Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Kenny Roberts: The ser.ious Th r ee-tim e World Champion Ken n y Roberts m ay be the ultimate story teller, but he's al so p roved that his serious approach to racing can Ieadto championships. Now h is goals incl ude maki ng h is T ea m Lucky Stri ke Roberts id W ld Ch . d or a.mplOns an n . ers ~ IS T eam Nord ica R oberts nders future cha m'p l(~ ns. ~ ere are. th e KI!1g s th oughts o n vanous rac mg su bjects: On Team Nordica Roberts' Nordica is th e p rimar y sponior o f a 250 team that is primari ly based o n br inging up you n ge r riders. Since I am involved in the m otorcycle racing en d of the industry, I like to get the rid ers early eno ugh to work th em through, so th ey ca n be th e best th a t th ey can be. In other words, it wou ld ben efit Luck y Strike if I had rid er s co m i ng up w he n R an d y (Mamola) wants to qui t, a nd Mi ke (Ba ldwin ) quits _ (riders) th at are good qualified riders so I don ' t ha ve to run around some pl ace lik e-France a nd hire a ri der. It's bas ically to hel p th e yo u nger gu ys. There is no way I can do it withou t h aving so me peo pl e a t th e racetrack seeing what 's goin g o n , (seeing) who's co rn ing u p a nd who's doing wh a t. I ca n' t go to Lagu na eca every year an d p ick o u t a good rider. I sta rted a 250 tea m before in Europe for Wayn e Ra in ey wh en he didn 't have a ride. This year J oh n (Kocinski) was ou t o f a ride, so I tho ught it was worth investing to !pve a p lace for guys wh o h ave. the tal ent, bu t not necessa rily th e ex perien ce, to go somewhere in this sp o rt. It' s so rt of an in tro, or a junior pro gram at a h igh er level. O th erwise, th ey end u p on a bad str eet b ike or p ad superb ike, wha tever yo u want to call th em and then who kn ows wh at . happens ;0 th em. T his way it's ki nd pCa co nt ro lle d en viro n me nt and I havet hetools to h ~lp t h eguys al on g !Ind have .th em rid e wh ere I w:mt tlhem to. nde o r ride w.h ere I th in k 'f£e ,the ngh t pl~ces to ride. , rt ~ au n ever kn ow how th ey are gomg to .tu rn o ut, but yo u have to ~e~p ta.l km g to. th em .a nd .keep ~hem &o m g m th e n ght d irecti o n. .Even,w a lly y o ~ can put th em.on t~l<:lr way and t~ey II d~ what their ahiliry a nd e?, pen~nc<: WIll all ow th em to do. I Iike bringing th e yo u nger g u ys up, ~u ch as ) W ayn e (Ra iney ), Eddie (f.-a wso n). It 's eas y for me to do it and it's someth ing I will contin ue to do and expan d a little bit. I' ve ha d J ohn in J apan an d he won a 250 race 'over th ere a n d m aybe to ward the end 'of the year I'll get him o n a 500 over " "there. He'll get some .experie nce in J apan with th e GP bikes a nd maybe whe n h e' s ready I'll tak e h im to "Europe an d pu t him on so met hi ng ver th ere. Then I'll need a younger guy to tak e his pl ace here, a n d it will just keep it going. It will keep m y :)1and in it because I like motorcycle racing, so this a llows m e to keep th e .l~nteres t level up. If I'm helping -sorn ebody and I' ve go t a team , it .keeps m y in teres t in it. -' . , _ . On Nordica s John Kocinski: I met Jo hn at Laguna last year a n d I work ed with him a little bit th ere, 1 tryingto get him going beca use .h e had never seen La !?una. I told him It wou ld be okay If h e m oved o u t here an d liv ed with Chuck (Aksla n d) an d ca me o u t here a n d rod e with m e. I worked with Ra n dy ( Ma rno la ) anyway. I told him I'd work with h im for a winter a n d if I lik ed him , I'd help h im . That's basically wh at I sa id. ~f I d~dn't lik e h.im "I wou ldn 't ~elp him..I ve got to h k.e em to help em . I dect.ded to help h im, and I p~t the 250 thmg togeth er: I think that s probab l ~ th e easiest and th e best cl ass. It s th e cheapes t a nd m ost sensible class for th ese guys to learn m. From th e 250cc cla ss here, ~l e ca n go an ywh e~e . he ~ants to .m th e world,,Pro vldmg h.e s got th e inroad, And I ve ~ot th e inroads. I ca n do th a t for h im , whe n he's ready. J:Ie's learned a lot. ',1ot o~l l y abou t racm!?, but co m pe ti tion III gen era l. He s Iearn~d .a n outloo k o n racin~ and ~ha t s Im porta nt a~d w ~at s no t Impo~tant. \~hen he s ha~mg prob lem s in certa m .areas th a t s w he n he ca n ask fo~ adYlCe. Ju st, a few words ca n ma ke It ch ck, That s w~la t th ese g uys .need. So I worked WIth J ohn al ~ ~1',1ter a lmos t ~very day . We rode ml.",l blkes a nd bas lca ll,y h a~ fun too. If It S not f~ n , no o ne s .Wlll.1g to d? u . I wo uldn t ha ve done It if It was n t fu n a nd ~an dy alsC? It's got. to be fun 'or yo u re not go mg to do .It. J? hn has a good persp~ctlve o n rac.mg , a nd he ta kes racmg v<:ry senously . 'Therefore, to ~ tart ou t With h ~ was too. sen0l;'s. I tri ed to. l oo~en him up a Jittle bi t and get hi s m.md o ff th e senou~ stu ff some o f th e ti me so he cou ld th in k norma lly. John has done rea l wel l. On Nordica's Calvin Rayborn: I h a ven't h ad an y ti me w i th Calvin. 'O n ce th e season sta rts I'm pretty busy. I'm flying to Europe, I'm working here or I' m ta k in g care of my kids, so th e schedul e just hasn ' t been so th at I ca n ge t to th e races h ere. I ge t to go to Laguna , so I can h elp calvin th ere a n d I'm go ing with th em to Ja p an. So I can 'he lp the m there and h opefull y I ca n ge t to a nothe r one over here toward th e en d o f th e season '. ' On Lucky Strike an d D u nlop: I was faced with a real difficu lt decision a t the sta rt of th e year. I was satisfied with th e per form ance a nd th e heIp from Mich el in , bu t at th e sa m e tim e I wanted to do m ore devel opment. The riders did exce ptional last year for th e fir st year out: no o ne in th e team had wo rked o n th e m ot orcycle before a n d I was th e o n ly o ne familiar with th e mo torcycle, a nd I'm no t a m ech ani c. We co u ld n' t do a nythi ng a nd we were stuc k with wh at we h ad because we didn 't h ave ti me to develo p or do a ny th ing. ~ an dy was n ' t used to Yamaha and Mik e d id n' t kn ow a ny thi ng a bo u t it eithe r. T h is year we are ma king them bett er. Aft er the third or fo urt h Grand Prix th ey were actually better th an when we got th em ; last year th ey were th e same all th e time. Tha t's what I sa id we wanted to do; win ra ces, not just hav e a good solid finish. In order to do th a t I figured ' we needed more testing tim e a nd if I was goi ng to spe n d time a nd money testing di ffer ent co m b inatio ns, I needed a little different typ e of servi ce fr om a tire co m p a n y than just, "here' s wha t every body 's using." I'm not used to working in th at kind of framework. I'm used to dictating what I want to use a n d th en having th e tire co m pany try to fulfull th ose spec ifica tio ns . I felt th at Dunlop co u ld do that for us . The riders, of co u rse, were real skeptical because no one used th em in 1986 but Elf and a few o the rs. So it was a bi g deci sion to tak e a team th at in its first yea r wit h Luck y Strike got third and fourth , a nd th en tak e a chance switch ing tire co m p an ies. It co u ld h ave turned o u t to be no t so good . I h ad to have so m e real faith in th e co m pany an d in th e ti res. We tested a t La g u n a a nd Baldwin was fin e at Lagu na. Of co u rs e Bal dw in was not an A ride r las t year, so he d id n't get the good Mich el in s like everyo ne else. H e was very lim ited to wha t tires h e co u ld ge t a nd at tim es it did ca use so m e p robl ems. Randy was a lso n o t so hap p y a co uple of tim es last year. So in stead o f bein g third or fourth on the Miche li n list, I felt it wa s better to be nu mber o ne o n Dunlo p 's list. Afte r testing at Mal a ysia a nd in Japan , I had a lready m ad e u p m y m ind th at Dunlo ps were the wa y to go a nd th en Rand y co n firmed it a nd we went. I didn 't want to mak e a ' decision for th e g uys; I wa nt ed them to mak e a decisio n th at th e tires wer e good eno ugh . I d id n' t wan t them rid in g o n ti res that weren ' t good enoug h; they were o u t there ri ski ng th eir butt(s) a n d I wa nted th em happy with the decisi on. I did n 't want th em for ced into a decisi o n. I wou l dn 't hav e want ed th a i to hap pen when I wa s ridin g . I th ink th ere was a lo t of sp ecula tio n from the industry th a t it wa s a stu p id decis io n, b ut it 's turn ed o u t 10 be rea lly goo d . We've had reall y good tires a n d wh en yo u co nside r th a t we weren 't rea lly close to bea tin g Edd ie (Lawson) last year, a n d this yea r we've a lready do ne a lo t better tha n tha t. We ar e a lot farther a head and we'r e mak in g inroads tha t ar e bett er. I'm not saying th e Mich elins ar e no t good and th ey're no t going to im p ro ve. T h ey are always a good tire, no question. I like to be d ifferent. I was a lways different. I was always o n so me th ing th a t wa sn 't q ui te righ t. 'M ich elin to m e is too per fect and th at's wh y I went wi th Dun lop wh en I did years ago. I beli eve they are rea lly dedi cat ed to m aking a better prod uct. . J apan is beh ind it 100% and most o f the ti me we use J apanese ti res. We won th e- b iggest ra ce of the year, the J ap anese Gra nd Prix , a nd we wo u ld h ave been first a nd seco n d if bra in fade hadn ' t set in o n Mike's part. H e h ad secon d sewn u p , n o question. H e ma de a n erro r in th e rai n and of co u rse that's easy to do . T hat decision was good th ere; if we got fifths and thirds th e rest of th e year, as fa r as I'm co nce rned we wo n it. It wa s th e biggest race a n d th e o n ly (o the r) thing we co u ld do 'wou ld be win th e World Champions hip, and I didn ' t th in k we had a shot at th at a n yway. Unless we co u ld come up with a co m b in a tio n that suited Randy's riding style a nd Mike's style we co u ld n' t b e better than the Michelin guys . We h ave to have a better bike a n d better tires a nd a . better co m b ina tio n to be ab le to wi n . Because it mak es it eas ier on th e guys, th a t' s why I mad e th e decis io n. On American flat track racing: I do n 't think th e mile racing show is as go od as it used to be. I think th e AMA is too co ncerned with whethe r th e 750 H onda is faster th an th e 750. H arley. Wh at differen ce does it make? If the y improve th e sh ow the y are go in g to get more spec ta tors. If the y get more specta tors th ey ca n p ay th e riders m ore m oney, and the n you' ll see impro vem ent in th e eq u ip m ent. The AMA is spe nd ing so much tim e trying to ma ke ra ci ng chea per, a nd it's really hard for m e to beli eve that racing is ever going to get chea per. Wh y do n ' t they spend m ore time o n trying to get the riders more m oney. It doesn ' t tak e a co m p u ter wh iz to fi ~ure o u t how m uch money so m eo ne IS m akin g. Unti l a CA RTtype at mosp here co mes along and m ot orcycle raci ng is ru n entire ly at a p rofessional level, I do n 't thi n k Am er ica n ra cin g is go in g to go a n ywhe re. I think th e br ak es ha ve to be tak en o ff the di rt tracker s to get th em flick in g th e things back int o th e co rners again. Ma ybe tha t' s no t th e answer, but they' ve go t to improve th e sho w. They've go t to have it go off o n ti m e and th ey 've got to get th e riders better m oney. If th ey do all those things th ey will get bett er tea ms an d better m otorcycles. Righ t n ow they ar e turning a ll o f Am eri ca's ra ces into club races, and I do n 't agree with tha t phi losophy. That 's basi ca lly wh y I left th e states in th e fir st p lace. They were runn in g us into th e gro und a nd no t paying us any money. T he y co u ld h ave th e best sho w in th e world with m ile ra cing, bu t it 's turning into backyard raci ng. It 's too bad . And it's ge tt ing wo rse. The racing is close, bu t th ey' re following eac h o the r a ro u nd thecorners. If yo u sit d own in th e corne rs you see very littl e passin g. If you sa w a good cush io n m ile. yo u 'd go , " Wo~!" It is nu ts. At Sa n J ose yo u used to get people down at th e co rners wa tchi ng q ua lifyi ng, but now you do n' t. I too k my kid down th ere three years ago an d he was bored after five m inu tes. T hey li terall y just put th e br a kes o n a nd go around the corn ers. If you gave Scotty Par ker , Rick y G raham an d Bu bba (Sh obert) and those g uys a cus h io n m ile to run on , th en you 're go ing to get so me exciun en t, Bu t p u t them o n those slippery race tracks th ey ha ve to run on a nd it's h ard to ma ke it look go od . It' s h ar d to make it loo k hard; they a re so good a t it n ow that th ey rarely ma ke a mi stak e. On next yea r's U .S , Gra nd Prix: I' m exci ted about it. In fact I wou ld lik e to race in Am eri ca 's first Grand Prix. On flat tracking a V- Max: If it ge ts to the lock, look pl ace to jump.

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