Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

500cc National MX Champion Mike LaRocco It Wasn't Tor bad luck By Chris Jonnum Photos by Kinney Jones ike LaR occo is not a supers titious man, but with th e kind of fortune he's had in his career, no one could blame him if he was. Time after time, the Team Kawasaki rider has been prevented from reaching his potential, not by fellow competitors, but by fluke misfortunes. LaRocco had a seemingly secure points lead in the 1992 125cc National MX Championship Series, but he suffered three freak mechanical gremlins in the final three rou nds, and lost the title to rival Jeff Emig. That same year, laRocco had started the season on a high note by winning the opening supercross round in Orlando, only to break his wrist, forcing him out of the rest of the series. He won Orlando again in '93, but later broke the same wrist in a practice crash, ruining his chances for the supercross and 250cc MX titles. This year, LaRocco aga in finds himself in the unenviable position of having to make up ground. After strong runner-up finishes at the first two supercross rounds, the Hoosier came up short on an Anaheim triple jump, breaking his engine case and putting him out of the race. "Basically, at Anaheim, I just came up short and hit the back wheel on the jump," exp la ins laRocco. "The engine never hit the jump or anything - just the back wheel. The case broke by the (counter) shaft. "I was pretty pissed off, because it was early in the race and early in the season, and it wasn't something that I needed to happe n to me. I was hoping to be right up there in the points, and now I'v e got a lot of ground to make up. All I can do now is g o ou t there and win r aces. I ha ven ' t given u p, because it's still earl y, and anything can happen. I'm not going to change how I ride or anything. If it was later in the yea r, I might have thought my chances were pretty slim, but I haven't given up. "I 've definitely had more than my fair share of bad luck, but hopefully everything is past. I don't feel like I need any more. It's frustrating. but it's racing and it's luck, and it doesn't do me any good to dwell on it." This is laRocco's third season with Kawasak i, but for a while during the off-season it appeared that the 22-yearold might end his association w ith the green team . His old contract was over at . the end of '93, and laRocco was one of the final riders to sign a deal for '94. "I think one of the things was that at the time everyone was negotiating, it was during th e 500 season fo r me . Kawasaki was checking all options , and when they were read y to do something. I was pretty much still racing . I wanted to wait until after the season, so I could concentrate (on racing). Also, before I signed into another deal, I wanted to M 'CJ. 0\ rl 14 Shallow men believe in luck. Ralph Wald o Emerson I I b u t su pporting th em a r e a host of mecha nics and technicians, along with a team manager and a truc k driver. interestingly enough, Mike is n 't the o nly member of t he laRocco clan to mak e his living o n the team, as h is wrenchin g duties are p e r formed by his father, Mike Sr.. "Big Mike," as his co-workers call him, is back as his son's mechanic after a one-year hiatus. "I'm happy for him," says Mike. "To me, it's not so important (who the mechanic is), because if things are there for me, I can do what I need to do if the bike's ready. I don't really need a lot of moral support. I pretty much know what I have to do at the race . I have a trainer and friend who works with me during the week, and that makes it where everything's fun for me, and I can get hyped up . But as far as being a t the track, I know what I'm there for and I don't need anyone to tell me. It is nice to have family, though, because I know that he wants things to go well just as much as I do . When we 're at the race track he's my mechanic, and outside of that he's my dad, so it's a good situation." Th e LaRoccos were hired by Kawasaki together, but after the mechanical problems of '92, "Big Mike" was moved to another posi tion on the team . Tom Morgan took over as laRocco's tuner in '93, but stepp ed down to focus his attention on his own bus ines s in '94, an d the LaRoccos were once again teamed up. In th e eyes of Mike [r ., the problems he experienced in '92 w e re du e more to chance than anything else, and he views th e subsequent team changes as an attempt to appease the finger-pointers. "The si tu atio ns that happened were ones that could ha ve gone either way . It ' s something that nobody w ill ever know. The things tha t happened - one of them was a bad part (a broken clutch basket). With the other thing, I got in a first-tum wreck and broke my shift lever. (The other problem came when LaRocco's carburetor was jarred loose from its boot). You can't blame those things on anybody, so I don' t really feel it was hi s fault . I guess it just depends on how everybody wants to lo ok a t it. In Roy Turner' s position, if something happens, he has to make a change, regardless of whose fault it was . It was really hard for him, because he felt tha t it wasn't his (laRocco Sr/s) fault. But half the people did, so it was really tough on him." The LaRoccos hail from Ind iana, far from the heart of the motorcycle industry . But whi le Mike admits that livin g in South Bend ma y not be the best th ing for his career, he prefers it to the hustlebustle of southern California. "In Indiana, you 're pretty much out

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