Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125974
The fast kid in the yelluw leathers Kenny Roberts relaxes with wife Pat and son Kenn y Lee. Race-by-race record in AMA for 1974 Ho uston, T X (T o uris t T rop hy) Houston, T X (Sho r t trac k) Day t ona Beach , F L (Roa d) San Jose, CA (Mi ke Dirt) Den ver , CO [Half- mile Dirt ) ( Fell) At lanta, GA ( Road) Louisville , KY (Ha lf·mile Din ) Loudon, N.H. (Road) Columbus, OH (Half-mile Din) Sa n Jose, CA (Mile Din) Cas tle Rock, WA (TT) (Fell) Gardena , CA (TT) Mon t erey, CA ( Road) Hinsdale, IL [Short track) Peo ria , IL (TT) Indianapolis, IN (Mile Din ) (Blo wn head gas ke t ) Talladega , AL (Road) Syracuse, N.Y. (Mile Dirt ) To ledo , OH (Half-mile Dirt ) Terre Haute, IN (Half-mile Din ) Albany , CA (Mile Dirt) Ontario, CA (R oad ) Garden a, CA (Half-mile Dirt) Pos. 2 5 2 I II I II 4 2 4 14 2 I I I 19 I 4 7 2 3 2 8 Overseas road racing 2nd at Imola, Italy; th ree Ists, three 2nds in Match Race Series on th ree different- tracks in England to win individ ual championship. 16 At age 23, Kenny Ro berts is lo o kin g for his third co nsec utive AMA Grand Nati onal racing championship . Ve teran observers of AMA co m petition rat e h im as one: o f the most natural riders ever to come along . . . and his cre den tials back them up . The Yamah a ace won six features o n the ru gged Grand Na t io nal circuit last season, twice as many as he collec te d in the previo us campaign, when he also sped to the titl e with ease. He scored points in each of the 23 ra ces on the 19 74 schedule and finished fifth or better o n I 7 o ccasions. All o f this carried him to another record point total. He amassed 2,286 points, 272 more than his all- time mark of 19 73. His margin over runnerup Gary Scott in the final stand ings was a whopping 8 19 points. During t he b an ne r season, he earned an estimated 5200,000. Roberts last seaso n also became the second rider in history to attain the distinction of having scored victo ries in all five of th e demanding types of racing encountered on th e AMA Grand National circ ui t - mile, half-mile and short-trac k d ir t o val varieties, alo ng with TT-steeplechase and road co urse competition. The o nly other performer ever to accomplish th at re markable feat was veteran Dick Mann, who finally co m p le ted the "grand slam" when he was 3 7 . . . and in hi s 16th season of racing. In hi s spare ti m e during 1974, Roberts also raced overseas to win eve n more acclaim. Among other honors, he collected th e in dividual cham p io nship of the annual "Easte r Match Race Se ries" by winning three races and fin ishing second th ree o ther tim es in a string of road races run at various courses in England which he had neve r see n before. He also dazzled European cycling en thusiasts by sprinting to h uge leads in meetings with the world 's be st riders at lrno la, Italy, and Mallo ry Park, England, o nly to encoun ter trou ble wi th experimen tal tires t ha t relega ted him to second pl ace in th e former an d to the sidelines in th e latter. Roberts ' versatility is stressed by th e range of victories he collecte d o n the AMA circ uit last season. He won on the mil e d irt track at San Jose, California ; the short-track a t Hinsdale , IIJino is; th e TT at Peoria, IIJinois ; and ro ad races a t Atl an ta, Ge orgia; Monterey, California ; an d Talladega, Alabama. That bo osted his n u m ber of ca ree r wins to 10 in just three seasons of campaigning in th e Exp ert s class. He fi nished fourth in the st andin gs in his rookie season on the big circuit, after acquirin g the na tional Novice and Junior cro wn s in co nsecutive years. Roberts, a native of Mode sto, California, recently moved his wife, Pat . and son, Kenny Lee, in to a new home he p urc hase d in Orange, California, ne ar the Yamaha headquarters. "Kenny 's riding exper tise con t rib utes tremendously to what we're trying to do wi th o ur racin g operation." says research and development manager Pete Schick. "We race to perfect our engines and components so that we can develop a better, m ore reliable motorcycle fo r public co nsump t io n . "w" prove or disprove methods and materials on the race track before they are inco rp o ra t ed in t o the finished lin". Kenny particularly has bee n most instrumental in refining suspension units and in the de velo pm en t of better. safer tires." There is little doubt that Roberts puts eq uip men t to the supreme challenge in provin g its worth. Maneuvers that would seem catastrophic to the average rider are commonplace experiences to his supple reflexes as he gathers up an errant cycle in the midst o f a rutted dirt oval or bends into a sweeping road turn with a grace that rubs the kneepads of his leathers to a frazzle d pulp. Such tactics, all achieved with a delicate, high-spe ed sty le th at makes it appear to be casual, ha ve won Ro berts wid e recog nition as o ne of the greate st, n o t only in merica but in the world.