Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

. ". ' ,. ; 11II • ~ t / 1:' 1:' 0") ....-l 00 V C ;j ~ lAbove, left) DeCoster wo n the '971 Tulsa, Oklahoma Trans·AMA round - one of the few series races he won until 1974, lAbove, right! Raunting his ultra·suede cowboy hat during his 1970trip to the U.s,. Roger points out how much he'd like to make in the next Trena-AMA, Haven' t see n him in the hat much lately. (Opposite page , left! ~fter a California wedding, the newlyw ed DeCosters returned home to Belgium. The Europea n sportswriters we re there to meet them as the coup le dep laned . IOpposite page. rightl ln 1971, Roger won the 500cc World Championsh ip and his Suzuki teammate. Joel Robert. won the 250cc tit le, King Baudouin (cente rland Queen Fablola (far left) of Belgium were amo ng the thousands to offer official congratulations, Joel's w ife. Jeanine. (second from left) joined th e celebratlon. IOpening pagel DeCoster pulls off one of his usual gravity·defylng bermshots an route to victor y In a 1972 Belgian National Champ ionsh ip Moto cros s. tha nks to De ut sch , Manset , a nd those with Codiva for putting m e in G rands Prix wh er e I'd go tt en th e re cognition in th e first place. I kn ew th at th ey'd underst a nd th e rea son s th at were pu shing me to choose a fr esh directi on . On t hat Decem ber T, wh en it ca me righ t d own to it , I decided o nce a nd for all to bet every thi ng I had o n Suzu ki." More th an a m onth went by without the co nt ra ct bei ng sig ned . Before his ret urn to Belgi u m fro m th e U. S ., Roger received a d raft agreement wh ich he returned to Su zuki ask in g that certain cha nges be made . They agreed . On J anuary 15. 1971 , he received a telegram fro m Japan an nou nci ng th ey h ad m a iled the final ver sion of the contra ct. A few hours la ter , Roger DeCoster was part of Team Suzuk i. Actua lly, Suzu ki ha d been int erest ed in Roge r during the 1970 G ra nd Pri x seaso n ; eve n t hen he wouldn 't say th ere was a bso lu tely no cha nce of a n e ve n t ua l switc h in fa ct ories. Left too ofte n to fend fo r himsel f by th e CZ fa cto ry corn peri rio n services, Roge r go t to kno w Suzuki ch ief eng ineer Mar suk i a nd t he Suz u ki team mech an ics in th e p its at eac h Grand Prix . He co u ld a lways co unt o n a helpi ng ha nd from t hem . T hey had pa rt icul a rly g ive n h im a lot of hl'lp at Lvov in- Ru ssia , whe re Roger ran into some pr oblems with his bike before th e officials wou ld let him take part in t he U .5 .5 .R . Grand Prix , Mar suk i, wh o had the o p po rt u nity to o bserve a n d ref' le c t w it h o u t pressur e on R o g e r' s per form ance on the trac k. ha d put Roger DeCoster' s name a t th e top of t he list in th e reports t ha t he sent to th e fa ct o ry chi efs in Japan , H e set " O pera tion DeCc stcr' in m o tio n o n September 11. A lett e r was sent fro m H a m a m atsu . Its intended recipient was Roge r DeC osrer - but th ey d id n't kn o w h is home ad dress. So th e lett er w,,; sent to J ol'! Ro bert a long with a request th a t he fo rw a rd it to his fe llow Belg ia n , J oel took 12 d ays to g,' t it over to Roge r's ho use , a bo ut a n hou r' s drive d istaru , J oel never exp la ine d wh y it "to o k him th at lo ng and Roger never inqui red into It he re as ons th a t ca used J oel to ac t So slo wly on Suzuk i's req ue st , On Se ptember 25, th e leu cr fina lly reac hed its addressee , I Roger no w kn ew th at Suzuki was officia lly ex pressi ng a n interest in him . The next d ay, the I resp onse went st ra ig ht to J apan : the interes t wa s mutual. Roger a lso req uested m ore info rm a tion and detai ls from Su zuk i. By th e seco nd of •O cto ber , a v('ry pre cise re ply ca m e. It was a n invitation to co me to Hamamatsu to test the ' G ra nd P rix m ach in es and d iscuss co ntracts, 1 Before his departure for Japan , Roger st ill had to race the Austrian 250 Gra nd Prix a t t he remot e A lpi ne village of Launsd o rf. A fter th e race, he j um ped o n a Suzu ki and made a few laps . Th at sa me evening . he had a long tal k with chief eng ineer Ma tsuk i, T he conversa tion tha t night m a rked th e com pletio n of the fir st ste ps by Su zuk i leading to the 500cc W o rld C hampionshi p. T he Suzuki fa ctory com pe titi on de p artm ent did not im agine for even a m om ent th at th eir slow , ca refu l a p pro ac h to tha t goa l of a worl d title would become a run away. Those truly knowledgeabl e in GPs th ou ght th at th e DeCost er·Suzuki co lla boration in th e ir first season together wou ld be merely a year of expe ri m enta tion, research , a nd d evel opment with th e new 370. On April 18th, ":t C ingoli, t~e 500 season opened with th e It a lian Grand Pr ix. There , th e fir st 45 ·minute m ot o o f th e 197 1 World Ch ampionsh ip rounds wa s also th e first win fo r Roger DeC oster a nd h is Su zuk i 370. It was to be qu ite a yea r for ' bo t h m an and m achine. " It wasn 't in Ital y th at I got to know th e m achine with which I'd be co nt est ing the G ra nds Prix in 1971 ," remembers Roger. " Prio r racing exposure o n Belgian tracks wit h th e Suzu ki 370 surpassed a ll m y expectations. I depa rted for Cingoli ver y confidently. I ha d ano ther Suzuki fa ct ory bik e on wh ich I'd been co m peting in th e pre ·season Belgian internatio na l m ot ocrosses. That pe riod of breaking-in th e new eq u ip ment be fo re the first Grand Prix was conducted under the best po ssible co n di t io n s for m e a nd m y ow n ra c in g development. But more th an that was the fact t ha t I felt co m pletely supported by a fact o ry that placed a lot of co nfidence in m e a nd which , as a result , provided m e wit h m ac h inery, m ech a nics, and pa rts th at , withou t doubt , no factory had ever be fo re put a t the d ispositio n o f t heir ri der s, It was a po sit ive reassu rance to m e th a t they wer e serious about our future toget her . Fo r me, th e time had co me to play m y best hand ." Roger pl ayed th at ha nd wit h th e complete co m m a nd of his cra ft , a cq uired in seve n yea rs of m ot oc ro ss, H is pok e r ga m e wit h Suzuk i . d efinitely marked o ne of th e m ost not a b le events in the histo ry of intern at ion al rnot o rsport , Neither of th em wer e b lu ffi ng . But was it rea lly a ga ml' of cha nce in which he held a lu cky hand , as Roger th ou g ht a t th e tim e? In th e 1971 ba ttle fo r th e W orl d C ha mp io nsh ip , . Su zuki offe red to th eir o nly 500 cl ass rider a ma ch ine whi ch brought Roge r to th e top ste p of th e victory podium five sepa ra te tim es in Gra nd Prix co m pe tition, It a lso broug h t him the world titl e in 500cc m ot ocross. T he RN 37 0 was th e right instrum ent in the ha nds of the righ t man. It wasn't o nly Roger wh o t ho ug ht he co ul d finish that " ex perim ent a l seaso n" with very po sitive results. J eff Smit h , already a two-time W o rl d Champio n o f con sid e r ab le raci ng expe rience. saw Roger a t work fo r the firs t ti me on th e 370 du ring th e ru nning of t he tradi tio na l "Easte r Trophy" m ot oc r oss a t M arc h e -en Famenne, Belg ium . He was im pressed eno ugh th a t he soug ht ou t Roger in the pit s a ft er th e race to tell him st ra ight ou t: "This season , th e Worl d Cham pionsh ip is you rs. On th e o ne condition that you ca n keep co ntrol over you r nerves," . A wee k la ter , afte r another Belgi an int erna tio n al a t Dwo r p , th e Swed e H a ka n Andersson , who was to de th ro ne J oel Ro bert to beco m e 250cc W o rld C ha m pion in h is own right in 1973 rid ing a prot ot y pe m on osh o ck Yam ah a , ' told the journa lists int erview ing him : . ' " T he re' s no d oubt: R oger is now the strongest of all of us. H e's m y favorite for the worl d title in th e 500cc class. " In 1972 , DeC ost er an d his Suzuki made a n eve n more formi da ble com binat ion , The res ults sheet that yea r was m a rk ed with six ove ra ll Grand Prix victo ries and a not her World Championship. That season , the DeCoster -Suzuki domination of the Grand Prix ci rc ui ts was virtuall y tota l. In 1973 , by addi ng two 500 Grand Prix wins and a third co nsecu tive title , Roger and Suzuki equalled the record of Pau l Fr iedrichs and CZ . Number One in th e world in 1966. '67. and '68 . From all the evidence , inclu d ing the personal experience of tho se who witnessed tha t 1973 seaso n . the com pe ti tion aga inst DeCoster was particularly fier ce. He fou nd himself battling against factory te a ms of th ree o r fo ur riders. all cooperating and all co mpeting o n ot he r famous marques in the motocross fiel d . The odds were stacked aga inst him in the '73 game. That st ate of affairs was particularly evident by the end of the season when Roger sq ueezed o ut the narrowest of victory ma rgins o ver Willi Bauer , top 500 class rider for t he W est German Mai co works . DeCoster as ked th e Suz uki offi ci a ls to sign a rid er to joi n him in th e 500 cc ba tt les. Roger voi ced his o pi n io n at St. Anr ho nis, Holl a nd , im m ed ia tely afte r th e Du tch 500 G P and th e e nd o f t he season -lo ng struggle wh ich brought hi m t hat th ird world titl e: "T here ca n't be any quest ion of co nt in uing a lone - as th e on ly Suzuki ' pilo te' - against all these teams a t the sa m e time. a ll of wh ich are made up of. m ore a nd m ore im p ressive riders. "Suzu ki must understand t his," ICon 'l. mu:t w ettk} 11

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