Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

of the scene , so I don 't think it's helped me any. But really, I can do everything t he re that I need to d o to prepare myself. If I can 't, I come out to California for the winter. (The weather) would be the only advantage of (livin g in) California. "There's better riding in Ind iana, and I have my own track. I can do whatever I want to train, so during most of the year I think I actually have an advantage. But come winter, I have to ship up everything and come to California and ride on Kawasaki's track, just so I can prepare. It's just that you're not out here where everything is, so ma ybe in that way I've been a little overlooked - especially in the early part of my career. "I 'm in California a few weeks for testing, which we usually start in November. Aside from that, I fIy out December Ist and ride that whole month, preparing for the season. I stay there until the weather breaks back home, which is usually around the end of March. Home is home. You just have ev erything you always want or ever , need at home. But I don't mind at all at least four months in California. I like it." Perhaps partly due to where he was raised , laRocco is one of the more softspoken riders in the pits . He keeps a low p rofile, never making an effort to ga in attention. "I grew up shy and I'm not very outgoing at all. It's hard for me. I don't go out of my way to get attention, so if nobody gives it to me it doesn't bother me. That's not what I'm out there for. A lot of my friends' friends think I'm stuck up or so mething like that, but it's not that. It's just tha t I feel as d um b to talk to the fans as they do to talk to me. They think that ma ybe because yo u 're in a different po siti on, you have a d ifferen t attitude tow ards 'everything, bu t I really don't. If a little kid comes to talk to me at a race, he feels shy to talk to me, but I actually feel the same way he d oes." Apart fr om his bad luck, LaRocco o nly has one obvious weaknes s as a r ider - hi s starts. Th e number-seven Kawasaki is a rare sight in first-turn photos, because more often than not , it's m ired in th e ba ck of th e pack. Th is 'ma kes for exciting, come-from-behind rid es, but laRocco admits tha t it' s a trait he'd like to see end. "It's a combination of thi ngs," he says. "I think that earlier in my career it was (a lack of) confid ence, and not really feeling that I could do it. There wa s always a doubt in my mind abou t getting up front and sta ying up there, bu t now, like with the 5005, I got good star ts and the bike was rea lly controllable. This year, I know for sure tha t I'm ha ving a problem with the powerband of the bikes on the start . It's nothing that has to do with confidence or my mind, it's just being able to get off the line with the front wheel down . We 've really struggled with it, but we have spent time, like in the week p rior to Anaheim, and I know it's definitely better than it was for the first two races. Our powerband is just right in the middle, and we can't get past the middle to use the rest of it, because the front wheel comes u p high. "The bike, to me, is excellent on the track. I really like the wa y it feels, so I'm trying to change as little of that as po ssible . It's jus t little set- ups and di fferen t seats and positions that we 're trying to work with. "I have had good starts at times. It's not that I don't know how to do it - it's (a matter of) doing it co nsisten tly . With the excep tion of this year, I rea lly can't pin-po int w hy I haven 't d o ne th a t. Maybe it w as for so m e of th e sa me reasons as this year, bu t it may be jus t an adjustment that I need to make . I think that I always give m ore than 100%, reg a rdless of anyt hin g. I car ry a lot of speed, so if I can p ut tha t tog ether with a clean race, th at 's what I need to d o." LaRocco has go tten better starts on 500s. Last year, in his fir st sea son on open-class bikes, he won two of four rounds and wrapped up his first-ev er National Champ ionshi p . But w ith the d em ise of the 500cc division, laRocco won' t be able to defend his title in '94. " It' s no t a big d eal to me. I mean, I like the 500 class and I would like to defend it, but I think I'm more inte rested in having more titles. If I've got one, I'd rather have a variety , so it's not as important to me as it could be. I like the bike - it's fun to ride. [like to have a lot of power on reserve. It's jus t a shame that the y don't focus on it like they do the 250." The wrist To back up his fir st title, LaR oc co would like nothing better than to secure the supercross crown. His chances of d oing that dropped sha rp ly at Anaheim, but until th en, he looked like the onl y r id er wi th a shot a t bea tin g Jerem y McGrath, the defendin g champ. "I th ink if I ge t a little better starts than I've been getting, and allow myself a little more time to deal with him, then I could bea t him. I know th at I have enough speed to bea t him. I know that I , ha ve mo re speed than h!; does - I've seen it thro ugh la p ti me s and ch arts during the last few races. It's just that he's led a lot more races than I have, so he has a little more expe rience an d he's used to it. I just need to get out the re and start doing it and get comfortable d oing it, and I th in k it'll com e just as 'easily for me. "I'm rea lly confused about why the other riders ar en't d oing it (matching the pace of the leaders). I was very surp rised at Orlando a nd Houston. It 's actually bad, because if Jeremy gets out front, there's no one to hold him up for m e. I d on't kn ow wha t it is; I don't know if they don't feel comfortable, or if we' re just faster ." D

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