Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Larry Roeseler (w iA111 By Michael Snyder ge is a funny thing. Usu ally, it begins to affect us in sm all ways. Getti ng ou t of bed is just a little toughe r in the morning, and doing that last set in the weight room seems more of a challenge. Maybe you find yourself looking more at the cholesterol content of a particular food cho ice ra ther than just worrying about what it tastes like. If there is any justice to the whole scheme of things, it ' s that everyone, sooner or later, will be facing the same fork in the road. This explains the su d d en increa se in rider turnout in the Veteran and Senior divisions at motorcycling competitions nationwide. Older riders feel more comfortable dicing with members their own age than those crazy teenagers. We can still race with our buddies and have some good bench racing afterwards, sucking down a couple of cold ones because "we deserve it." At least age has some rewards. Two years ago, we all saw Jeff Ward retire from a long career in professional motocross; he was 31. Last year, fellow motocrosser Guy Cooper finally decided to call it quits; he was 30. It is definitelya young man's sport. Older riders stand a little more of a chance in the offroad world, but still, most of the top racers are of the yo u n ge r persuasion. Rand y Hawkins, Steve Hatch, Jeff Russell , Ty Davis, Kelby Pepper, Scott Summers, Fred Andrews and Danny Hamel (to nam e just a few) are all under 30 years of age. At 32, Kevin Hines is one of the oldest rid ers still considered to be in that exclusive "loop." As usual, the re is always someone who does n't conform to the natural progression of things . In off-road racing, that someone is Larry Roeseler, who has been a mainstay in the world of offroad competition since the late 7 0s. At 37, he 's still a thorn in the side of the top riders in any event he show s up at. All good things must come to an end, however, and even Roesele r is finall y beginning to consider slowing d own (his racing sched ule, that is; L.R. never gives less than 100% while on a bike). We had a chance to sit do wn wit h Roese ler and discuss his career - the accomplishments he ha s made in th e past and what he foresees for the future. With the ISDE coming back over here this year, is Kawasaki committing to A back you for the entire "qualifier" series, and give you the same level of supp ort in Tulsa that we see in Baja every year? Yeah, we 're definitel y going to be presen t at the Six days this yea r, and we plan on having the support program in place at the qualifiers as well. We had a really strong program a couple of years back, and I introduced the who le effort when I started at Kawasaki back in 1987. The reason we haven 't participated the' last few yea rs is, mainly, it's a European-held even t. It reall y doe sn't justify the cost that we have to put into it to become cost-effective in term s of adv ertisement, or generating direct bike sales over here in America. Personally, I'm pumped, because I've been selected 12 times to go over the re to represent my country in the pas t, and I've accumulated nine gol d med als along th e way, so I'm definitely looking forward to participating and doing well in Oklahoma. Our tentative plan is to have me develop and compete aboard the just- released KLX250 four-stroke in the 350 Four-Stroke division. You've ridden a lot of different motorcycles during your career. During your tenure at Husqvama, you were classified as a four -stro ke expert, and for the last few years you' ve raced. just about every off-roa d motorcycle that Kaw asaki manufactures, incl udi ng a . one-off, fu ll-sized KX80 you rode in the German Six Days. Of all the bikes that you've swung a leg over, which on e will stan d o u t in yo u r mind as your favorite bike? Well , th at's a tou gh ques tion. Times have chang ed since back in the Husky days. I thought those bikes couldn't be top ped, but equ ipment ha s changed because of the influx of improved technology, along with riding techn tque. I've been able to re-adapt my particular rid in g style to wha tev er bike I happen ed to comp ete on , be cause as the bikes go t better, I got better. But in an sw er to your question, the current crop of 250 motocrossers like the IOq5O are, by far, the most fun to ride. They're all light, nimble and have great power. I ' still enjoy riding the 500 in Baja-type events but I'm s mall and relatively light, and it's a relatively big bike for me, so I have to try and manhandle it. The 125s are fun to compete on as well, but all in all, I like the 250 the best. Although I haven't spent very much time on the 250 KLX, I feel tha t it has the potential to be a very competitive and fun machine, too, and I'm looking forward to racing it this year. You've stated that you prefer the tighter, more technical types of racing, like endures, and you've tasted victory in nearly every form of off-road competition. Still, you always seem to get labeled as a desert racer. How do you feel about that? Yeah, no matter what happens or what race I win, I'll always have that title of "Desert Racer," and I'm proud of it because that's where it all started for me. But at the same time, over the years I feel like I've really accomplished a lot. I really feel that I'm the most versatile rider competing at my level, and I'm still the only rider who's won National endures, hare scrambles, hare and hounds, qualifiers and Baja races numerous times, so I've won just about every off-road event out there. Scott (Summers) and Kevin (Hines) have both been to Baja, but haven't garnered the results that I've gotten. I don't want to come off sounding like I'm bragging or anythin g, I'm just trying to remind people of my other accomplishments besides my desert titles. Kawasaki's really good about mentioning those other racing victories whether it's in an ad vertisement or a press release, bu t most of the motorcycling media only thinks "Desert Racer" when my name is mentioned. The desert racing successes, like Baja which I've won nine times, are still very important both to Kawasaki's overall racing program and mine, because it's probably the biggest offroad race in the world. I would personally like to win the Blackwater; I feel that would round out my whole career, because it's a very difficult event. A win there would also help me gain some notoriety back East. Even though I've won a couple of the Coalinga (California) National Endures, most Easterners think that event is more ofa wide-open desert race, because it's in California, but any regular National competitor would tell you that it's not. I've also won the Tulsa four-day qualifier a couple times and that 's definitely.no desert race, for sure! Why is it that Kawasaki spreads you through several different series, rather .than concentrating your racing abilities into one or two particular championship efforts? Well, I think the reasoning behin d that is that I'm capable of winning so many various types of events . Being based in California, it's important for me to go to events like Baja and other high-p rofile races like that, instead of being restricted to only compete in National endures, for example. That would really jeopardize my availability for events like Baja, which Kawasaki feels is important to the overall racing program. It's worked for us through the years but, yeah, it would be nice to have that cha mp ionship in enduros or hare scrambles. All in all, it really hasn' t been that important to the big picture, and it only highlights my own versatility. When I first started at Kawasaki, I mentioned that I would like to compete in th e en ti re National Enduro Series and try to win that championship, but now, I'm getting towards the end of my career and I understand that if I do, I do . But if I don't, it's not

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