Kenny Roberts talks
frankly about
racing in Europe
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By Chris Carter
"Anyone who isn't prepared to
scrape his knee on the ground
and h ang his butt out isn't going
to win, It's as simple as that."
In a nutshell that's the racing
philosophy of American Superstar Kenny Roberts , who has
come over to Europe and taken
the 500cc W orld Championship by the
scruff of th e neck .
Before he came to Europe, Roberts
said that his a im was to win three
world titl es . the 250cc, 500cc and
750cc.Three m onths later Kenny has
little reason to change his targets.
H e leads the 500cc battle . and
seems virtually unbeatable at present
and is second in both 250cc and 750cc
classes.
" I reckon th e 750 is going to be the
toughest. That gu y Cecotto doesn't
seem to be breaking down too often on
the big Yamaha ," says Kenny.
But in typ ical blunt, honest fashion
Kenny also says tha t it's not the racing,
the oppositi on or th e tracks that hav e
surp rised him th e most. It 's th e money
. or rather lack of it,
''I'm beginning to sou nd like a
broken record because .J'm alway s
sounding off a bout the cash
nowadays, " admits Kenny, "But it's
incred ible. When I used to race in
Europe it was in F750 races - and I
came over beca use the offers I had
were too good to turn down.
"T hey told me that the GP races
were bad on start money, but I never
imagined that they would be this bad.
What amazes me is that all the guys I
see in the GP paddocks each weekend
are still racing . and can afford to
carry on .
"I've talked to a few of them and
th ey say that they have to accept th e
few hundred bucks they get just to
help them ca rry on to the next
meeting,
.
" I signed up to ride at the Italian
GP and the ent ry form said in black
and white that they were paying the
FIM minimum start money rates, so
you can't argue ,
" I've given up argu ing with them
because all th ey say is that . they are
paying th e FIM minimum rates and
they don't ha ve to pay any more. Well ,that's no real problem for me because'
I've got good sponsors a nd I don't need
the cash , but I don't like being ripped ,
off and taken advantage of.
"For a lot of the others though th e
mon ey is important.ยท They need it to'
keep ra cin g - and th ey have to keep
ra cin g in GPs for points and places to
help them find a spon sor . I'm angry on
th eir beh al f.
" Ho~ we are goi ng to alter it I don 't'
kn ow. T h ings are so confused in t h~:
F IM n ow . We have ra ces like
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