Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

12 Among all these incontestably grea t racers. the five -time 500cc World Champion . DeC ost er . occup ies a very special place in th e accomplishments his titles re p rese nt. Of all t he riders of his generation . Roger wou ld see m to be the m ost complete moto crosser. Not on ly because of h is great achiev em en t s i n intern a ti onal competit ion bu t . in part. because as a pe rso n a lity he is the first truly intern a tional World C ha mpion - in di versity of ven ue and. in a ttitude . T he re is al so his virt uoso a bil ity to ada pt to all types of motocross circu its: san dy . m udd y. rocky. o r grassy. and his m ast ery of all the obstacles encountered o n these tracks: tricky. off-ca mber co rners; long. bumpy st raights rip pl ed with ru ts; uphills and dropaways . H e is the co mplete motocrosser not only for t his range of capabilities but also in that h e c a n d em onstr a t e h is co nsidera ble ta lent with a 250 class m ach ine , on which he ca n and d oes ru n at fu ll throttle , as well as he d oes on a 500 class bike . wh ich req ui res dolin g out t he power in m ore se lec tive doses. In fact . most of the ti mes th a t Roger ra ced against 250 cc World champion J oel Robert , with both o n identical RH250 Suzukis, Roger be a t him , There is further evidence to su p po rt th e " Com plete Motocrosser" appell at ion . especia lly his numerous good placings and wins in bo th 250cc and 500cc G ra nds Prix as well as in both th e Trophee, and Mot ocross d es N ations for bik es of those res pect ive d isplacements, Som e co n c r e te ex a m p les o f D eCost ers performance under varying co nditions: First . h is unmatch ed string of win s o n th e roc ky. tree-lin ed " Citadel" circu it in Namur, traditional site of the Belgian 500 Grand Prix. Then . note a lso. hi s crushi ng victo ries in seas of mud . first at Ga llarate ( h a lian 500 GP). t he n at Sittendo rf (Austrian 500 GP); multiple Grand Prix win s o n the Farleig h Ca stl e . Engla nd co u rse . wh ich is la id out complet ely up -and-d own-h i I; an d success on t he strength-and pow er-sapping sand tracks of St. Anthonis . H o lland ( Dutc h 5 00 G P) and Wuustwezel ( Belgi a n 250 GP). But DeCoster seems to find. and demonst ra te . his true m etier in th e 250 cc T rop hee des Nations . wh ich he has won in Holland . Belgium . and England. and the 500cc Motocross des Nati ons from whose 1969. 1972 . and 1973 ru n ni ngs on widely varying courses he also emer ged as th e top ind ivid ua l rider. The combination of flexibility. des ir e. brain s. and skill has F a rely, if eve r . come together in World Championship com petit ion as effectively as it has in the person of Roger DeCoster. Those qualities b ecom e ob viou s to bot h competitor and spectator if yo u watch him ra ce for a while. The personality that is sel do m revealed publicly is more complex - though sti ll incorporating the qualities mentioned. His range of humor is impressive - from a fin e . ironic wit in conversation to ' a genuine pl ea sure in re -telling every shade of joke in one of th e five languages he speaks flu ently. It is typi cal of DeC oster humor that when the American Motorcycl e Association info rmed him tha t his com peti tion number f ot the 1974 Trans-AMA series (in prior years. usually #1 or #2 ) would be 61. he replied: " If it's go ing to be that big . make it 69." " O oo h." giggled the AMA sec re tary over the telephon e . " a re you sure you want 69?" " Yes. That's a good number . don't you thi nk so?" replied Roger . "Su re. if that's what you want . OK." said th e sec reta ry and giggled some more . It is al so typ ical of DeCost er that-he went on to win t h a t 10 -race series aga inst th e stiffest European and American competit ion yet seen in the Uni ted States. That is only part of the human side of a motocross World Champion. H e appears slightly out of focus at first encounterin the m isting ra in of a wet Belgian summer digging in his ga rd en . wearing old muddy shoes and pants. plus a "wet look " Suzuki paddock jacket. The garden is nea t . extensive. orderly. well thought -out like the man he has become. Even wh en he 's handling a hoe. he looks like a W orld Champion. It is the same lean . angular face. that smiles down on you fr om a hundred advertising billboards in Belgium . He smiles reflectively. getting the weeds out from be,tween th e roses . . In addition to being Roger DeCoster . World . Champion . he is also Roger DeCoster. a man of co nsid e r a b le personal wit . charm . and intell igence, But there is always about him a certain tangible presence . that of a person who ha s achieved what nobody else on eart h has Roger's mechanic, Ito . signals Roger that he is six seconds behind Ake Jonsson with 10 minutes to go at Enelbruck, Luxembourg. One lap later, Roger was three seconds behind. and his S uzuki broke. achieved in t his time period. Now , Roger exudes a sense of confidence and a q uiet competence that is tak en for granted . DeCoster seems much la rger th a n he ac tua lly is. H e has a well-m uscled slim bod y and a way of m ovin g t hat is a lways in perfect ba la nce. bely ing a 5'S", I SO-pound f ra me t ha t wou ld be incon sequ ential o n m any m en . It is in the eyes th at you ca n read mu ch of Roger's publi c self. T hey blaze co ld b lue with co m pe titive determ in at io n wh cn he is on a motocross track wh eth er in act ua l co m peti tion or testing , If you watch closely in the turns , Roger looks very fierce yet with a tight -lipped enigmatic kille r gri n that says " I'm going to get you - because I know exact ly what I'm doing." Off the track. the eyes still crink le in smiles at a joke or a hu m o rou s co m ment - whether of his own making or by someone else . Ar.d the eyes always loo k directly at you whe never Roger ta lks to you . - he eyes and the T presen ce of the man de mand you r attention : U nlike too m a ny of our heroes, Roger gets be rt..r the better you know him. He is not a clod or du mb athlete b ut is able to converse int ell igen tl y on subjects ot her than m ot ocross. His business dea lings and enderse m erit s are now widespread bu t properly a rra nged a nd d iscreet. DeC ost er kn ows his wines. wh ic h he chooses intelligently to a ccom pany post -race m eal s. H e seldoms drinks, ot he rwise. H e ad mires and ca n recognize fine antiques a nd a rt - some of which are displayed casua lly in hi s com forta ble ho me at T rernelo . Roger is not a snob . He has been one of th e m ost approachable W orl d Champions in a ny major sp ort . perh aps be cause he wo rked so lo ng to ac hieve th e goa l. Age m ell ows and refi nes even in th e you th -do m ina red spo rt of m o to cro ss , It clea rly ta kes bra ins as well as a n eager th ro tt le hand to become W orld Ch ampion . .Asid e from t he fact th a t it see ms to be a basic tra it of his personality, it's hard to fig ure out wh y Roger is suc h a ki nd person ou tside 'of the co m peti tion arena , He is - never ma king a jo ke th at will hurt someone, seldom saying anyt hi ng beh ind sorneone's ba ck that he won 't say to their face . (If Roge r doesn't like you. you' ll soon know ir.) H e will hel p o u t his frien ds even whe n he d oesn 't: really need to . Real izing this. strong commitment of personal frie ndship can oaly come thro ugh experience . of course. b ut DeCoster co uld remain beh ind th e W orl d Cha m p ion shield more than he does. T his d oes not m ean t hat he gives of his time unreservedly. H e's aware of its va lue. H e al so has a clea r awa re ness of what is involved in t h e g ai ning a nd ho ldi ng o f a , W orld Champio nship . Sp eakin g in late 1973 . after being co nfi rmed in his third world ti tle, he commen ted . " Each yea r it becomes a little closer. You will notice th at most W orld Champions a re W orld cham pions twice, The second yea r you have both th e confidence a nd th e a bility. T he second yea r I was cha m pion. it was very easy for m e, This yea r it was very close, I had to use m y head more th an Willi Ba uer did . T hat's wh er e th e expe rience is 'n ec essa r y, Ev e ry sea son the competiti on is tougher. " • The m otocross eve nt s that seem important . really important . to Roger DeCosrer are the Motocross des Nations (500cc bikes) and the Trophee des Nations (250cc bikes) . That's when the big guns from both displacement classes all come together. grouped by national teams, Everybody of significance in world motocross is th ere and the all go at it together . both th e 250 and 500 GP 'pilotes." Roger won both events in 1972 and 1979 . And. of course , th ere is th e motocross World Championship. " I am go ing to try very hard next yea r to win it ," he sa id quietly, Nobody had ever won four 500cc World cha m o ions hins . Of his four brothers . o n ly Daniel and Armand have tri ed to foll ow in Roger' s path . They real ized quickl y eno ug h that th eir o lder brother was alre ady o pera ti ng on an ent ire ly differ ent per sonal plane . .. and internationa l co m pe titio n, well. that was something else again . Th~ th ey decided even th ough . betw een the two of them . they discovere d in t hemse lves so me o f the sa me ri ding c h a r acterist ics and ski lls as t hei r m ore accomplished b rother . W h at they had. m ore tha n anythi ng else , how ever . wa s the pe rfect coach-i nstructo r: a W orl d C hampio n in the fam ily. Bu t neither Dan iel nor Armand cou ld ever envision givi ng u p everyt hi ng else to m ak e a ca reer in motocross. Roger' s a d vice serve d to erase a ny rem aining doubt about the fa llacv inherent in . tentative approac h to a p rofessional motocross career: " It's the kind of decision yo u m ak e o nly if you see you have a rea l cha nce of making a success at it. Otherwise , do n't foo l you rself. " D a ni el . a n d Arm an d st i ll m ak e fre q uent a ppea rances a t Belgia n m ot ocross tracks bu t they' cons ide r th eir ra cin g more th a n a nything else , recrea tion. va lua ble for th e cha nge of pa, e it offers th em after a wee k of worki ng in th e ga ra ge th ey ow n a long wit h th eir father a nd broth er An dre . T ha t ga rage is st ill on the Ru e Eng la nd, in Ucc le , Belg ium wh er e the boys were born . In th e q uesti on of a career. Roger sti ll has n't fo und any ot he r professiona l th at woul d m ak e hi m change his m in d about motocross . As one res ult , he still ha sn 't rea lly decided wha t he will d o when he ends his m oto cross career. H e ha~ a lreadv made himself fa miliar witht h e a utomobile side df motorsport but the terminal risks engendered in followi ng tha t particula r high -speed discipline tend to induce caution and a certain healthy circumspect . The pattern is well-established . as Mike H a il wo od and J o hn Su rr ees h a ve deornonstra ted in their successful tra nsitio n from bikes to ca rs in W.o rld Championship racing . But Roger th inks , no w. there 's little chance o f some day seeing his na m e in t he resu lts fro m a fo urwh eeled race. Desp ite his disclaimer, he is ca pable of driving well a nd the rumors co ntin ue to bui ld . particula rly after a nother m o to cross inj ury , t hat DeC oster will give u p two wh eels fo r four. Ac tua lly. Roger a ntici p a tes with increasin g determi n a tio n co nfi rm ing hi s fu t u re activities wit hin the realm of m oto rcycle sport. Possibl y. as a m entor a nd tea ch er of you ng " p ilotes '" o n th e way up . O r- even as a tec h nica l co nsu lta nt for some fac to ry, wh ether th ey want to ca ll it R&D . testing , tuning . o r wha tever. With the experience he has, especia lly th e t horoug h technical background not co m mon to all interna tiona l " pilotes". DeCost er will no doubt be able to find an activity th at will assure him of a post -r a cin g futu re . An other of th e o ptions th at Roger entert ains is t he possi bility of building a perm an ent m oto cross circ u it somewhere, p ro ba bl y in Europe . with a complete and perm a nent in frastructure , much like the roa d racin g tracks a lready in existence at ' Da yto na Beach , Flo rid a o r Ontario . Cal ifornia . H e env isions a via ble futu re fo r m o to cro ss thro ug h increased spectator a p peal. " In a co untry like Belgium , in which motocross enjoys maximum po pularity. I sincerely bel ieve th at this type of com plex is indis pe nsa b le. T he project does not see m to be m e all tha t ut opian , Pl us . with a lways m ore popu iatio n pr essure , we are in danger of losin g the use 'of some natural tracks wh ich .see on ly o ne or two races a yea r run o n them . It see ms like a p roject both realizable and profitable ." . Roger' s U .S . racing experience has influenced him . as the so- ca lled "stad ium motocrosses" in thi s co u ntry have had very high sp~ct a to r popularity. After. participating in a co u p le of _ these races o n man -made courses. Roger's candid comment was. " It's not so bad as I t ho ug ht." Hi s European motocross com p lex is probably realizable . unless Roger emigrates permanently to the United States. The change in residence is not at all impossible since one o f his co -equal ambitions is to create a motocross racers' school. In 1915 . he was invited to Greece to give such a course to local riders. It was a task that Roger returned from very pleased . Mainly. because his . students showed th emselves to be quite satisfied with th e sch ooling. " Befo re I went to Greece, I doubted the actual worth of these motocross lessons, However. at Athens I bec ame aware that if t he course of instruct ion is basically well -conceived . if all that the student racers may and must do is first fairl y

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