Kenny Roberts

Kenneth Leroy Roberts born in Modesto, California is a former motorcycle racer and the first American to win the 500cc Road Racing World Championship.

Roberts won two AMA Grand National Championships in 1973 and 1974, three consecutive 500cc World Championships in 1978, 1979 and 1980 along with three victories at the Daytona 200. He is the father of the 2000 500cc World Champion, Kenny Roberts, Jr., the only father and son duo to have won the title.

Roberts is regarded as being one of the first riders to use his knee to balance the bike on the track in corners, and the first to use engine power to spin the rear tire exiting bends to help steer the bike (a technique known as "throttle steering", common among U.S. flat track racers). These techniques are used everywhere in the top levels of motorcycle road racing, though they are much less exaggerated with today's improvements in tire technology.

Racing history

Roberts made a name for himself by battling the dominant Harley-Davidson factory dirt track team aboard an underpowered Yamaha XS650 model twin cylinder street motorcycle (overbored to 750CC with a special frame) in the U.S. Grand National Championship, a series which encompassed events in four distinctive dirt track disciplines plus road racing. Roberts is one of only four riders in AMA racing history to win the AMA Grand Slam, representing national wins at a mile, half-mile, short track, TT and road race. He made up for his bike's lack of horsepower with an almost fearless, determined riding style. This fearless style was highlighted in 1975 when Roberts competed at the Indy Mile National aboard a dirt track motorcycle with a Yamaha TZ 750 two-stroke road racing engine wedged inside its frame. On a bike that was considered unrideable due to its excessive horsepower, Roberts came from behind on the two-stroke, and overtook the factory Harley-Davidson duo of Korky Keener and Jay Springsteen on the last lap for one of the most famous wins in American dirt track racing history. Afterwards, Roberts was famously quoted as saying, "They don't pay me enough to ride that thing."

Roberts ventured to Europe in 1978 to compete in the World Championship Grand Prix series. He surprised many observers by winning the 500cc crown in his first attempt, despite having no prior knowledge of the European circuits. Roberts was also known for his epic battles with British racing legend Barry Sheene, and the subsequent Grand Prix World Champion, American Freddie Spencer. His season long battle with Spencer for the 1983 500cc World Championship, in which they each won 6 races, and culminated in a last lap collision at the penultimate round in Sweden, is considered one of the greatest seasons in motorcycle Grand Prix history, along with the 1967 500cc duel between Mike Hailwood and Giacomo Agostini. In a fitting end to a great career, Roberts won his last race in the final meeting of the 1983 season, the Italian Grand Prix. Ironically, Roberts would have never competed in the world championships if Yamaha had had a bike able to compete against the Harley Davidson dirt track team.

Safety advocate

Roberts is also remembered for being one of the first riders to take up the cause of rider safety. When Roberts arrived on the Grand Prix scene, motorcycle racers were competing at venues like Imatra in Finland that featured railroad crossings and hay bales wrapped around telephone poles. Roberts adopted a confrontational, sometimes belligerent stance with race promoters, challenging the previously accepted poor treatment that motorcycle racers of the day were accustomed to receiving. He organized a rider's revolt and threatened to start a competing race series called the World Series to challenge the FIM's monopoly on championship caliber motorcycle races. Though the competing series failed to take off, it forced the FIM to take the riders seriously and make changes regarding their safety.

Manager

After his racing career ended in 1983, Roberts turned to team management, guiding such riders as Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Luca Cadalora and others to race wins. As Team Yamaha's manager, Roberts won three 500cc World Championships with Rainey and one 250cc World Championship with John Kocinski.

Deciding he wanted to be more involved in motorcycle designing, Roberts made the decision to leave Yamaha and start his own motorcycle company, Team Roberts, The team was well-funded by Proton of Malaysia, but the results were not as hoped and the backing faded. After the 2007 season, Roberts pulled out of MotoGP competition due to the lack of sponsorship.

Awards

• Inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1990
• Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1992
• Inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.
• The FIM named him a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2000.

Motorcycle Grand Prix results

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Points	15	12	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

(MotoGP results legend) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Class	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Points	Rank	Wins
1974	250cc	Yamaha	W.GER DNS	NAT DNS	IOM DNS	NED 3	BEL DNS	SWE DNS	FIN DNS	CZE DNS	YUG DNS	ESP DNS				10	19th	0
1978	250cc	Yamaha	VEN 1	ESP 2		FRA 2	NAT DNS	NED 1	BEL DNS	SWE DNS	FIN DNS	GBR DNS	W.GER DNS	CZE DNS	YUG DNS	54	4th	2
	500cc	Yamaha	VEN DNS	ESP 2	AUT 1	FRA 1	NAT 1	NED 2	BEL 2	SWE 7	FIN DNF	GBR 1	W.GER 3			110	1st	4
1979	500cc	Yamaha	VEN DNS	AUT 1	W.GER 2	NAT 1	ESP 1	YUG 1	NED 8	BEL DNS	SWE 4	FIN 6	GBR 1	FRA 3		113	1st	5
1980	500cc	Yamaha	NAT 1	ESP 1	FRA 1	NED DNF	BEL 3	FIN 2	GBR 2	W.GER 4						87	1st	3
1981	500cc	Yamaha	AUT DNF	W.GER 1	NAT 1	FRA 5	YUG 3	NED DNS	BEL 2	SM DNS	GBR 2	FIN 7	SWE DNF			74	3rd	2
1982	500cc	Yamaha	ARG 1	AUT 3	FRA DNS	ESP 1	NAT 4	NED 2	BEL 4	YUG DNS	GBR DNS	SWE DNS	SM DNS	W.GER DNS		68	4th	2
1983	500cc	Yamaha	SAF 2	FRA 4	NAT DNF	W.GER 1	ESP 2	AUT 1	YUG 4	NED 1	BEL 1	GBR 1	SWE 2	SM 1		142	2nd	6

References

• 50 Years Of Moto Grand Prix (1st edition). Hazelton Publishing Ltd, 1999. ISBN 1-874557-83-7
• Superbike Planet
• Motorcycle Hall of Fame

External links

• Team Roberts official site for the MotoGP team