Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Ii • -= s t II- O"l ....-4 CN CN (1) t:: :l ", ~ DeCoster sti ll had a cha nce at th e last GP to pull ou t a c ha m pionship desp ite the ea rly season d ominance of Mikkola on t he H usqv arn a . Bec ause when Roge r had n't been b reaking in mot es. he had usuall y been winn in g th em , particul arl y past the m id -sea so n m ark as he ca me into his tu ll powers of fitness a nd co nce ntra tion. Slowly, he had been cree pi ng up o n Mi kkol a 's seem ing ly unassaila ble point s lead . W inning th e Dutch and Belgia n Gra nds Pr ix back to back ha d helped everyt h ing a lot , incl udi ng Roger's mor ale. He ha d foug ht back into serious contention against th e predictio ns of m any, so me of whom just wa nt ed to see some body besides DeCoster ca rrying th e #1 pl at e in the 500cc class. So it came down to the final Grand Prix and t he remaining m athema tical posibility for Roger to ta ke a not he r W o rl d C ha mpionship . Th e cond itions were not esp ecially easy . He had to win a moto and Mik kola could finish no higher than thi rd. Both the a ntagonists were confiden t. Roger knew he could win on the Ett elbruck circuit b ut who wou ld displace Heikki fro m second place? DeCoster fought to the front of the pa ck after one lap of t he firs t moto a nd t hen , started going awa y. Wit h ha lf t he timed 40 m inu tes of the hea t already gone, he had a 15 seco nd lea d . The n ca me th e explosive cra ck of the separating can rod in t he Suz uki 's engi ne . Hei kki Mikkola was 1974 World Ch am pion . Roger had brought a case of cha mpagne to Lu xem bou rg wit h him . He carried it over to th e H usq varna pits. "I was go ing to drink it one way or anot her : celebra ti ng victory or drown in g defeat. One tim e . 1 think it was Sylva in [Geboers] who had brought some cha m pagne to th e last GP when he was very close in th e fig ht for t he 25 0 Cham pio nship with J oel. When J oel won, Sylvai n went hom e withou t ope ning t he cha mpagne. I d idn't want to do th at. " Rem a rka bly, th en a nd lat er , Roger d id n't see m t hat bitt er in de feat . Even- those wh o knew him well didn't kn ow what to ex pect since he'd never lost the World Ch ampionship , after holdin g it , befor e. His a ttitude see med to be that he'd given it his best effon ; t h at seco nd in W o rl d Championship standings was be tter th an anything else - except first. "After the season, I would ha ve been ha ppier winning of co urse , but it was better to lose it tha t way - right up to the last mo ta - tha n to kee p beat in g m yself or getting ' beaten co nsistent ly by H eikk i. " Belgi um won th e Trop hee des Nations [for 250cc motoc ro ss m achines] with me sco ring well for th e tea m. T he n , we h ad a d isaster at th e Mot ocross des Nations [for 500cc bikes]. J aak had a bad crash in th e first heat a nd I broke a cha in . They would n't let me sta rt th e seco nd hea t becau se Belgium d idn't ha ve en ough gu ys to m ake a fu ll tea m in the first mot a. " (U nder th e rul es for th ese events, three rid er s fro m ea ch cou ntry m ust fini sh each hear .) . So wha t Roger DeC oster was left wit h at t he end of th e 1974 Gr and Pr ix season was second place by six points , five DNFs wh ile leadin g GP mot es . a derailed ch a in a t th e Motocross des N a tio ns (wh ich he had wo n th e previous two yea rs) , a nd works Suzuki that he finally ha d so rted ou t so it was one of th e tOP GP ' bikes in the world , somet hi ng it hadn't been a t th e beginni ng of the season , And co nt ract ta lks were com ing up wit h Suzu ki. T here was onl y one th ing left for hi m to do: win (Above, leh) Even Roger DeCoster was once a Junior. Already, his distinctive trials-derived style was emerging. (Abovelln the 1973 U.S. 500 Grand Prix at Carlsbad, Roger and Willi Bauer battled in an im porta nt round of the World Championship. Bauer 121 won. (Above,rightl In 1973, DeCoster stares intently while waiting for the U.S, GP start.IBelowl Taken with American humor, Roger had this Knott's Ghost Town marriage certificate made up for Joel and Jeanine Robert, They were married in 1970, the year of Joel's fourth 250cc World Championship. Roger's mother, Aorence DeCoster, doesn't really read English. IBottom) At Car lsbad in 1973, you can tell it's Roger just from the style. I ~ . th e America n T ra ns-Alvl A series. It was one t hing he had never done before. In fact , his post -Grand Pr ix perform an ces in previous T ra ns ·AMA series had been d ecided ly lackluster compared to his GP ra cin g . He had never won more than two events in th e series before - mostl y because he had never really tried to. " It is very impro tant for me to win th e series th is year ," Roger stated grim ly. So he d id. He won th e first ra ce in Ca nada which di dn 't pa y points towa rd th e overall title a nd he won the next o ne in Ne w York, whi ch di d . T he n he relentlessly bega n to bui ld u p a points lead with a sixth in Ohio , a p a ir of win s in Geo rgi a and T ex as, and a seco nd in W ash ington sta te. He wrapped up the series with a convincing seco nd mota win in the h ills near Liverm ore , California some two months after the opening round . Tha t runa wa y ride to the checke red flag , which he would repea t more for form 's sake than anything but pride one week later at Saddleback Pa rk, gave him the overall series win a nd a sec u re , visib le title tOr 1974 : TransAMA Champion . It d oesn 't have qui te the sam e solid ring as " World Champion" but it did give h im some leverage for ba rg aining wit h the Suz u ki brass. It was, Roger said smiling over celebratory ca ke and win som e days 'la ter. " bctt er t ha n nothing ." W hen he said it , his fa ce was split by th e wry gri n whi ch sai d , it's a lot bett er tha n noth ing , Heikki Mikko la , t he man who had wrested th e World Champions hi p a way fro m DeCoster , m ade a token appearance in that series to sat isfy the Am e rica n Hu sq varna di st r ibutors a nd then returned to Finl and to nurse th e ankle he had first inj u red in the Dutch Gra nd Pri x and bask in t he glo w of his first cham pio nship . He wouldn't have won th e Trans- AlvlA series even if he'd raced a ll th e events. He did n't need the tit le a ny more th an DeCoster had in previou s yea rs wh en h e ha d been Worl d Cha m p ion . But in 1974 , DeCoster needed some th ing. W ith tot a l determi na tion, he went after it a nd go t it , For em ost a mong Deflost er's adversarie s for the Tra ns·AMA title was Suzuki teammate . Ge rri t Wolsink , who was virt u all y recovered from his serious cras h in the Belgia n Gra nd Prix . Wolsink was crushingly co nsiste nt in the to p five - a good wa y to win a lon g series bu t . at th e end. finished seco nd to DeCoster. Roger also be a t his 1973 nem esis from the Grand Prix circuit. Germ an W illi Ba uer , who was now . ironically. also ridi ng for Su zu ki. By t he end of th e series , th e duel had resolved itself on ce again into a two-m an affai r. T his time. between Roger a nd Adolf Weil. Bu t in that final m oto at Sadd leb ack, DeCoster just d isappeared fro m th e rest of th e pac k. He go t so far ou t in front it was d iffic u lt to tell he was even in th e sa me m ota . It was a good way to end in Decem ber what ha d sta rted so d ismally back in Februa ry. Roger DeCoster fini shed his 1974 season by sho wing every bo dy how to lea d a nd win a lon g . rou gh 45·minute moto. It was th e icing on a ca ke he'd spe nt mont hs makin g for himself, months someti me s filled with tria ls, erro rs, a nd d isappointmen t. T he pub lic address syste m at th e Ca lifo rnia tr a ck kept asking for DeCoster to co me to the victory po d ium for the t rophy p resent at ion. Roger grabbed his m ini , b ike a nd fou nd his beautiful wife , La urie , amo ng t he cr owd . Togethe r th ey pu tt ed up th e start hill , where a n hour befor e Roger had led the charge of 40 O pen class motocrossers. It was a ll over. • (Con tin ue d next week) 7

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