Podcast Transcription: Roger DeCoster

The podcast interview I did with Roger DeCoster last week was a pretty good look at everything that has to do with his move from Suzuki to KTM. Here, for those that don’t like listening to those things is the transcription of that podcast.

Me: Roger Decoster – you’re the Makita/Suzuki team manager for one more week. How does that feel?

Roger DeCoster: It feels kind of strange. I feel almost like I’m going through a divorce or something. I’ve been with them so long; there is so much history together. Unfortunately we could not agree. I wanted a long-term, multi-year agreement, and somebody in Japan decided there could not be any commitments made for longer than the end of next season. I wanted more than that; I feel I needed more than that to be able to do my job well. I also understand the economy. They made some plans and they wanted to stick with them.

You’re taking your talents over to KTM, how did that deal come together?

RD: I have been friends with Sel (Narayana, KTM exec) for many years, dating back to win he was working for Maico in Europe in the mid-seventies. They always wanted me to come there, but neither he nor I took it seriously. We were just friends and did our jobs on each side. After seeing that this thing was not coming together, my first contact with him was just before Southwick. I went to him and told him maybe this thing is not going to come together. Is there still an interest there for me? I am looking for a three-year deal and can’t seem to get it. The next day I got a phone call from the main guy and they said ‘you say what you want and we can do it.’ It’s not a situation about money, but just the term of the contract. I thought they would come back after I told them I was not interested in a one-year deal. After a week they still had not come back and so I made a commitment and after I made the commitment, they did come back. But I had been trying to get this thing going months ago and I was not getting anywhere. To get what I wanted, and not just for myself but I think I needed this multi-year to be able to be properly responsible for the riders, to get what I wanted I had to quit first. With the economy the way it is I didn’t think I could afford to say no and then sit around for four months. It’s a small industry and there are only basically five factories…

Well, four now.

RD: Yes that’s true, no in-house team at Yamaha anymore. I want and still need to work for two-three years and saw that the opportunity at KTM was real. What attracted me also was how quickly they responded me, and that there weren’t all these in-between people. I can feel their desire that they want to be better. And the economy is hard for them also; they’re in the same recession as everybody else. But I still think we need to think positive and believe it’s going to turn around and do our work.

Obviously your managerial record at Suzuki speaks for yourself. I’m sure they wanted to keep you. Do you blame the economy as the reason?

RD: It’s an indirect result of the economy but also I feel a result of the very upper management in Japan not being aware if what is happening in the field. I think they are disconnected and otherwise would not have made this kind of decision.

How did Ryan Dungey take it?

RD: That was a tough one. The two people it was tough for me to face are Ryan and my friend Sylvain Geobors in Europe. We have been very good friends since the ‘70s and he’s a real quality person and he’s always been supportive of me and we work well together, trying to improve both sides. We’ve exchanges info on a weekly basis. By me quitting, it really hurts his GP team also. I feel bad because he was trying to help me keep this thing going. But Japan did not respond to his inquires either.

And I’m sure Ryan was obviously upset…

RD: Yes he was bummed out. I didn’t want it to affect his championship so I waited until he won the title at Southwick. I did not want him to find out from someone else. I wanted him to be the first person I told. I waited until he won and then I told him that night. Kind of a bummer – we should have been celebrating and then he gets bad news. He is the guy that is probably the most loyal rider.

Looking forward to KTM. When do you start there and what are your impressions of the team in America?

RD: I’m supposed to start the beginning of October. It’s obvious that KTM is working hard and actively trying to improve their results, and they succeeded in Europe by winning both championships. They seem to be listening to the customer on what the customer wants and trying to build what they want. They are still building two-strokes and there are quite a group of people that want to keep two-strokes alive. And for a long time people have wanted electric starters and now they are building electric starters. Now when Stefan came they went to link suspension. You can see there is s desire to get better and go forward.

Obviously this is early, but Marvin Musquin is coming over for sure and Ken Roczen apparently already signed over there but may do some Supercross races. Is it too early to talk about riders for next year?

RD: Roczen was supposed to come over on Suzuki next year, just for west coast Supercross. I’ve had a relationship with him for several years and he was counting on me to be there, so that has an affect on his choice also. That’s the thing that bothers me with Sylvain because he loses his rider a lot because of me leaving. But, I’ve not been at KTM offices yet, only spoken with KTM Austria.

I have a feeling that KTM is going to be a more proactive company now.

RD: That’s what I hope. It seems to be possible. It’s more direct, more connected. The off-road line is the most important to them. With the Japanese off-road is secondary to road bikes. So they cannot pull out of motocross or off-road because that’s their core business.

You have Mike Alessi again next year. He struggled this year and he’s not the same rider as when you had him. What do you think of his struggles this year and having him back on your team?

RD: I already told KTM, with Alessi because that was one of the questions, I will give my 100% effort to give him the support he wants. I think I was able to help him a little when he was with us before and I think I can help him again. I just hope mike is willing to make more of his own decisions. His dad, you know… I’ve had my struggles with him and so have a lot of other teams, but I think if we can channel his energy in the right direction… the one thing about Tony is that he’s not lazy; he’s a hard worker. I think he’s trying too hard to control the e sit to give his kid the advantage. I think it would work out better if he left Mike to his own decision-making. And be more in the background. He does a great job with helping him with practice facility and there’s so much more to do to support the rider in other areas. Then mike can become more of his own person.

When you watch him this year what do you think went wrong this year?

RD: I think a lot is in the head, how he thinks. He thinks he has a handicap if he has not had a good start. The start has always been a big factor for him, bigger than it needs to be. If you start in the top five, six guys, that’s fine. You don’t need a holeshot every week. He needs to believe that as a rider. The guy is fit, he works hard. He should be doing better than he has done this year.

What are you most proud of in your 16 years at Suzuki?

RD: In general it’s to have been able to turn around the team, to become a team to look up to without spending more money that the other teams. We were able to make it basically the winningest team and I just feel bad it did not happen quicker. There were a lot of road blocks in the beginning. I’m also really happy to be able to given the support and direction to Ryan coming from an intermediate class amateur to being the first guy to win both championships as a rookie.

Is there one do-over you wish you had at Suzuki? One rider you wish you had another shot at?

RD: Well, we should have been winning with Jeremy McGrath. It was a similar situation. When Jeremy came to us we were still on the conventional forks. They had some real positives but there were also some negatives. But the factory and Showa really believed in that fork and they wanted to stay with it. It was hard to turn them around and convince them we needed the other one. Jeremy made some mistakes also, on the track and off the track. When his thing fell apart, for awhile he was not completely focused and then that injury where he cut his heel, that handicapped us too. There was a little bit of fault on him, a little but of fault on us, we were not quite as prepared as we need to be. I think I could have kept Jeremy another year and then we would have been able to win. Unfortunately our people were a little too slow to act. I had been telling them by middle of Supercross, we need to make a commitment to Jeremy and we need to make and keep promises that we are going to do certain things to the bike. We did those things and our two stroke became really good. But Jeremy had made up his mind. By the time I got the response from Japan, he was still with us but he had made up his mind. That would have been cool if we could have won with Jeremy.

Well thank you and good luck at KTM. Are you sad though to see these guys go?

RD: It is sad. I’m still thankful to Suzuki; they gave me a chance to win my world championships and we had many good years together. We won five world championships, four times AMA, many Des Nations and many nationals in Europe. I had an awesome racing career with them. And also they gave me a job for 16 years. I’m thankful for that and I think I have delivered for what they put into me. It’s just one of those things. They say there’s an end to everything I wish them luck and I hope they’re are going to fight back and not just lay down. I don’t think they will. Some of the engineers I work with are already joking that they are going to give me a beating. I told them maybe for one year, but not more.