Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

I ~ E 1"""4 af lilil likcz thcz prcz))urcz" 00 C') 1"""4 00 ~ ::s -, By Gary Van Voorhis By the time you read this Kenny Roberts will be back in Europe gearing up for the finalfiwevents in the 'OOcc World Championship GP Road Racing Series. King Kenny has won three straight 'OOcc crowns for Yamaha and the U.S. and would like to make it four. However, he finds himself in the role of underdog at the half· way point with an eight point disadvantage -- and some say one in machinery as well·- to fellow Amencan Randy Mamola who rides for Suzuki. That an Amen'can should win the title is a fairly safe conclusion. To find out Roberts' assessment of the matter we talked to him just three days before his return -- along with his oldest son and some friends -- to Europe. After three weeks of mostly relaxation, Roberts was rather anxious to get back to raci7}g q.nd the business at hand. 16 Ilandy Mamola is putting quite a bit of pressure on you to take away your 500cc crown. Do you feel certain you can retain your title? I think so. It's a tough year and this time we started OlH behind. I have an all new bike and with .something all new you're going to have some problems. The changes we've made have taken time because. you don't just call up Japan and say, ''I'd like this and this for next week." Things are finally coming together now and I feel that at Assen (Dutch TT) everything will be right. I'll have a whole new chassis at Assen. The main problem I've had is with handling. With the engine crankcases so high and the monoshock on top of that plus the gas tank you have a lot of weight up high and it almost feels like riding a 750. The thing that is stopping my lap times from getting faster isn't a lack of pOwer, but rather the handling problems created by that weight _. especially on tight, twisty, tracks. In addition, this problem makes the tires wear more so we have to use harder compounds than Suzuki. This creates a real problem in that we're having to do things with tires we haven't before. At Assen I should have a wider variety of tires to work with, ones with a different construction so they will hea t up faster. What are the main differences between Mamola's Suzuki and your Yamaha? The Suzuki has a powerband that comes on strong earlier and ends at 11,000 (rpm) where mine starts a little later and ends-oat 12,000 to 12,200. Both bikes have advantages and disadvantages. On tight, twisty tracks the Suzuki is better because it comes on the power sooner so you get out of corners quicker with little wheelspin. The Yamaha will spin the tires in that situation because of the engine/ chassis cpmbination. The Suzuki handles better because of their chassis and low placement of the engine. On the faster tracks the Yamaha has an edge on speed. The propoeal by former Formula One World Champion driver Jady Sc:hec:kla' to c:reale a mep-bud. 500cc road race series sounds like what you proposed last year. Has he contacted you on the program? It's basically the same thing as the World Series I proposed. I've met with Jody and talked to him about it. He has a lot of free time now that he has retired from auto racing and he knows all the promoters and all the television contacts you need to make something like this work. The basic idea is to have a series after the GPs are over with -because we end by the middle of August -- and keep it to four or five events to. be held in different parts of the world. The package can be sold to television and that's where the money comes from. The purse money -$200,000·- should be no problem and approval from the FIM shouldn't pose any problems either. I don't see why they should object to a FIM series called the Winner's Cup Series because it wouldn't take away from the World Championship since it would be only a televised sporting event. I've told Jody I would like to see a round in the V.S. and I l"ould' lend a hand in any way I could to help out in that respect. However, at this time, I don't think we'll see a series this year. There's an incredible amount of work that must be done to have everything run smoothly and that takes time, lots of time. That was one thing with the World Series, when we started out nobody knew just how much time it would take to put something together like that. For a V.S. round to do good, television would really have to get be· hind it. Television in the V.S. has just been playing with motorcycle racing with the exception of the cover"ge of the Carlsbad (500cc MX) GP. Ln Europe they televise most of the (road race) GPs. How do you assess your chances at the remaining six rounds? Do you have any favorite tracks or ones that might favor your Yamaha more than others? fbelieve Assen. because of the way my luck has been there the past three years,has to be anyone's race. Assen is a very tough track and I seem to have a hard time finishing in the top places there. ' The Belgian GP has to be an uncer· tainty because nobody has ridden on the track since it was repaved, and from what I hear the surtace isn't very good. A track like that is very hard to predict because if the surface isn't good th.en the gap in tire advantage/ disadvantage could be a big one. Chances are if my Goodyear is working then the Dunlop won't -- of course it can also go the other way. If the track is real slippery you either have a tire or you don't. The San Marino GP at Imola (Italy) could pose a real problem for me because Imola has a lot of switchbacks and chicanes. If the bike is stiU top heavy feeling then the low gear, second gear corners could work to Mamola's and Suzuki's advantage. In England. at Silverstone, I firmly believe I'll be the one to beat and I should definitely in the hunt in the two remaining events at Imatra (Finland) and Anderstorp (Sweden). How does it feel to be cast in the underdog role? It's been that way before for the three seasons before this one, only maybe not as pronounced. I guess we've never been quite this far behind before. What you have to look at i,s the balance of power could turn around really quick -- all I need is a win and a bad finish by Randy and it's a different ballgame. We're working very hard on winning -- new tires. a new chassis and I believe some new gofast parts -- while Suzuki is working very hard on eliminating the chance of a disastrous sixth or seventh place finish by Randy. The pressure is on them to finish, the pressure is on us to win. Personally, I like the pressure of needing to win races. I push it a little bit harder knowing I have to win because then when I win I like it better than just winning because you have the best combination. When you win and you know you didn't have the best combination then you know you rode your butt off. Would you have liked to have been at Louisville to see Jimmy Filice win his first National? You bet. I think you'll see me at some of the Nationals as soon as.the GPs get over. I don't believe I'll stay in Europe to run some of the big money races and that will give me time to see how things are progressing with Mike (Kidd), Jimmy (Filice), Mert (Lawwill). Dick (Mann). Bud (Aksland) and the rest. I want to see the Yamaha run So maybe we can turn the dirt track thing around. What is the status of the Yamaha effort? Things are coming along. I went to a test session at a half mile a couple of weeks ago and even took my leathers along .. although I didn't ride -- because we're having chassis problems. This is a development year and the next time you see the bike it will be way better than it was before, We're moving forward, but it takes time and continual change until things get right. When you're running races every weekend and trying to develop the motorcycle at the same time you're bound to stretch yourself thin, and you need at least three times the money you would normally need with a bike that is proven. Truthfully, we thought the project wouldn't take as long as it has. Do you see yourself in the role of a ream manager/race program organizer somewhere in the future? Is that the reason for forming RobertslLawwillllacing? That's basically right. I've gotten into the race management end to try and bring some high class/high buck sponsors into AMA racing to show it can be done. I'm not interested in sponsoring a team of Harley-Davidson riders and I'm not interested in going to the races every weekend. As far as the sponsorship goes. somebody has to do something because the AMA sure isn't making the sport grow. By creating the team, Men and I felt we might have a forum to say. "Hey, this is how we feel things should go next year. This is the direction we need to follow to grow into what the sport \;las the pmential to be." Hopefully. the Yamaha and the Honda will create a new interest in the sport. I would say that Yamaha is taking a very close look at us and watching to see what happens, but at this time they really don't have a major interest in a dirt track program. Yamaha was concerned about my putting this program together with Mert because, frankly, they want me over in Europe concentrating totally on winning the World Championship. What I'm doing here is my own way of trying to help out American racing. One final question, is Randy the greatest threat to your title? Definitely Randy. He's very good. However. Marco Lucchinelli is really strong this year and could very well prove to be a spoiler. I don't see Randy's teammate Graeme Crosby being a threat for the title becauS<' he just isn't going that fast. However. Crosby is very consistent and thaI counts a lot. •

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