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/126463
o .... 00 0') M ~ < The D....I addilioD 10 T..... Ka. . . . .i is al..eady ap 10 faclo..y speed aDd IDabuily By Jim Gianatsis The end of every motocross season sees less than a handful of hot young privateers advancing up that steep and difficult ladder to earn a spot on a major factory team. The conclusion of the 1979 season saw just four riders making it. They were Donnie Cantaloupi with Yamaha Richard Coon and Ron S~ 22 . with Honda, and then perhaps the quickest and' most imp~essive of all, 1.7-year-old Larry WosI~k who was SIgned by Team KawasakI. Larry Wosick's first year on the National Motocross circuit was 1979. He was one of two members on Team Moto-X Fox, Donnie Cantaloupi in the 125cc class and Larry in the 250cc class. Moto·X Fox has a reputation for being the top farm club on the National circuit, having fielded the top non·factory riders in the 125cc class the past three years with Pat Richter. Danny Turner and Donnie Cantaloupi. while other Team MOIOX Fox alumni include factory stars Steve Wise of Honda and Mark Barnett with Suzuki. For Larry. the 1979 season was a growing.up process. He had ridden dirt bikes since he was seven, and had been racing since the age of 14 with support from his parents, At 16, he had his AMA Professional MX license and was tearing up the tracks of northern California. The year before. he had earned his Expert rating in CMC events and attacked the 1978 season with a vengeance. winning the Number One plate in all three CMC Pro classes combined . "I was still a privateer at that time. My parents were buying my bikes, and 1 was paying for parts and upkeep out of my weekly winnings. 1 remember going down to Moto·X Fox one day and asking Geoff Fox for some shocks, He didn't want to give them to me. but wanted to sell them to me. That following weekend they had a race at Knob Hill and Moto·X Fox rider Jim Turner was there. Geoff Fox was watching as I beat ~urner and ~on both classes after commg from behind The next day Geoff called me up t~ come down to Moto-X Fox and ask~ me to join the race team." Larry finished out the 1978 season riding for Moto·X Fox at local races near his home in San Jose, CA. He turned 17. and Moto-X Fox provided him with mechanic Mike McAndrews. expenses. a modified CR 250R Honda and sent them off to campaign the 1979 Florida Winter·AMA races. It was Larry's first experience away from home and he went wild. He was more concerned with checking out the night life at the discos. chasing girls and having a good time than he was in training. leaming to ride the Florida sand and doing well in the races each weekend. The end of the series saw Larry pla~ed flft,h ~verall in the 250cc c1~ whJch w~n t bad: b.ut not enorely good elthe~ consIdering. ~he less·than-fact~ry.cahber competltlon he was up agal~. l:arry .and Mik~ returned home to Califorrua. a~d m the f?ur w~ before the. NatJonals ~~n It was tJme to g~ seriOUS over trammg and pre· paratJon. The ~ult w~, when the first 250cc NatJonal kIcked off at Hangtown, Larry was fasl. ~ fast that he ran most of the opening moto behind Bob Hannah, battling with Jimmy Weinert over second place until he fell in the closing laps and.had to settle for fifth place. Larry came back just as strong in the second moto and was once again battling with the top factory stars up front when a spectator ran across the track in front of him. Flat-out in fifth gear. the collision destroyed his new Fox Honda. left Larry with a badly sprained ankle among other bruises and scrapes. and lICDt the spectator to the hospital in critical condition. Larry missed the following week's National at Saddleback while his bike was repaired and his body tried to heal. He rejoined the Nationals at Phoenix. but his ankle was still too sore to allow him to race at full speed. It wasn't until two more weekS had gone by and the Denver National that he was able to ride at top speed again. Even though he hadn't been able to ride or train seriously for four weeks, at Denver and the remaining 250cc Nationals Larry proved himself to be the fastest non-factory rider at every race. The 250cc Nationals fmished out in 1979 with Larry in sixth place overall despite having missed three matos entirely and then having to ride injured the next couple of weeks. The only non·factory rider to finish in front of Larry in the overall standings was Team LOP's Mark Gregson in fifth place. If the Hangtown accident hadn't taken place though. Larry might have finished out the Nationals as high as third or fourth overall. While Larry looked impressive on the track, off the track he still had a lot of growing up to do. He was best of friends with Team Suzuki's Darrell Shultz and together they terrorized the towns and sign·in hotels of every National they were at. thrashed their way through rent-a-racers and left broken·heaned pit toouin scattered across America. . At times Larry seemed like a spoiled brat. Once at a local race when his bike broke in both .classes he was riding. he stomped off leaving the bikes lying on the side of the track for Mike to go after retrieve. When Mike returned to the pits, he found Larry gone and his own tool box sitting on the ground where the Fox van had been. Throughout the 250cc Nationals. it was understood that if Larry did well, he would have first shot at an opening at Team Honda for the 1980 season. When the AMA staged the Four· Stroke Nationals at Carlsbad the beginning of Septernber, Team Honda invited Larry down to ride a special Bill Bell built XR 500 in the race. It was a trial ride for Larry in that it was the first time he worked with the Team Honda personnel. If they liked how he performed he could possibly have taken over Marty Tripes' place on the team beginning with the upcoming Trans·USA Series. Larry won the first moto over such factory stars as Yamaha'. Rex Staten. then on the opening lap of the second moto he suffered a bent shift lever. Larry brought the bike into the pits, dropped it into the hands of the factory Honda mechanics. then walked off like a prima donna in a huff with his chances of winning seemingly gone. The mechanics quickly straightened the bent shift lever. but by the time they could convince Larry to go back out and finish the race, he was a lap behind. Once he did go back out on the track. he was able to work back up to a creditable fifth place before the finish, but if he had stayed with the bike when he had brought it into the pits at first, he possibly could have still won the race overall. Honda told Larry they would keep him in mind. but immediately went looking elsewhere for riders to bolster their sagging race team. Larry. meanwhile, was still expecting Honda to sign him on to their team by the end of the ynr. Darrell Shultz owned a Corvette with which the two of them had styled their wily around the California countryside, and Larry figured it was time to get a Veue to help prepare himself for the upcoming expected role as a factDry motocross star. Despite the fact he didn't have a job and wasn't on any salary with Moto-X Fox. Larry finagled through financing on a $16.000 jet black L·82 four.speed coupe with every option in the book. The insurance alone on the Vette for a 17·year·old kid was probably more than what he had won in prize money all summer on the National circuit, and he was still making payments on a van he already owned. The upcoming Trans·USA Series had Larry slated to ride the Nlltional Support class. Team Honda offered Moto·X Fox either the use of an RC 250 works bike or Marty Smith's 560 Mugen National bike, but Fox figured Larry would be more competitive on a 450cc Maico. It was a decision which would certainly sever any remaining interest Honda had for Larry. unless of course. he won the National class outright. Riding a Maico was something that Larry didn't want either. He felt much more comfortable on Hondas which suited his riding style. and he wanted to keep ties with Honda, It was the flJ'St sign of his growing maturity. though, that he accepted the Maico which Fox prepared for him without complaint. He knew the end of the season was close at hand and it would be his performance in the Trans·USA Series which would determine if he picked up any factory ride at all. The first two races of the Trans· USA Series on the 450 Maico proved to be a disaster for Larry. He couldn't cope with the bike and the bike couldn't cope with him. At Mid-Ohio he DNFed the race stuck in a mudhole. At Buchanan. he pulled last place starts and never recovered to the front of the pack. . Something needed to be done quickly if Larry was to be signed with a factory team before the end of the year. Teammate Donnie Cantaloupi had already signed with Team Yamaha back in September. Arrange·.