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/126631
year, as it sta nds now , th ey probabl y will. My so n Kenn y, is n in e n ow an d he a nd my other two chi ldren a re im portant to me and it's getti ng harder a nd harder to pack and leave th em beh ind. Tha t, pl us th e season is j us t so long , Li ke no w I'll be gone for four mo nths a nd th en I ge t a couple o f wee ks off a nd I'm gone agai n for a co u p le more m onths a nd so o n. The chi ld ren a nd the whole th ing, th e rat race, a re a ll ba sicall y tied in together as far as m y ta lkin g about retiri ng a nd to my wanti ng to get more. tim e a t ho me. Yo u kn ow , it seems li ke every yea r th ere's m ore a nd more to do - n ever less. Every year it seems th ere are more an d more peop le depending on yo u , so yo u have to do more. I ca n' t see it ever ge tti ng less. Li ke now , I have to tra in in wh at off- season th ere is a n d every year th e seaso n seems to . sta rt ea rlier. The World Championsh ip thing is ge tti ng so much bigger and th e competition is so much gr eat er th at it m ak es it h ard. You have to spen d so much time testing an d training to get a ra cer 's edge- the racer 's edge I like to have an d built my career on. Well , I just don't feel I ca n keep that pace up any more. Only a top level competitor really knows the amount of pressure one faces contesting the GP road races. If you do race in America next year. what level of pressure will be on you? There's a lot less p ressure in th is co u ntry. T ake H ousto n for exa m p le. The races th ere are proba bly two of th e biggest littl e dirt tracks goi ng. It 's h ard to descri be, but it used to be a rea lly big p ressu re th ing to m e a nd it's hard to p u t that p ressure on me the re anymore. I just can't drum it up. It 's no t something th a t yo u just say, like, 'Hey, this is a big race an d th ere's going to be a lot of pressure,' It 's n o t. Along the same lin es, I th ink that American road races -if th ey choose to ru n them next year -would be rea l low-key pressure things for me. It 's one of those th in gs whe re yo u justkno w you can do it. I feel that I co u ld co me back a nd mak e a good a tte m pt a t the Nat ional Championsh ip, if I so choose. But ri ght now , at thi s point in my career, I'm backpedaling on making any kind o f decision as far as whe the r or n ot I' ll do a ny d irt races or roa d races nex t year. INTERVIEW: KENNY ROBERTS There was talk going around this winter about Kel Carruthers talking with Honda. If he did . nothing came of it and he 's still with yo u and the Yamaha team. Care to comment? Well, Kel is probably one of the most valua ble perso ns arou nd as far as road race knowledge a nd p reparing equipment goes. I thi nk everyone wo u ld want KeI on th eir tea m an d I thi nk it's quite na tu ral th a t peopl e woul d want to acquire h is services for their tea m . If he hadn't signed with Yamaha he cou ld ha ve go ne anywhere he wanted . I' m su re th at H onda a nd other people ha ve ca lled KeI. THE-- - - - - -- LAST YEAR?-- - -- - By Jack Mangus Photo by Tim Roberts 42 • Kenn y Roberts h as said this wo u ld be his last year of racing. He's p u blicly ann ounced that the '83 GP road race season wou ld be his final attem pt to earn a four th World C hampions hip titl e. In a telev isio n interview precedin g the Ho us to n Astrodome Cam el Pro Se ries races last mont h, R oberts said, " T his (H ous ton) is it . You 'll be seei ng m e fo r the last time on dirt this wee kend. " That . wee ken d, when ask ed if he w as serio us about retiring, R ob erts said, " May be." Like ma n y great athletes before him , R ob erts seems u na ble to walk away from a way of life that he has occup ied the bu lk of his time for nea rly rwo decades. T he o n-again, off-again retirement h as to come so me day. Will it come at th e end of this season? Will you retire from racing at the end of this season? It 's to o early to say . I sa id that I wouldn't go back to Eu ro pe aga in to do a full season. I don 't know if I'm goi ng to qu it everyt hi ng a t th e end o f th is seaso n or go into semi-retirement. Righ t now it 's a ll o pen. Everyth in g is open. As for peo p le aski ng me wh ether th ey'll see me ra ce in Am erica next Do yo u think th e naming of Giacomo Agostini as manager of the Marlboro Yamaha team had anything to do with Kel talking to Honda? No , Ago has nothing wh at soever to do with KeI. H e al so h as nothing whatsoever to do with me as far as m y capacity to do my job.Ago 's the administrator tied in with J apan to help run their racing team - hotel booking, p.r. , the press an d things. I don 't think he 'll interfere with any th in g Kel or I wa nt to do with th e bikes. Personall y, I get a long gr eat with th e guy. The current issue of Which Bike? a British magazine. is featuring a Barry Sheene interview in which he says