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/126904
you have LO ride with ittne rest ofthe" six days." TheU.S.ISDETrophyTeamdoesn't get as much recognition as the U.S. MX teams competing in the Trophy and Motocross des Nations. Some of the ISDE riders resent that, but RoeseLer doesn't seem to mind. "With motocross, you're dealing with a lot of spectators, national television, and these guys are getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to race bikes, where ISDEers are the unseen heros. We just ride off into the distance and come back eight hours later with people. not having a clue of what kind of hell we went through. In Europe, the ISDE is much more popular. They run qualifier-type European Championships, and being in Europe, it's a really big market for them, like our National enduros are here. "To make the ISDE more popular in the U.S., we need to have local clubs run ISDE-type events with special tests and enduro-type schedules. I rode one like this last year up in Oregon called the China Hat, and they had about 500 riders. It's a big race and a lot of fun. All YOl\ need is a route chart and a wrist watch, no big expensive clocks like normal endUTOS. ....... ..... .... 0.. < The final event of the six-days was the four-stroke motocross special test. Roeseler (162) smoked everyone, including rival Giugliemo Andreini (172). Roeseler (below left) during opening ceremonies. '1 Roeseler's racing career began when he was five years old racing a Briggs and Stratton-powered minibike. His first motorcycle was a Honda 50, then a Yamaha 80. "My first trophy came at Perris Raceway during an English trials when I was seven. Then my dad and I rode D-37 desert races. In 1965, my dad was number one, so we went to the desert a lot. From then on I just kept progressing. My first major accomplishment happened when I was coming up through the ranks, and the drstrict number one plate was it. We used to have over 200 riders in the lOOcc class alone, and I eventually made it to the number one spot in the lOOccclass. Those were the days when the Harley-Davidson Baja was the king of the desert. I was the number one plate holder for two years before I moved up the the 250cc class where I became number one. The following year I rode the Open class and got the number one plate. My first Baja race was in 1972 where Mitch Mayes and I teamed up and won the 125cc class. In 1979, it was my first real debut in Baja when Bruce Ogilvie and I won the overall on a 250cc Harley. That was a big accomplishment." In Spain. Roeseler (below) was top American and finished second overall in the four-stroke class. (Right) Getting ready to start day four. Despite winning all those desert races, Roeseler says, "I definitely prefer enduro-type riding, like the kind of riding we're doing here today technical, with six-days kind-ofthinking, concentrating on inches and cutting a fine groove. You know, going across desert is hard in its own way, but it's not as technical in a lot of aspects. I much prefer the six-daystype riding, where there's thinking involved. "I consider myself as being real versatile and I want to be known,for. that, like Malcolm Smith, who I've always really respected for all of his accomplishments. And for me, it's a little extra to be from California, because I'm not really supposed to know how to ride in the woods and in the tight ·stuff. But that's where I really do good - the technical stuff. I really want to continue the next three or four years and keep going to the six-days and try to get gold medals and win my class, and just really try to set a mark as an American as the be,si (ipisher.evtlT." • 7