VOLUME 57 ISSUE 16 APRIL 21, 2020 P41
it could be if you don't do this
right." It's just always, "Yes, it's
going to be great." There's no
bullshit in your head. You're al-
ways there. Even when we got to
the test, I had worked with John
in the off-season doing super-
moto and flat track and some
training, but we hadn't got to the
real deal which was the first test
of the season in Jerez.
I remember me and him met up
in Barcelona. I was already there
and he flew in from L.A. We flew
together to Seville. It was nice,
just me and him hanging out.
We had a really funny night in
Jerez. We're both from California
and we're both obsessed with
Mexican food, and the one thing
about living in Europe is there's
no good Mexican food anywhere.
I'm always on the search for good
tacos or a burrito or something.
As soon as we got to Jerez
John said to me, "There was
this one place here that had this
amazing Mexican food. Like, the
best. They made this homemade
guac and everything."
So, he thought he had found
the place. We get there and it
was disgusting. The chicken was
gray. The tortillas tasted moldy.
John threw up walking outside.
We took a bite and we were
out of there. We were just dy-
ing laughing. I think that set the
tone for our relationship. It was
fun from there on out. I honestly
need that.
I think if I look back on all my
years of racing, I've done my best
when I've kept it the most fun and
the most relaxed. I'm here to race
a bike and here to win and kick
ass but have fun doing it. I think
when you go to the world level,
especially being the American, it
starts to get really serious quite
quickly. You're always looking to
the next step, which is MotoGP,
or what's expected of me to get
there.
I think you start to lose sight of
what's the really important thing,
which is just I'm living the dream,
traveling around the world. I'm
with people that all love this too,
which is something that I think
people don't always pay atten-
tion to—the fact that every single
person in the paddock is there
because they love the sport and
have loved it since they were a
kid. We all have this common
reality. Once you start to under-
stand that and embrace that fact,
you start to lose the expectation
in all of that and just have fun
with it.
I think that's something that
with John it helped me to realize,
and my Crew Chief, Lucio Nicas-
tro, as well. I don't want to leave
him out because he also did a re-
ally good job with that, keeping it
really fun and not letting my head
get too big after the pole lap or
things like that. It was always on a
mutual level. That's the nice thing
"ONCE WE GOT TO
QATAR I KIND OF
KNEW WE COULD DO
SOMETHING REALLY
GREAT. THE FEELING
I HAD ON THE BIKE,
TURNING IN THE
CORNERS AND STUFF,
IT WAS PRETTY SICK."
Roberts ran with
Dutch team RW
Racing on the
Japanese NTS
chassis in 2018.
