Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

By Gary Van Voorhis The countryside surrounding the south Central French town of Brioude will come alive with the sound of motorcycles o 00 0') ..... 10 September 22-28 as the 55th International Six Days Trial taltes place. Over 400 riders will be on hand representing 19 nations in what is referred to as the Olympics of motorcycling. Among that number will be a 40 rider contingent from the U.S. American riders have become a force to reckon with in international competition showing championship or championship contender form in world class road racing and trials as well as MX and speedway. The last field and perhaps the hardest to conquer is the ISDT. 1980 marks the start of our second decade of competition -- although there were some American riders competing before 1970, it wasn't effort. Our World Trophy Team entry will be out to hetter the fourth place finishes we carded in 1974 and again in 1976. Our best Silver Vase Team finish was a win in 1973. For the second year our Trophy Team members will be riding several brands unlike the one marque teams of 1970-78. John Morgan, Suzuki's enduro-trials team manager will mana~ this year's team and has a talent laden squad to work with. Husqvarna riders Dick Burleson, Frank Gallo and Ed Lojak will be joined hy Yamaha's Larry Roeseler, Suzuki's Mike Rosso and KTM's Frank Stacy. Gallo and Roeseler will contest the 500cc class while Rosso will be our 175cc entry. The rest of the team -Burleson. Lojak and Stacy -- will be on 250cc machinery. Although it would appear there would be inherent prohlems in supporting four makes on one team, team mana~r Morgan feels there is no problem and is pleased with the team. "Our support efforts are now unified," said Morgan, "We will be able to take care of our own riden unlike past years where teams were dependent upon the factory -Husqvarna, KTM, etc. -- to provide a great deal of support. We are now basically lelf sufficient .and that is a definite asset to the riders. "The machinery has reached a state of the art where the works equipment or specialized bikes the European powers are using is no lo~ the advanta~ it was a few yean ago. "As far as the team goes," continued Morgan, "everyone, with the exception of Stacy has ridden the ISDT before. Now that doesn't mean he is the new kid on the block. His background in MX, his love of trail riding and his mechanical ability are all a plus. I'm damn proud to have him. "I don't want to go out on a limb, but I feel that with the riders we have we should be able to do better than any team before us." Burleson, with nine previous ISDTs under his fanny pack, is the elder statesman on the team. Rosso has ridden in four. Gallo in three, Roeseler in two, Lojalt;n one and Stacy is a rookie. The question is obvious: Why put a rookie on the Trophy Team? The answer, if you've seen Stacy ride, is also obvious. He's damn good. Of course you can't tell what a rider will do under the pressure of the Six Days, but Stacy made believers out of many with his cool riding in the ISDT Qualifier Series. He posted the top score in two of the events -- no mean feat for a rider who had never competed in such events before. Stacy should be looked upon as one of the new breed and the way our team ~~w~ (1.}~A[9~m~(p [N)[9 (1.)~~ ~~U-[9A~m will have to go if we are to become a challenging power. As Burleson put it, "What we need are six Bob Hannahs on the Trophy Team. Six bullet fast MXers who can also ride trails and maintain their bikes. The other teams are made up of riders who for the most part spend the entin' year training and riding in their MX National Championships. " Ed Lojak comes to the Trophy Team with two overall top scores in the ISDT Qualifier Series also. The youngest member on the team, Lojak missed one series event so that he could attend his graduation ceremonies at Highlands High School in Tarentum, Pennsylvania. He collected a silver medal in last year's ISDT after a fall on Day Five broke his collarbone. Lojak continued to ride, but was also hampered by bike problems. La rry Roeseler should find that his desert racing experience gives him an edge in France if reports about the terrain hold true. Roeseler is the most adaptable rider we have for he goes just as fast in the woods as he does dodging cactus. Our top eastern riders have never been able to master the idea of not having any tree> to weave through when the Qualifier Series hits California. As the top American rider in West Germany last year. Roeseler has a very good chance to repeat. He was Husqvarna mounted in his only two (SDT rides and will be aboard a Yamaha this time. Frank Gallo needs no introduction. "Fast Frank" as many call him is just that .. fast. His riding style has been described as more like that of a berserk bulldozer than the finesse some riders display in the woods. Physical strength and an inborn sense of balance seem to work in equal parts for Gallo when it cOmes to riding on the r~ ~. Gallo, who did not ride in last year':: event, due to a broken wrist that wasn't sufficiently healed, switched from KTM to Husqvarna early in the season. Mike Rosso proved himself to be the iron man of the ISDT Qualifier Series carding seven gold medals in seven events -- the last three with a leg injury that hampered his riding and walking. Rosso was one of nine American riders to finish infamous Day Five in the 1977 CzechosJovaJtian ISDT .. the standard by which many rate just how tough things can get. His gutty performance earned a silver medal. Not only does Rosso ride. but he is also in char~ of preparation for the Team Suzuki bikes. This will be Dick Burleson's tenth (SDT. He is well on his way to a seventh consecutive AMA National Championship Enduro Series title and would like nothing better than to add his seventh straight gold medal. "I feel we have a pretty strong team in terms of overall capability," said Burleson. "Our strongest point is that we have the strongest special test squad we've ever had. I believe it will boil down to the special test scores because ( doubt we will see much mud or wet weather. The trails will be rocky, hard and fast which will probably cause a lot of tire wear and flat tires. We stand a good chance of making a very good showing." Silver V... Our four man Silver Vase Team will be headed up by a trio of Kawasaki riders -- Jack Penton, Ted Leimbach and Kevin Lavoie plus Suzuki rider John Ayers. Ayers· and Lavoie will contest the 500cc class while Leimbach win be in the 250cc division and Penton in the 175cc class. Team Kawasaki rider Jeff Hill, who failed to qualify for the ISDT, will mana~ the team. John Ayers, a long time National Championship MX rider, rode in his first ISDT last year and carded a gold medal. He, like Frank Stacy, combines MX skills, trail riding savvy and mechanical expertise into his program. Ayers came back from prob· lems in the first two ISDT Qualifier rounds to pick up 500cc class wins in the final two rounds. Teddy Leimbach is heading for his fourth ISDT and another shot at turning in the best score of an American rider. He was our top 250cc rider in last year's ISDT. The soft spoken college student .. agricultural economics at Ohio State University" would probably say that he had a bad year in the qualifiers since he did nOt tum in a class winning ride or an overall best score. Leimbach loves to ride and ride fast. Kevin Lavoie always seems to rise to the occasion and the ISDT is the occasion. Lavoie. in his sixth run for the gold, will be looking to add another top placing in class as he did last year with the best American score in the S50CC division. There is no S50cc class this year 50 Lavoie has moved into 500cc competition. In the off season and on days wben he isn't out kicking up dust, Lavoie tends the bar in his family's restaurant in Chepachet, Rhode Island. Jack Penton rode his first ISDT in 1970 and was a member of the Ville Team. He has been a Tropby or Ville Team member every year since. TbiI year Penton took on a new role .. that of team mana~r. He proposed to Kawasaki that he run their off·road effort and develop it. They bought the program and that was the stan of True Spon Development and Kawasaki's committment to the enduro and ISDT crowd. "Things are really looking good." said Penton in reference to the Vase Team. "We're working our tails off and everyone is charged up. If things click off for us then we should do really well because we have a very competitive squad. I haven't spoken to John (Ayers) lately, but I believe things are going smoothly on his end. John MOTJan (of Suzuki) is taking care of hts bike 50 we should be in good shape all around. I thing we'll be right in the thick of things. The key for every rider is to be both physically and mentally fit. If you are, you've won half the battle." • ISDTTEAMS ""'* ""'* Trophy T-.: 1. Golla 1500 Hull: 2. Lorry _ 1 5 0 0 Y_I: 3. StKy l250 KTMl: •. Dick _ l250 Huol: 5. Ed lojoIl l250 (Hull 6. Mike _1175 Suzl. T-. ~ John Morgen. V_: 1. John Ayero 1500 Suzl: 2. Ted Loi_ l250 Kawl; 3 . .leek _1175 Kawl: •. K..... uVoie 1500 Kawl. T-.~: Jelf Hill. MANUFACTURERS TEAM Y..-w I: 1. lMry R _ 1500 Yom); 2. Jim _ 1 5 0 0 Yom); 3. Rid< Munyon l250 Yom). T..., ~ : BiIlIlelI. Suzuki: 1. Drew Smith 1250 Suzl; 2. Joft _ l25OSuzI: 3. M"dte _1175SuzI. T..., ~ Gus BloI

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