Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Astrodome have m ix ed emo tio ns a bo u t eac h o ther. For three st rai gh t yea rs, he has kill ed hi s eng ine in th e T T and for three straigh t yea rs he h as won th e Sho rt Track. Reading o ff the racing resul ts for the rest o f 1971 brings o u t th e t ype o f lu ck asso ciated w ith the professio na l raci ng business. "At Day to n a, I lasted one la p an d blew up. In th e 2 50 race I got 15th bu t I w on the A tla nta race th e ne xt month with Kel Carruthe rs help ing me. KeI' s th e best. He is th e best Yam ah a has got. T hey really go t be hin d me at Tallade ga whe n Vesco was building the mach ine an d Kel was with him. They really ran good." By the en d o f his Junior ye ar, the big race at Ontario sho wed j ust how good this kid reall y w:iS as the Europea n he roes ca m e in to tow n and th e 19 ye a r-o ld ble w most o f th em into the wee ds in the co m bined J un io r/ Ex pert run . • Roberts leading the heat at the 1972 Race of Champions at San Jose. His fir st effort in t he Pro scen e was as a rank Novice o n an in door surfa ce. The first Saturday n igh t o f 19 70 was the tr aditional tim e for wat ching new numbers an d th e Cow Palace saw a new Novice m achin e with SOY on it. T here was much atten tio n pai d to th at number as it had b elonged to an o ld local favorite ;J im Rice. Ken lived up t o t ha t n umb er in his fir st ex perience on the concre te by fin ishing a resp ectab le thi rd b ehind the then unbeatabl e Mark Brelsford. '.'The mo tors w ere reall y co mpetitive and reliable. I had good help f ro m Bud Aksland . Jim Doyle cam e into t he p ictu re and I even rode Bria n O 'Ha gen 's Montesa in a sp ortsm an scra mbles. We ha d Mario Campetti co me d own to Ascot and work on th e mo tors and we won 14 straight. " Having the likes of Mari o Ca mpetti fro m Selby Motors and Bud Aksland, the Expert professio nal , on your tea m is a good sign th a t you have what it takes and team development was well on it s way toward big time d evelo pm en t. Ken m ad e 'very fe w ap pearance on th e sportsman circ ui t fr om th at point, but one he di d make was th e ann ual Modesto sp ring scra m bles an d the o ne man that beat him in th e Open Expert Main, and is st ill bea tin g most of the m to th is day had so me in t er es ting words. Ray Huff is d efinitely on e o f the O ver the Hill Gan g; at th e ti me, h e was 39. "1 just kn ew th at kid was go nna be o ne .o f th e great o nes. Back in th e o ld days, me and Bug and Dick Hammer used to really ge t it on on ce in a while , but it 's been a while since I've see n a kid thi s good co me alo ng. He's to ugh t o be a t." Tha t comes as some kind of co m pli me nt fro m this veteran who is one o f th e toughest. When o ne beats Ray Hu ff, o ne rem embers. On t o th e Scott/Roberts duel. " Me an d Gary got to know each other pr etty well righ t o ff. He and I wer e- th e o nly ones runni ng out front and we used to get in to so me pretty good di ces. He star te d o u t ridi ng a Bultaco w hile I rode the tw in Suz u ki o n the half mil e an d th e Montesa o n the I T cou rse. I w on the, m ost race s but had som e b ike problems. As a Jun ior, wh en he got o n th e T rium p h 750 and I go t on th e Yam ah a 650, it seem ed lik e we didn ' t have any troub les. he wo uld win . So 1 was th e Novice winner and he wo n the J unior. I w on m ore Na tio na ls than he d id , but he co uld n't ge t aro und t o th em as we ll," . It was n' t too long in to th e first seaso n when J im Do yle ca me o n to th e scene as Ke n 's sponsor/ promo ter an d wh en the details were worked out, Ken signed a co n trac t with Doyle and th e tea m o f Do yle / Roberts was fo rmed . "J im and I ta lked o ne nigh t and I said t hat I would split 50/50 with hi m and he would help with spon so ring and expense s. It 's still a good d eal as it helped m e when I was a J unior and a Xovi ce and n ow it's paying him some bu ck s, too. I knew th at I cou ld n' t live o n the mone y th at is made fro m Novice racing and so with Jim p aying the ex pe nses , I could ju st co nc entrate on the raci ng." The frie ndsh ip must be really great be ca use there is n o w ritten c o ntrac t to this d ay , yet th ey rem ain close friends and Ji m st ill spends much o f his tim e tr ying to promo te Ken a nd assist in busi ness d ealings. Ken and Jim started talki ng with Ya maha late in his Novice ye ar. All th is was to m ake a profound difference in b oth th e ca re er o f Ken Ro bert s an d the Yamah a Team o u t look. HI we n t to Hou ston in '7 1 with some real good equip ment and qu alified fast est. T hen in the first heat, I was run ning t hi rd w hen thi s gu y fe ll in fr ont of m e an d I hit him and that was it fo r the T'I'. I got off th e lin e in th e Short Track bad and Ga ry was lea di ng it b ut I go t back in to sh ap e pretty good and wo n t hat." Ken Roberts an d th e Houston Co mi ng up through th e ranks o f professio nal motorcycle raci ng is a to ugh job. J im Do yle fee ls that o nly o ne in a hund red can m a k e the big tim e. " Yo u just have t o take th e kid aro un d by th e hand and teac h him th e ro pes .. And it just tak es too mu ch t im e to do m ore than o nce in eve ry thre e o r four years." T he atti tude o f 'all riders has a lot to do with su ccess and Ken knows full well that you m ust have a good a lt it ude before y ou c an be a re al winner. " I don't get too m uch of a cha nc e to wat ch th e other Nov ices and J uni ors be cause I'~ co ncen trating o n m y ow n st u ff, but it still is a b ig thing to have your h ead st raigh t. I'm o u t to have a lot of fun but also t o get th e job- done. I really have to cons id er my self lu ck y to be with Yam ah a Internat ional. All I really h ave t o d o is sh ow and r ace. They bring th e m o to rs, ge t th em go ing and I race . It's really quite a d eal." Flying has become pretty mu ch of a secondary life style for the 2 1 y ea r-o ld speedster. Having a spons o r wh o is a pr ofession al pil ot fo r the " world ' s most experienced airlin e" mak es for so me good ti mes off th e circuit and Ken had little troub le ge tting his ow n priva te licen se . Who k nows ? Maybe Ken will start fly ing himself to th e races? T he busin ess of racin g has been term ed as a Cru el Sport by Bob Daley, a sp o rty car type, and it's true. T he ineq u ities o r racing are many and Ken Rob er ts h as felt th em a ll over the years . Just befo re the 19 73 Dayton a road race, Ken go t togethe r with A & A Manu facturing ow!'er Ra y Abram s and decided to rid e a new 5 0 0 Yamaha sing le at a lo cal event, dubbed Mar ath on Madness in Sa n J ose. It was to prove disastro us for the fu ture number one ride r. " Ray and I de cid ed to have a little fu n b efore th e rigors o f th e circuit t ook over a nd so we decid ed to rid e th is marathon . I go t there ea rly and did a few laps with AI Kenyon o n o ne of his bikes and reall y felt go o d abou t it. Somewher e alo ng th e w ay I go t into a dice wi th so me kid and got o ff pre tt y hard. It d id n ' t bo ther me b ad un til afte r the rac e, on the way home , and then I reall y hur t." Hurt was an understatement. In the process of rid ing t he event , Ken lap pe d the entire fiel d seven times. T he ev ent is a tw o hour dash and with a little help fro m Abrams, it was an unbelievabl e runaway. Ken would come b y th e scoring tower d oing feet up slides o ff a berm in ab out fourth gear WFO. T he pri ce paid was more tha n it sho uld have been, though , be ca use it cost hi m an y cha nce of doi ng well at Daytona. T he severity o f th e injury wasn't no te d by the d oc tor who trea ted the injury and an infection set in tha t st ill h urt a co u p le of wee ks afte r ehr road race . Considering th at Ken was d icin g w ith J arn o Saarinen in th e first few lap s bef o re he d efl a ted a rear t ire, not being able t o ride with an y real force du e t o th e pain, Ken w as abo ut Sl 5,OOO po orer an d a bunch of p o in ts beh ind wh at he migh t h ave been . All th at is now under th e bridge since he has clin che d th e titl e of Grand National Cha m pion, b ut it w asn 't that e asy . " 1 reall y feel bad abo ut .1Ot doing well on m y ho me tracks. I know that there a lot o f pe ople t hat wer e rootin g for me a t the San Jose Na tio nals an d whe n I co u ld n ' t race the Main s, I really felt bad. I would like to have d o ne we ll a t both th e Half-Mile and Mile Nationa l, but I guess that 's ra cing," What happen ed to the mo to rs at those two San J ose races ? The Ha lf-Mile was a bummer . The po int wire broke:' All that ca me aft er havin g qualifie d fastest, win n in g th e heat and having AMA Presid en t J .R . Kell ey present him with the fast time troph y. "The Mile was a ro ck er arm frozen up in the he ad. I had won m y he at and really felt good but as we were ge ttin g rea dy to go o ut t o line up , we found th at it wasn't running righ t and we kne w there wasn't eno ug h tim e to fix it so w e sat it o ut ." T hings we re n ' t alway s so gri m a t th e Sa nta Cla ra Co unt y fairgr ounds. Th e opening ra ce o f the year o n th is hal f-m ile track usua lly co mes in ea rly April. Since it 's the fir st da ytime dirt trac k Natio nal, j us t abou t every bo dy sho ws up to test th eir equipment befor e go ing o n th e tour. A t that fir st event, Ken blew everybody in th e weeds, de spite ha vin g been injured th ere o nly tw o months befor e . S ta tist ics take over fo r th e res t of the , Sacramento 1% mile TT riding a Montesa behind Harry Raggio.

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