Trail Rider Magazine

30 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com teammates for the '78 Swedish ISDT were Rod Bush, Kevin LaVoie, Jeff Hill, Jack Penton, and Teddy Leimbach. Frank would be compe ng in the 500 class – the toughest, and arguably fast- est and most compe ve in the ISDT format. His main compe on for success would be the nearly invincible Czech team. Like other Communist-bloc ISDT teams, the Czechs were a military-based unit, supported by their government, and paid to train and ride year-round. Their Jawa motorcycles were explicitly focused on ISDT compe on. Simple, solid, reliable, and quite fast and capable, the Ja- wa's were made to last for six days, and to provide the performance necessary for their riders to be up front in the crucial Motocross special tests. Frank observed the Czechs closely. He studied their equipment and hung out with them to learn their strategy and what it took to succeed in ISDT compe on. "They were tremendously well-supported.", Frank says, "Each with his own chase-rider." "They even brought their own beer. It was good", he says with a laugh. About those "chase-riders" – those of you familiar with ISDT rules are aware that the compe on is a test not only of riders but also of their machines. There were, and are, specific limita ons on which parts can be replaced on a bike during an ISDT event, and all maintenance and repairs are to be car- ried out exclusively by the rider alone. However, the history of the ISDT is filled with innumerable stores of "crea ve manipula on" of the rules. Chase riders, o en aboard a machine iden cal to the riders to which they were assigned, would, for example, end up magically exchanging parts with failed components on the compe tor's machine, while somewhere out on the course. Frank's KTM for the event was excep onally well-prepared. In fact, for the first me in his ca- reer, Frank was aboard a "factory-prepped" bike. Courtesy of the Italian importer, Frank's big-bore KTM benefited from careful and extensive factory a en on, along with a strong yet reliable engine. And the Swedish terrain suited Frank quite well. He described it as very hilly, with deep ravines and some mud bogs, not all that different from back in the hills of Ohio, where Frank first developed his skills. All this, together with having his own Italian chase rider, provided Frank with considerable confidence going into the event. Things started out quite well for Frank, as well as the rest of the U.S. Trophy Team. Through Wednes- day, each of them finished each day near the top of their respec ve classes; however, Frank was slowed somewhat by the flu for several days. Frank's facto- ry KTM was performing excep onally well, and he suffered only one significant issue during the en re event. About mid-week, Frank had a close encoun- ter with a big tree branch s cking out onto the trail, which poked a hole in his bike's fiberglass fuel tank. Frank didn't even realize the problem un l the next gas stop when fuel began pouring out of the tank as it was being filled. Quick thinking and applica on of, of all things, laundry soap, as well as duct tape, got Frank through the rest of the day. Later, the tank would be patched more durably with some epoxy adhesive, which held up for the rest of the week. Going into the final day, Frank's score had him not only near the top of the 500 class but also only about a minute behind the overall. Knowing the fi- nal grass track Motocross would be absolutely cru- cial for a top finish, Frank elected to install a fresh rear re before impounding the bike. Doing so was essen al, and doing so at this me would permit Frank to relax and focus on the race the next morn- ing rather than dealing with a re change. While he had only a few minutes to complete the task, Frank changed out the re in under three minutes, and his bike was ready. Come Saturday morning, rain began to fall. Frank and other riders in the higher-displacement class- es watched as the small bores ran their final race of the event. These early races went off well, with slippery but manageable condi ons out on the course. As the rain con nued to fall however, and the track got torn up more and more, things were not looking good. And yet, one condi on in par cular in which Frank Gallo excels is managing extremely wet and muddy condi ons. His years of riding in exactly such condi- ons gave Frank a confident a tude, despite what was quickly turning into a quagmire. Just before the Open Class lined up for their race, Frank looked at team manager Jack Lehto and said, "Let's let some air out of the back re." They did so, as well as wrapping a series of giant zip es around the re every few inches.

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