Be A Graduate of Mojave Tech.
Be a Graduate of Mojave Tech.
Two Successful Desert Racers Teach Speed in the California Desert
Charles Morey
The impact from hitting a square-edged rut shook loose a drop of perspiration and it trickled down inside the goggles lens, blurring vision on the right side. There was no stopping to clear it. We were climbing now. A sharp lefthand turn at the ridge crest channeled us up a 10-inch wide path which led toward the peak of this minimountain. Winter’s desert sun and heavy exertion had raised the mercury level in our body thermometers well past comfort level. We were riding mudhills, dirt mounds formed eons ago on a prehistoric sea floor in what would become the American Southwest. Climbing, still climbing. A quick hop up over a two-foot step brought us to the top . . . and over the edge!
My full-face Bell Moto III helmet hid a startled grimace as gloves laid seam imprints into the KDX175’s grips. Tired, rubbery arm muscles tensed to control the front wheel landing from the eight-foot drop, then collapsed under impact. Seat met seat, then slid up onto the gas tank. The Kawasaki zig-zagged a swift wobble, recovered, and rolled up to where a grinning Larry Roeseler waited on his Yamaha.
Scot Harden, riding sweep on this motley herd of amateurs, pulled in beside Roeseler.
“Whatta ya think, Scot?” Roeseler asked, “Have we got ’em hot enough, yet?’’ “Them?” the Husqvarna rider responded. 'Tm hot enough!’’
“Naahh ...” Roeseler wasn’t satisfied. “Let’s go for just another 15 min. ’’
Fifteen minutes doesn’t sound like much, not trail riding. But the brand of trail riding that Baja 1000 winners and ISDE Gold Medalists practice is as physically demanding as motocross.
“When you go riding,’’ Larry had said earlier, “don't just ride down trails and take the easy way around things. You’ll never get any better that way. Go over things. Trials ride. See what you can do.’’ Now, at the end of our second full day of schooling from the two off '-road pros, we were finding our limits—physical, psychological and riding ability—but we had learned how to extend them. Now it was simply a matter of applying that knowledge. And practice, lots of practice.
Dawn broke over the Laguna Mountains, resting the sun squarely on the median of California's 1-8. Visor down, sunglasses in place, we aimed for it and drove toward El Centro from San Diego. Handlebars bobbed gently in the rearview mirror as the road curved and climbed through the rocky environment. The photographer's awareness wanted to stop and play Ansel Adams, but the dirt rider side of the brain was anxious to begin registering learning impulses from offroad riders Roeseler and Harden.
Scot Harden has been riding and winning on Husqvarnas for almost a full decade. His first major off-road victory was the 1973 SNORE 250 where he took first place overall. Scot was born in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 16, 1956. He’s married, and his wife Kristi travels with him to races and schools. They live in San Diego where Scot has been a sales rep for Husky Products and Husqvarna motocycles since January.
His off-road race record is impressive. Following his SNORE 250 win in ’73, Scot then finished top 250, third overall in the classic Barstow to Vegas race. He backed that up with a third overall, third Open bike in the last year of B-to-V, 1974.
In ’76, Scot teamed with Jack Johnson to win class 21 in the Baja 500.
In 1977, Harden began what would become a longstanding partnership with Brent Wallingsford. Erom then through present, the Husky-mounted Harden/ Wallingsford team would find a spot in the finishing list of almost every major offroad race. No other team can match their longevity, and very few' can begin to compare with their win record.
In their first year together. Harden/ Wallingsford won the SCORE Baja 1000 overall. In ’78, they claimed overall victories in three events: Mexicali 250, Baja 500 and the Parker 400. They repeated their Parker 400 act in ’79. In ’80, they took overall honors at the Las Vegas 400. Last year, they repeated the Las Vegas 400 win and added to that another Baja 1000 victory. Since 1977, they’ve contested every major off-road event, not finishing only twice and always placing third or better when they did finish.
Individually, Scot Harden has won a Silver Medal in the 1980 Trench IDST and a Gold Medal last fall in Italy. He plans to ride the Six Days again in ’82 when the event moves to Czechoslovakia.
He has ridden and finished every Tecate 500 enduro since ’74, and he was on the winning team, “five or six" consecutive times. In AMA District 37 desert races and Motorcycle Racing Association of Nevada (MRAN) events, he estimates 75-100 overall wins since 1973.
Scot is manager of the Husqvarna OffRoad Team. He’s responsible for contracting riders and coordinating their assault on the major races.
Larry Roeseler won his first trophy aboard a Briggs and Stratton-powered minibike. He was seven at the time.
Larry literally grew up with motorcycle racing. His father Earl was a racer, as was his father. Earl had even raced with Lar-
ry’s grandfather back in Minnesota on an ice racing sidehack.
Tradition continued as Earl introduced Larry to observed trials competition, then took him along as part of a father-son team in southern California enduros.
The pair finished the formidable 500mi., two-day Greenhorn Enduro twice—in 1969 and 1970—and 13-year-old Larry registered a score competitive with the top riders in the ’70 event.
Roeseler began desert racing in AMA District 37's competitive lOOcc Trailbike class about that time, and he improved quickly. His earned riding number jumped from 1 89 to 20 to 4 in the first three seasons. He placed second the following year, the won the class championship for two consecutive years. In ’75, Larry stepped up to D-37's 250cc class and won that championship title.
Nineteen seventy-five was also the year Roeseler joined Bruce Ogilvie in a SCORE Baja 500 effort. They won, then Larry teamed with Howard Utsey and scored second in the Baja 1000, too.
In 1976, Roeseler posted wins in the Parker 400, Las Vegas 400, Baja 500 and the Baja 1000. He repeated in ’77 at the Parker, Las Vegas and Baja 500 races, but a collision with a van in the Baja 1000 forced him out of the event.
Roeseler was on the winning team at the next three Baja 1000 races—’78, ’79 and ’80—before finally bowing to the Harden/ Wallingsford duo in the ’81 event where he and Ogilvie placed second.
Larry has ridden in four international Six Days Trials. He won Gold Medals in all of them and was top-placed American in two. He also competes in the AMA National Championship Enduro Series where he kicked off the ’82 season with an overall victory in the opening round.
Larry and his wife Kevin live in La Mesa, California, near San Diego where they coordinate Larry’s Yamaha-supported racing effort.
Between the two, Roeseler and Harden, there’s more off-road riding ability than you’ll find anywhere short of the Czech or Italian ISDE teams.
A glance down at the hand-drawn map indicated we were in the neighborhood. The Dunaway Road exit, just west of El Centro, led us to S80,then out Huff Road toward the Superstition Mountains where we planned to meet around the Rock House at 8:30 a.m.
The two day program follows a distinct schedule. On the morning of day one, Scot and Larry mark a short course—probably half a mile—filled with problems. Then, when all stragglers have finally arrived, they begin with a lecture that covers bike set-up, physical training, nutrition, terrain reading and dozens of miscellaneous tips on everything from keeping dust off your goggles (Armor All them) to eating bananas to reduce the possibility of muscle cramps (they contain lots of potassium).
Roeseler’s Rock Trick was one of the highlights. Larry rides a YZ with no side or center stand, and naturally, there are times when he needs to park it far from any convenient van or leaning tree. He induces the bike to stand all by itself by> picking up one of the small rocks found in the desert and wedging it between his front brake lever (near the cable) and its handlebar mount to lock the brake. With the front wheel locked and the forks set against the stop, the bike will stand alone. The deeper the dirt, the more stable it is. By the end of day one, riders were parking their scooters with Roeseler Rocks whether they had stands or not, just out of fascination.
During the late morning and afternoon of the first day, riding skills are taught and practiced. Roeseler and Harden utilize a riding school standard called the Barrel Drill, but with a twist. At motocross schools, two markers (barrels) are placed 80-100 ft. apart. The object is to accelerate toward a barrel, then brake, downshift and turn around it as quickly as you can, and straightline it to the other barrel. Keep doing laps for as many times as instructed.
At the desert racing school, puckerbushes are substituted for the barrels, and the whole exercise takes place in deep sand. It sounds boringly easy. Try it.
Next, they work the class around their course, first demonstrating and explaining techniques, then having students do it. After each attempt, praise and encouragement is offered and advice dispensed as necessary. No badgering, cajoling or harsh criticism comes from the instructors. A positive, constructive attitude is established and maintained throughout the two days.
As we were going through Saturday’s drills, Wayne Gales kept his video camera focused on our efforts in preparation for one of the best parts of the school: Saturday night’s pizza and tape reviewing party.
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Video tape is an excellent way to study your riding style. We all know how it looks to ride well, but it’s difficult to translate that visual imput into physical action. The tape lets us stand outside ourselves and look back to see how we’re doing. If, for example, we’re not sliding forward onto the tank to help the front wheel dig in a turn, we can see it on the TV screen. And the resulting front wheel washout and inevitable bail-off provide amusement, all in full color and slow motion.
Tape is also an excellent way to get a look at how your suspension’s working. By using the slow motion and stop action capabilities, spring and damper problems are more easily diagnosed. I
Desert racing is a family-oriented sport, and that part doesn’t change even after you’ve become Larry Roeseler or Scot Harden. Their wives, Kevin and Kristi, are as involved in the schools as they are in helping their husbands with their racing programs. The two families demonstrate to riders who may just be learning about the sport that it’s not necessary to relegate wives or girlfriends to the role of race widow on the weekends. Not only do the women actively assist in the effort, they add a delightful touch to the act: While we were alternately critiquing and guffawing at our images on video tape Saturday night, Kevin and Kristi drove down to the local Thrifty Drug Store to buy some salve for Kristi’s leg. She’d bumped against an ATC exhaust pipe that afternoon, and suffered a painful burn. Only moments after the second complaint from our neighboring motel guests that we were having too much fun, the door burst open. In steppedtwo “bandits” with nylon stockings pulled down over their faces, wielding water pistols and firing on the startled occupants. Amid yells of surprise, triumphant girlish giggles and loud sshhes (we knew we’d get evicted with one more noise complaint), Kevin and Kristi completed their, mission, then left us to dry off and watch the original On Any Sunday until nearly midnight.
“I wanted to get the machine guns,” Kristi confided later, “but they were a dollar, and Kevin wouldn’t spend that much.”
“I’m very careful how I spend Larry’s money,” Kevin retorted, still holding the plastic pistol.
Day two provides students with the opportunity to apply their lessons to real life riding situations. Two trail rides, one before lunch and one after, also give the instructors a chance to teach more lessons along the way. At our school, we headed immediately for the huge sand dunes. Here, momentum, throttle control and weight distribution came into play.
At an immense dune called Sand Dam (students got those two words switched around occasionally), Roeseler taught us the easy way to get off a hillside. When you’re hillclimbing and can see you’re not going to clear the top, turn to the right so that the left side of your bike is against the
hill. That puts your rear brake (right foot) on the downhill side when you stop. Keep that brake on and the front brake off as you waggle the forks to get the front wheel aimed downhill. Then ride down and try again.
From deep sand, we rode on to winding, whoop-infested roads and rock gardens. There, the lesson was bunny-hopping, or unweighting the suspension, to clear
obstacles and synchronize your flow through series of whoops. Roeseler and Harden later demonstrated how to use the same technique to jump wide, deep washouts. We’re saving that stunt for later.
Finally, after lunch, we went on the mudhill ride. No individual lessons came from that ride; it was Scot and Larry’s way of showing us how to train for off-road racing, how to apply all the other lessons and techniques. By training hard over very difficult terrain, organized events will seem much easier.
The Roeseler/Harden Desert Racing Schools offer personal attention, so both novice and expert can easily get his tuition fee’s worth of training.
Live in the East? Never ride the desert? There is no better way to receive a safe and informative introduction to the “dez” than to participate in the school. It would make a memorable addition to a California vacation trip.
Riders who plan to become very good racers need only to listen and ask the right' questions, and they’ll learn all they can hold.
“It’s more self-discipline than anything,” says Larry Roeseler. He’s right. No school can make you a better rider. They can only show you how to do it yourself. The rest is up to you.
Roeseler/Harden Desert Racing School (714) 440-0853
