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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126416
Yamaha Motor Corporation president Seisuke Ueshlma and Champion Spark Plug's Bobby Stnlhlman enjoy a Kenny Roberts one-llner. Conference with the King On Wednesday, June 6, Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA hosted a press conference at the Queensway Hilton in Long Beach, CA. There the 500cc Road Race World Champion, "King Kenny" Roberts told reporters about his season, thusfar, on the '79 World title chase in Europe. He opened with an elaborate monologue, then responded to questions from the press people. What follows is a lightly-edited transclftt ofthat press conference with the King. 22 "I guess you're all wondering about what's happened this year. I was here last year - I felt lind of funny at the middle of the year saying that I'm' going to try to be the World Champion and everything ... I'm in the lead and all that. It hasn't happened again this year, and I guess the only thing to say is what happened up to this point. "After the crash inJapan, of course, I was a little doubtful that I would make Austria - I think everyone was a little doubtful that I would make Austria. And I really didn't think that I would win Austria. I thought that I would be about 80%, and I was about 80%. "When I was in J a pan testing, the Yamaha that I rode I didn't get much time on it, and it was a new bike - the new 500 - a little bit different than this one: A whole lot different right now. It didn't really have the power that I thought that we needed, and it didn't have the powerband in the right places. "So, after I crashed, of course I came home. Knowing that the bike wasn't really what I thought 1 needed to win the races against the Suzukis against the whole team of Suzukis, I guess they have five riders or they did have before the accidents last week 1 wasn't sure, so when 1 went to Europe knowing that I had to be 100% because I didn't really know how the bike was going to be. I didn't know if the bike was going to be faster, or if it was going to be the same as it was in Japan, or whether it would be worse. "They surprised me. They rented the track just a cou pie of days before Austria just to see how my back would react and to see how the bike was and get everything worked out. The bike was so fast, and it worked so well, I didn't really have to work at it. I probably used 80% at Austria. "I had Ferrari who was zero seconds behind me, and I'm not used to that. I'm used to seeing plus four, plus five, plus six. I kept getting a plus zero, and this happened the whole race. Ferrari was right on my tail, and I figured it was going to be a last lap, last knock somebody down for the finish linel It was a good race for me because 1 had to ride a steady race at 80%, and Ferrari had just enough motorcycle to stay in my draft because it's a fast track, it's a horsepower race track. But he didn't have enough horsepower to pass me. "He passed me a couple times in traffic, but going down the front . straight, I just zipped by him because in sixth gear the Yamaha seems to go. The Suzukis, when they hit sixth gear that's as fast as they're going to go. They don't go any faster, and the Yamaha can pull out of the draft at that poim. I can see the front forks of the Suzuki start dropping. Well, when the front forks start dropping, their powerband's dropping. I don't know if they had it geared too high or what, but they definitely didn't have the speed that they thought they had at the end oflast year. "So really, when I went to Austria 1 was only 80%, and my back was not very strong. I had to be helped off the bike. I couldn't bend up for a while, and after that it was sort of sore for a couple of days, but it's been getting better. "When 1 got to Europe, wondering all these things: Whether my back would hurt me while 1 was riding whic!) it didn't - whether the bike would be fast enough ... The bike was super, and I'd like to say Yamaha did one hell of a' job to get that bike to Europe, painted and on the race track as good as it was. And I rode 80% and 1 didn't have to ride any harder than thatl "I've got Goodyear .. .I've got a lot more tires now to choose from. I have 35 different tires for one race, so it's kind of tough to pick two tires out of 35 that you want to race on. Then when you get the one you want to race on. you find out you only twO of those! You can't practice too long on those because there is not enough room in the truck to haul these tires. I think we haul about 150 tires to the race. So 1 have a big problem going through tires. "Before I went to Europe, the rumor was, of course Barry Sheene's the hot set-up. He said, 'Roberts has had a good crash now like I have had, and he's not going to be 100% like he used to be. He's not going to be pushing it that far. The Suzulis now are quicker, now we have the power, the top end power, that we needed so now we are ready. And now the Michelin tires are as good as Goodyear so we have no problems, I feel that 1 can retain the championship - no problem.' "Well, he had a rude awakening because Michelin is in big trouble right now. I could have told him they were in big trouble when I saw the design of the new tires, but I didn't want to. "They're going crazy. There's a couple of contracted riders for Michelin, Greg Hansford was one of them and he was riding a 250 in Germany. He looked like a novice .riding at Salzburg, which is in Austria, and when we got to Germany, he still looked like an old lady. He went to Dunlop - and he gets paid money by Michelin, he's a contracted rider and he went to Dunlop and bought two tires and four seconds a lap and blew ~ichelin away right there. Well, then Barry Sheene went over - he's another contracted rider for Michelin - and he went to Dunlop. This all happened in Italy.