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Joel Robert
Torsten Hallman
Ake Jonsson
Gerrit Wolsink
to name a few
Willie Bauer
Brad Lackey
Joel Robert
Gerrit Wolsink
Ake Jonsson
Torsten Hallman
Bengt Aberg
John Banks
Torleif Hansen
Andre Malherbe
Heikki Mikkola
Graham Noyce
Jaak van Velthoven
Adolf Weil
Sylvain Goebers
The Shop
Was it total domination or did it go back and forth? Were there years that he struggled?
Went and bought a new 1972 husky 250wr
After watching all my Hero’s😎
Willie Bauer almost took him down for the title . .
Don't forget his teammate Gerrit Wolsink pushed him all the way to the last race.
Just kidding guys I know hes the man
Was it in 78 when Decoster took Hannah out in the air?
Bob Hannah
Marty Smith
Brad Lackey
Jim Pomeroy
Tony DiStefano
Jimmy Weinert
Pierre Karsmakers
Rex Staten
Danny LaPorte
Chuck Sun
Tommy Croft
Steve Stackable
Gaylon Moser
Gary Jones and more...
Plus European visitors Adolf Weil, Heikki Mikkola, Gerrit Wolsink, Sylvain Geboers, Willie Bauer, Graham Noyce, Akira Watanabe...
Add it all up and DeCoster likely faced the stiffest competition of anyone ever because he raced two fronts, U.S. and Europe, for much of the seventies.
DC
Racer X
I always like Hannahs 'verbal' about modern day riders thinking they are so much better than Roger ( and, well, other great riders of yesteryear) - it goes along the lines as they are kidding themselves. Hannah's description of his battle with the 'old man' at the 78 Unadilla Trans AMA is a classic - wish I could find the picture of his crushed pipe, care of the 'old man' - others here will have it to hand.
The Man has done so much for Motocross - especially US Motocross, yet, still each year, since the US Team has stopped winning the MXDN : and they Will, again - I read a few drongos here wanting rid of Roger....... cretins.
Pit Row
and he was 3rd in the 75 and 77 championship , not that bad result for a dentist
won GP Carlsbad 5 times in 6 years ... true legend in dutch MX
I was 9 years old at the time, and between it being 42 years ago now and me being so young- maybe someone else there can confirm or add some additional details but here is what I recall:
Hannah and Decoster were going at it extremely hard that moto... They were so close in and out of turns together that you almost got the feeling that something was going to happen. And it did...
They were both coming up the hill before gravity cavity (the one that usually got deep ruts the size of a car).
You usually got a little bit of air at the top of the hill with a short straightaway before making the right turn down gravity cavity.
Decoster and Hannah both crested the top of the hill together (which was when they first came into sight).
The collision occurred in the mad dash between the top of the hill and the corner to head down gravity cavity.
Between the transition of being airborne at the top of the hill and to be the first one into the turn, NEITHER gave so much as in inch to the other.
The result was both of them colliding and going down before the turn. The place was going absolutely nuts.
I can hardly remember even seeing Hannah after the crash as he was up and gone what seemed to be instantaneously.
Decoster- meanwhile- did not appear be or act hurt at all, but just took a couple more seconds then Hannah to make sure his bike could even be ridden.
What was even worse is that my Dad had an 8mm camera in his hand and decided to stop recording what would have been a motocross treasure for the ages... (and perhaps Dad was just too caught up in the battle going on to bother trying to record, so I'll cut him some slack!!)
Although I was only 9, I had been to the previous few Trans-Ams at Unadilla and I knew that DeCoster was the absolute best.. I even remember my parents explaining he was from Belgium and I was not only shocked to learn that he was not from the USA, but was also absolutely clueless as to where the hell Belgium was or that it even existed...!! (I was just a dumb kid I guess...LoL!!)
At that point, it was just a mind-blower to me that anybody else could ever challenge Decoster like that.
To this day, I still count myself lucky to have seen DeCoster in his prime at Unadilla.
Roger was a machine, and a gentleman. I had the opportunity to meet him at a Trans-AM race at Rio Bravo MX Park in Houston, TX in the early 70's. I was introduced by Wyman Priddy, who was at the time riding for Team Kawasaki, and was instrumental in getting me started racing since my parents could not come close to affording it. Long story...but I was totally fanboying Roger in his black custom Hallman leathers with Belgian colored stripes on the side and the pristine yellow Suzuki jersey. I was completely in awe of him, and asked him a ton of really stupid questions I'm sure...and he showed much graciousness and patience by answering each one in that cool (I thought) Belgian accent.
Roger DeCoster will always be my hero. He was just larger than life, and carried himself as a cool Euro-Gent and professional.
But, here's a link : https://youtu.be/I7lXKPZ_jpk .
Go buy these sets - they are fantastic!
Take a look at https://www.vitalmx.com/forums/Moto-Related,20/DeLaveaga-Park-Santa-Cru…
About 2/3 of the way down in this thread, there is a poster for the Santa Cruz Inter Am, listing the riders in this 1968 race. Hallman, Robert, Teuwissen, Bickers, Hansen, Hammargren, Wade, Valek, Konecny, Karsmakers, Aberg.
This was a great race to watch, and I was there, it was cool. What talent!
The list of guys DeCoster beat, starting in 1968, and extending through the 70's, is impressive to say the least--and he didn't win this day, Aberg and Robert did. DeCoster got a second in 250 and a third in 500--imagine, racing both classes in 45 minute motos.
Post a reply to: Who did Roger DeCoster race against?