Mike Rosso's Other Life Before KTM

[Admin]

At the last POG meeting, I was talking to Mike Rosso and he started talking about his racing career
so I asked him to send some photos and the results are below:

Mike Rosso: "The team photo was taken before the start of the '78 ISDT in Sweden, that's Tom Penton five from the left.
Little side note: there were only two off-road racers ever to have a full sponsorship by JT Racing,
Drew Smith and I, for what that is worth."


Mile Rosso: "Photo #2 is me in 1970 on my first real racing dirt bike a Penton 125 Six Day MX that I purchased from
Ron Bohn's shop in Pittsburgh. In that photo I'm wearing one of the first pair of Hi-Point boots
(by Alpinestars of late) that John Penton hand carried over."


Mike Rosso: "Photos #3 and #4 are me in France 1980 (10 years later, just realized ?) at the ISDT in one of the Special Tests.
The "T" on the number plate represents the rider is a member of their country's six rider Trophy Team the
premier competition of the event."




Mike Rosso: "My Suzuki bio in 1980 reads 27 consecutive Gold medals and two overall series championships. At the end of 1981 I added seven more Gold medals
and another overall series championship along with one more class championship. Then I retired and started with KTM. All thanks to John Penton
and his incredible off-road racing machine!"


Mike Rosso: "I have H-Point decals on my helmet and a Hi-Point boot decal on my Hi-Point boot. We used quite a few
Hi-Point Products on the Suzuki Six Day and National Enduro bikes and John and his Hi-Point products
deserve "props" for all of the excellent items they made back in the day! Thanks John and the Hi-Point crew!"

Mike Rosso: "There is a bit of side trivia with the "JT" riding gear I'm wearing. JT Racing was at that time
the premier MOTOCROSS riding gear manufacture and to that point had only sponsored the top level
National factory motocross riders. There were only two Off-Road racers that ever had a JT Racing
riding gear contracted sponsorship. I was lucky enough to be one of them."


P.S. In that tire changing photo that's the proto-type "Full-Floater" single shock
PE 175 in the background at the 1981 ISDE in Italy that was to come out the next
year as a 1982 production model. Attached is the very first one, the "concept"
bike in the color photos. The black and white photos (remember those) were of
the very first ride-able proto-type taken by a Cycle News photographer at a test
track we used in New Jersey. I didn't know that the photographer worked for Cycle
News until he told me when I stopped. I had to ask him politely not to print the
photos just yet. I asked him to please wait a week and that he could print the
photos for the issue that came out just days before the next ISDT/ISDE qualifier
where I first raced it. It was nice of him to do that and then he sent me the
proofs from that day. If you look closely in the color photo you can see how
I ran a brake rod through the center of the swingarm bolt from the right to
the left side, the factory did a similar method but through the swingarm for
the production bike. The roller on the center stand was a chain tensioner
when the swingarm was in the up position and not when the center stand was
in use so you could correctly see and adjust the chain tension. The MX
narrower swingarm had to be widened to install the wider Six Days quick
change rear wheel system.

[dennis brown]

great storyand pics

dennis l.brown

[Kip Kern]

Awesome!

[skiracer]

Thanks Mike!  You need to come to the reunion rides!

1976 MC 5 Original Owner
1982 Suzuki PE 175
1976 Penton 175 XC
1979 KTM 175 GS

[Bob Bean]

"click"   "Like"

1986 ISDE Italy
1987 ISDE Poland
1989 ISDE Germany

[Farmjohnny]

Fantastic stuff!
May we have more please?

[Paul Danik]

Mike is from the Pittsburgh area and I was very fortunate to get to know him and compete with him when we were both quite young. It is a real pleasure to be able to keep our association continuing after all of these years. Mike attends many of the POG meetings and helps to facilitate many of the needs of the Group in the KTM building, for which we are very grateful.

Mike's two wheeled adventures, as well as his accomplishments, could easily fill a book. Mike is always quick to praise and give credit to Ron and Melvin Bohn for nurturing his early Penton motorcycling escapades, a class gesture on Mike's part and well deserved by Ron and his late father Melvin, two great ambassadors of our sport. In time John Penton stepped into that position as well, little wonder Mike's passion for the sport is so never ending.

As the years roll on it is interesting to see where involvement with Penton Sportcycles has carried folks thru their lives, Mike's adventures and career accomplishments, are surely in the Gold Medal category.

Paul