:' 1:' O'l ...... ...... Q,) ~ ;j -, World ChaDlpion: The Roger DeCoster Story Part IV: NO.1 for CZ - W ha t had never been possible . in the preceding two years, finall y came about in the firs t days of 1967 in a com pletely unexpected manner, probably because CZ , (which had just won its first 28 500cc World Championship thanks to th e East German Paul Friedrichs), intended to m ake a specia l effort to re tain the titl e. \ was signed up for th e fa ctory CZ team for th e 500cc Grands Prix, along with Englishman Da ve Bickers and Rolf Tibb lin , a Swed e ." Now , everyth ing was running smoothly for Roger, who was still convalescing followi ng th e surgery on his kidney. W ithou t the successful surgery he'd undergone . he would never have thrown a leg over a motocross b ike again . \n fa ct, he didn't get his fin al medical relea se until th e \9th of January . Even tha t was no t the sta rt. He didn't sign his contract until ma ny d a ys wer e spe nt first on the Verv iers co urse, then at Nee rijse, on natural terrain cou rses that he had rented to p ra ctice on and resume training . What ca used this sudden reversa l in the a tt itude of the CZ factory - whic h had previously been indifferent , if not host ile - in regard to Roger ? It does n't require anybod y too cle ver to figure out by default - By John Huetter (Continued from last week) that th e influen ce of Viktor Lahit a had been more th an a little ero ded by th e success ive defea ts ofJoel Rob e rt . his ride r . in the 25 0cc W o rl d C hampionship . Fir st . J oel (a nd by mechan.ical implica tio n . Viktor) had lost to t he Ru ssian , Viktor -Arbekov, in \965 ; t he n. to arch -riva l, Swede Torsten Hallman in \966 , who was not even mo'unt ed on a . CZ as had been Arbekov. Ha llm anrod e for the Swed ish Husq varna fac tory , which m a d e the loss eve n worse for CZ . Furthermo re, it was certa in that they'd go tten wind in Strakon ice of the differe nt offe rs Roger had been receiving from othe r fa ctories to ride for th em a long with , in most cases , some very co ncrete p ro posals of fu ll support . " I was finally a fac tory rider. And that 'pro motion' unexp ected ly ca me a t th e beginning of a seaso n th a t , for me , was already filled wit h mor e question s. th an answ er s. Ph ysicall y, what wou ld be th e results of m y injured kidney? Psych ologicall y. wou ld \ be ab le to get rid of the obsession with pain and put asid e the fear of anoth er a ccident ? \n tra ini ng . eve ry t h ing p roceeded without t he sligh test hitch . Still , it was wit h a certai n amo unt of anxierv that \ was anticipating my return to com petit ion . For m y first ra ce . \. went to Kerkom on Janu ary \2 for a motocr oss ope n to all 500 cc Internati onal rid ers. \ ende d 'up seco nd , beh ind J os Verrneeren. Neve r befor e had \ not felt t hat special ela tion the eveni ng a fter a motocross. However , th a t day \ was ha lf-dead fro m. fatigu e . \ h ad some sharp pains a bove the kidney. O n top of that . durin g the ra ce , it was al ways with hesitation-inducing a pp re hension that \ went at th e elbow-to-elbo w stuff with the other ride rs . But it all didn't matter , reall y. My pe rfo rmance sho wed me th at \ hadn't lost any of the int rinsic qualities necessary for co m pe ti tion . \ was su re that \ co uld be fit to rid e as good as new. Sure , it took me some time to rega in full co nfide nce and com plete control. And even longer to ge t over th at p aralyzing fati gu e tha t. at tim es, wou ld bru tall y ove rwhel m me . Bu t the shee r joy of bein g restored to a completely who le (wit h kidney) m orocrosser was, for a ll th ese pro blems , a lways th e best th erapy." Roger , truly a professional , inc reased the ho urs he spe nt in tra ining a ll d u ring th e month of Feb ruary . His goal was to show up in top cond ition for the start of the Aust rian Grand Prix at Sittendorf in Apri l. which trad itiona lly opened t he 500cc W orld Championship cam paign . " \ wa nted to prove to th e heads of th e CZ works that \ was a solid member of th at team . Well, \ didn't get th e break a t Sitrendorf. nor a t Esana toglia in Italy. nor in Sweden or East