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/127839
By Eric Johnson . hroughout Europe and espe'-"':"cially in France, American supercross is viewed as the Formula One of off-road motorcycle racing. With its big, brightly painted, 18-wheel trucks, team managers and mechanics (complete with radio headsets), hospitality tents, ESPN TV cameras, big-dollar contracts, and massive stadiums filled with upward of 60,000 spectators, competing in the AMA Supercross Series - and not the once-hallowed FIM Grand Prix MX Series - is the dream of every young motocross rider. To illustrate this trend, one only needs to look at the 1997 AMA 12Scc stadium circuit. Competing in the justcompleted Eastern Regional Series where he finish second is a young French racer - you've probably have heard of him - Stephane Roncada. Coming off of two highly impressive victories at the TWA Trans-World Dome in St. Louis and the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan, the charismatic Honda of Troy rider is the latest "this year's model" in an esteemed lineup of ultratalented - and frighteningly fast - French supercross speedsters. The legendary Jean-Michel Bayle, who came to American in 1989 and put fear into the hearts of the then omnipotent Americans, was the catalyst of the entire French supercross movement. Following his pioneering lead, a number of other Gallic riders, such as Mickael Pichon, Yves Demaria, Frederic Vialle, Frederic Bolley, Sebastien Tortelli, and David Vuillemin, have all found their way over to race - at one time or another - in America. Interestingly, Roncada, who was a hot commodity on th.e 1996 FIM 12Scc World Championship MX circuit (although he didn't really want to be, but we'll get to that later), used that series as nothing more than a springboard to reach his ultimate dream of racing in America. In order to find out more about this new French export, we tracked down Stephane Roncada at his home in· Corona, California. ot surprisingly, the friendly and comical Roncada - who is still in the midst of getting his head wrapped around the English language was wildly enthusiastic 'about the United Sta tes - and perhaps more so abo.ut In-and-Out Burger - arid has absolutely no plans to go back home any time soon. Where in France are you from? I'm from the south of France, just a few miles from Marseilles. How did you end up racing? I was 4 years old, and I saw a boy riding around on a small motorcycle and my father asked hgn..if I could· try it. So I tried it and enjoyed it a lot. I was very happy about it, so my dad bought me a motorcycle for Christmas. I then started racing it when I was 4 1/2 years old (laughter). You rode the USee Grand Prix circuit last year, correct? Yes I did. I rode for Cadre Rouge (the Honda France team). . Is it true that you didn't want to do too well on the Grand Prix circuit? Yes! Because if Lwould have finished in the top five, I would not be able to race over here.. Because of the AMA rule, if you finish in the top five of the GPs, you can't race supercross (l25cc) over here. I remember there were times that I did not go as {ast a~ I could in the GPs because I did not want to finish in the top five. It sounds like you wanted to get to the United States at all costs. Db yes. That's been my dream since I was a very little boy. How come so many young French riders, such as yourself, want to race American supercross so badly? Because it's amazing here. The best rid- ers in the world are here and the best tracks are all here. It's the big tracks and the big stadiums with thousands of people. It's the best place to race in the world and that's why so many guys want to come and race here. Did you have any racit:'g heroes as a kid? No. I have no heroes. Really? No heroes? No, no, none (laughter). What's the French Supercross Championship like? It's good. All the events take place over two nights. Everything is smaller there, though. The stadiums are all a lot smaller than in America, they only hold 6000 . to 10,000 people. The tracks are very small and only two or three riders can really go fast in the 125cc class. The championship has made the young riders in France a lot faster hasn't it? Oh yes, I'm sure of it. We're the only country in Europe to do this, so it has helped us a lot. There is the United States and France, and that is it. Is minicycle racing big in France? What is minicycle racing? 8.0s and 60s... Oh yes, yes, yes. It's big, but not as big as here. We have two championships . and it's very popular. Now that you've won in St. Louis and Pontiac, what do you think of the tracks, competition and big crowds of the mighty AMA Supercross Series? I love it. I love it very, very much. When I was racing with Ricky Carmichael at St. Louis, I could hear all 'of the people cheering and yelling. It was amazing to me. I was so happy to win the race. You ran well in your first National at