Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Les. th.n • mile from the st8rt of the six-d8y. in Alp, Sp8in, Roeseler he.d. up • rocky stre.m on hi. 51 Oce four-stroke Husky. Interview: Six-d.e ISDE gold .edalist Larry Roeseler America's nnseenhero By Kit Palmer Larry Roeseler. He's won just about every major desert race in the United States, some, four or five times over. That's an impressive record for the 29-year-old Californian nicknamed "LR." But, believe it or not desert racing isn't Roese" . Ier s favonte sport. \yhat re~l1.y makes Roeseler's blood boll IS 6 lhe International Six-Days Enduro (ISDE). Riding almost 200 miles a day for six days straight over some of the loughestterrain imaginable in a foreign country is what Roeselerreally enjoys most, and he's proven it. Roeseier has ridden in ei~ht ISDE events; in lhal time, he's earned six gold and two silver medaJs in one of the world's mOSl prestigious o££-road motorcycle races. The first ISDE race was held in 1925. Some 60 years later, no V.S. Trophy Team has won the gold, nor has an American rider ever captured a class win. Butlasl year in Alp, Spain, Roeseler, for the third time, was the lOp American rider and came very close to giving the V.S. ils first-ever ISDE class win. Roeseler left Spain with a second in the four-stroke class and a burning desire to do even beller in lhis year's ISDE in Bergamo, Italy. Roeseler was born and raised in Bellflower, California, and now lives in San Diego, Galifornia, near Husqvarna headquarters, where his primary function is to race and develop Husky's four-stroke line of off-road motorcycles. His most recent win came March 10 at the AMA 0-38 King of the Desen race near San Diego. A week laler, at the Viewfinders M.e. AMA 0-37 GP in Riverside, California, Roeseler crashed and suffered a hairline fracture ~f.the shoul- d.er: Tw? weeks laler, he was back ruling h~s Hus~y 510 four-stroke al one of hIs bvonte areas, near RIverside; Roeseler look me on a memOTabLe trail ride, and, between rides, he talked aboul his ride in Spain. "I came real, real close to winning the four-stroke class. Many people might think the four-stroke class is the easiest, but actually, it ended up being one of the toughest. The guy who beat me, Giugliemo Andreini, has won the six-days overall before, and was in the top five overall in Spain." The RoeselerlAndreini points duel became one of the main lopicsaround the American rider's camp thal week in Spain - a hOlel al a vacant ski resort located in the Pyrenees Mounlains. At the end o[ the firsl day on the dry, dusy, rocky and hilly Pyrenees terrain, it was apparent that Roeseler had a chance at the four-slroke class win. He lost no trail points, (neilher did did Andreini), but Roeseler h'ad beller special test scores. However, day two was disastrous for Roe eler, thanks to a nail. : "On the second day, I got a flat tire caused by a nail," Roeseler remembered. "I was due to go into a check, and when I got there, I realized this nail was in my tire, but I didn't have the lime to fix it. I leftlhe nail in and rode to the next check with the tire still holding air. I still didn't have enough time to put in a new lube, so I used Seal 'N' Air. The trail was prelly li~ht, so I went a couple of checks, and it finally went flat on me during the tightest section of the whole course. Then I had to fix the tire on the trail, and I came into the next check (the home check) two minutes lale_ The seconds lurn into penalty points, so I lost 120 points that day." From then on, Roeseler never missed a beat and put the pressure on Andreini, who was leading Roeseler in points. All il would lake is one mistake, One flat lire, one something for Andreini and Roeseler would be challenging again. But Andreini rode flaw lessly, had no apparent problems on the trail, and held on to win the four-stroke c1as , despite the facllhat Roeseler smoked him and the rest of the class in the fi na1 motocross spe. cial test. "If you subtract the 120 points [or gelling the flal, I would've beaten Andreini by seven points," says Roeseler. "IL was a lillie bil of a let down. I keep thinking, gosh, I could've won - I never think I should've, I could've - but that's pan of the race. "Gelling a naiL. I mean, if I had crashed, or hit a rock and flattened il, or broken a wheel or something, that would've been one thing, but getting a nail is just plain bad luck. "My times were good. I beat all the Americans score-wise. so losing the class wasn't a total letdown. I know how I did, and everybody pretty much knows, so it was still a good ride for me. It just makes me that much more anxious for this year's race in Italy." But Roese1er knows that a class or Trophy Team win will be harder this year in Italy than it was in Spain. Many top ISDE riders come from Italy, including Andreini, and the Italians are definitely going to have the home-eoun advantage. "It's going to be even lougher to win this year," says Roeseler. "Those Italians are good and they will have too many advantages, and there will be some hanky-panky on the trail. Oh, they'll patrol it good, but I've seen guys all of a sudden just make a goo degree right turn and drive right into a barn. I won't see the guy for the rest of the day, then the next day, you see him back going again. Stu£( like that .goes on. Also, those guys have probably run their qualifiers there (Bergamo) this year, the same place where they"re going to run the sixdays. " In 60 years, the V.S. Trophy Team usually finishes in the top five, but a first' 'place lias always ~hided the Americans. "We 'have some really good enduro riders, such as Terry Cunningham, Mike Melton, Dave Bertram and myself," Roeseler says, "but it's really hard to have everybody put in an excellent ride. Last year I ended up second in class - I did good. But if we could've had five more of me, lhen we probably could've won the Trophy Team. We have lhe talent, bUl we just have to get it together at the same time. "I also feel we need more emphasis on our qualifiers. They need to be harder and we need lO have more oj them, which would really train and develop our riders. Years ago, we had six or seven qualifiers that were really tough, but lately il seems, lhey've really let up on the difficulty. Last year there were only two qualifiers and il was really easy to qualify. This year I think it's going to be beuer; there are five qualifiers and you have to finish three of them, so it's going to weed 'em out a little bit. It's neat to have a rookie go and to give people the chance to make the team, that's great. Winning depends on how seriously we're going to take it.)\re we going to go over there professionally, or as a sportsman-type e:vent? We have guys just wanting to go over there to say they've ridden the sixdays. Myself, the six-days is real, real important to me. Lt is the most important race of the year." By the time Italy comes around, Roeseler will be pushing 30 years old. That's considered over the hill by some professional motorcycle racing standards, but that's not the case when it comes to the ISDE according to Roeseler. As he sees il, experience is more important in the ISDE. "In the six-days, most of the guys in Europe are my age and have experience, and are really hard to beat on the trail. Sure there are some fast rookies, but that's not all of it. Experience and knowLedge is what counts, because there's a lot of thinking involved. With age comes wisdom, which really helps out. Concentration is a big parlof the ISDE. It's easy to make a mental error on the trial, such as day-dreaming or something. If thal happens, you could go off the trail or hit a rock and ruin your whole six-days. It's easy for a rookie to overshoot a turn, crash and bend up the bike. And if you do bend up the bike or do something weird, then Roe.eler ch.nge•• chewed up re.r ecology tire .t the end of d.y two. A f1.t tire C8used by • n.il cost him the four-stroke cl••• win.

• Cover