Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

, ; ~ . IIa II: ~ t t- r-O') 1""""4 ~ 0 ... 1""""4 rIJ So ::l ~ I (Left top) Gerr it in action at the USGP. (Left m iddle ) Before t he Carlsbad race Gerrit chats wit h Bruce Jenner and Gavin Trippe. (Left bottom ) Then went out and qualified f ourth f astest. (Above) Gerrit (30) grabs a ho leshot in Europe an co mpet it ion. Dr. Gerrit Wo/sink -licensed · to practice motocross By Chris M yers of Motor Cycle (U.K.) International m otocross is tough by any standards - it demands tr aveling tens of th ousan ds of miles each year to race all over the world; it demands several h ours each day for rigorous . 10 training , hours for m eticulous machine preparation and in a race it demands that the rider give everything he has to win . For the men at the top it demands so much time and dedi cation that it can take over their whole lives. All professionals ha ve to come to terms with it - with varying degrees of success. But one man who has made it to the top without letting motocross take over his life is Suzuk i teamster Gerrit Wolsink. Dutchman Gerritt has never earned 'his living at anything else other than motocross. He works hard and he rides hard - he's a 100% professional. Bu t when the meeting's over and the bikes are safely stowed away then Gerritt Wolsink, Grand Prix racer. goes home and relaxes with his wife as just plain Gerrit. " I make very sure that I keep it all in . perspective," he says firmly . "Of course motocross affects my private and social life to some degree , but I know where to draw the line and when the racing is over then I always go home to my wife, Annike, and it's very rarely that I'm away for more than three or four days at a time." "Annike is very good for me," admits Gerrit, "She rarely comes with me to meetings, really she's not th at keen on motocross, so when we're home we try to talk of other things." Gerrit was 30 in March and he 's been married three years: "I suppose Annike only married me because she realized that I've only got some seven years at the most as a professional rider. It certainly wasn't for the money," he jokes. Wasn't it? You must make a bit of money as a works Suzuki rider, I asked . "You must be joking, nobody makes a lot of money at motocross. Well , certainly not the riders ," Wosink says.. Gerrit has always been out -spoken when it comes to gett ing a better deal for the riders and is keen to have th e cake divided up a bit more fairly. "Motocross certainly isn't goi ng to . make any rider rich ," he says, "look at me , I'm a works rider, I have a factory contract with Suzuki Japan ' and I'm certainly not rich. Roger (DeCoster) isn't rich. When you think that the average man works until he is 65 - we) cannot expect to work beyond 35. "So can you blame us for trying to get as much money as we can, while we can? I hate to talk about money, but organisers are getting rich and we've a right to more." Bu t Gerri t gets depressed tal king money and has little time for those who - he says - "always want to be in the front row for a dime." He was born on March 3, 1947 in Hengelo in the east part of Holland. His father organised internation al motocross meetings at Hengelo as well as managing a big m ot or cycle business. "Not only that but I had an uncle who rode professi onally, so my future seemed assured, " says Gerrit, "I started riding professionally a t . 19, but I'd been getting in plenty of ' experience riding a little moped in wild cl u b m otocrosses . . .strictly unofficial , you understa nd," But always a little academic at school , Gerrit won a place a t Amsterdam University to study dentistry. He didn't let his studies interfere with his motocross. "W hen I went to the University my results got 'better both ways," he says. " I did better at motocross and got better grades in my exams. I rode Husqvarna in those days . In fact I stayed with them until 1972. Wolsink is pretty unique in motocross - a university graduate. It is fair to say that most riders left school to go straigh t into some sort of trade, .t hat

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