Mecanim 'extra' root bone rotation

Hi, i have a character that has an 'extra' root bone to make it easy for me to rotate the whole model (one that is parent to the rest of the rig). Mecanim seems to ignore that; though not entirely as i get some strange rotations out at import (i turn the character to face the direction he runs). Is it even possible to do what i intend or am i just doing something wrong.

I already tried a possible solution i read about using an avatar mask to include extra bones, but that didnt work.

Edit: i forgot. I'm not using root motion and i baked every motion in the import dialog. in the preview window it sometimes looks right until i apply the changes.