Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Interview: Kenny Roberts • Thefo By Henny Ray A brams The rumors began circulating around the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamp 'in mid-July. Both Yamaha and Marlboro were becoming increasingly unhappy with the rapi d ly di si ntegra tin g nature oftheir official " works" tea m in th e h ands of multi. . . . . o rne World Champion Gla- 6 co m o Agost ini, th ey went. Yama ha, it was said, felt that Ago 's tea m ha d n't lived up to expecta tio ns a nd were u ni m p ressed with th e number a n d " varie ty o f failur es that h is mach ines were su fferi ng in th e hands of h is three riders, Freddie Spen cer , Nia ll Macken zie, a nd Luca Ca dalora. Marlboro , after years at th e to p with the sin ce -departed Wo rld Champion Eddie Lawson , wasn 't acc us to med to rid ers not finishing, and wh en they d id , out of the top f~ve . Word was, th a t u~ l ess Ago signed one of th e four rtders th a t Ma rlb o ro suggested Wa yn e Gardne r, Kevin Sch wantz, Wayne Rainey or J ohn Koci nski - h e'd lose hi s sponsorsh ip and, probab ly, h is works 500s. So a t th e Su zuka Eight-Hou r, not long after Spa, Ago made Way ne R ain ey a n o ffer h e th o u gh t h e co u ld n ' t refuse , buthe d id. Not o n ly d id he lose Rain ey, but th e o ffer backfired in ways th at n o o ne co u ld ha ve im agin ed . The event ua l fa ll-ou t of a ll thi s was th at Ago had red uced h imself th ro ugh greed a nd arrogan ce to a non-p layer in th e 500cc class and Ken n y Rob ert s was a ble to form th e I stro nges t race team in mod ern h istory. One tea m owner su m med it u p perfectly when he said, "Th is gu y did n ' t have h is d uc ks in a row when he though t abou t this." . " Whe n Ago tri ed to bu y Wayn e it was do u ble wh at any body had go tte n befo re," Rob erts said recentl y a t his ho me in H ickman, Ca lifornia. It is gene ra lly accep ted , altho ug h n ot offi cia lly co nf ir med , th at th e biggest pa ych eck in racin g bel on ged to Kevin Schwa ntz in 1989, abo ut $ 1.3 mill io n a year. " It wa sn 't three m ill ion (for o ne yea r), bu t close, wit hin a million. That rea lly p issed me off . I'd helped Yam aha develo p the motorcycle, the riders." An d now Ago was try ing to stea l o ne. Rob ert s ha d a lso been led to beli eve b y Ya ma ha tha t Ago would no t go af ter hi s . riders whic h doubly in cen sed him . Wh at Ago didn ' t know was th a t while he was trying to lure Rain ey a way a t Suzu ka, Rob ert s was being to ld by Yamaha that he wou ld have 9 of th e number o ne R&D team in 1990. Wh en this became appar ent to h im , so me time la ter, h is p robl em s wer e co m pou nded because if he co u ld n' t ge t th e best b ikes th ere was no wa y he co u ld ge t the best riders, a lt ho ugh he d idn 't give u p. Accord ing to in sid er s at Honda, Ago was ex trem ely close to sig n in g G a rdn er. But th e Au strali an demurred a t the last minute, m ostl y becau se of th e o pport u n ity that H onda ha s g iven h im to form h is own tea m in 1991. After the season ended Ago flew arou nd th e wor ld stopp ing in J apan a nd H ouston in an effo rt · 10 get a co nfi rma tio n from Yam a ha to g ive to Sch wa n tz th at he'd h ave the best eq u ip me n t. In th e end he got neither. If he co u ld n 't ha ve th e best bikes, h e co u ld n' t have th e rid ers, Sch wa n tz told him. " I think th ere ar e a co u p le of th ings yo u have to co ns ider th ere, too," Rob ert s says o f th e Schwantz , sit ua tion. " Don' t forge t th at Yamaha h ad a lrea dy pro mised me from Nomura , who's head o f mo to rcycles, our bi ke p ro babl y wo u ld be d ifferent fro m th e rest of the bi kes periodica lly. It co ul d be a di fferent m ot orcycle a ltogether. T he re rea lly is no clari fication on what th at means. It co u ld m ea n the spark p lugs a re differen t. It co u ld mean th e whole engine is d ifferent. After making that p romise, then Sch wa nt z sa id I have to h av e eq u a l eq ui p me n t. And Yamaha not o n ly co u ldn' t mak e th at co m m i tme n t, but th er e wa s big co ncern that Yamaha didn 't want Schwantz to leave Suzuki." As co m pe titive as racin g is, th ere is a certa in a mou nt o f a lt ru ism practi ced a t th e hi ~h est level s of th e 'J a p a n e se fa ct or ies and takin g Schwantz from Su zu ki would do irre para ble damage to th eir program. A Hond a representativ e ec hoed , Rob erts com me n ts. And, as Rob erts points o u t, " We' re raisin g o ur own rid ers. We've go t J ohn, wh o 's going to be a co u p le o f years o n a 250 or o ne year or wh atever a nd jump to a 500. And Suzu ki's got a good rider in Sch wa ntz an d Honda 's got a good ride r in G ardner." So without a ny of th e Fab Four, Ago was left without hi s biggest backer for th e 500 team , a lt hou gh th ey will back h is 250 effort with Luca Ca da lo ra . Cadalora, however, would very m uch like to h ave left Agostini, but he signed an agreement with hi s tea m boss at th e season ending Brazili an G P a nd Ago was ma king sure he honored it. Marlboro h ad ac tua lly been talkin g with th e ot he r tea ms si nce midseason and th e strongest rumors h ad the m go ing to Suzu ki. T hey a lso spoke to a t least one H onda team, but were pr evented fro m pursuing serio us talks by th e excl usivity of th e Rothrnans co nt rac t. Yet it wasn 't until th e Swedi sh G ra nd Pr ix in th e b eginnin g o f Au gu st th at th ey a p p roac he d R oberts. Alth ou gh nothing was o fficia l until a co u p le of months after th e season, a t Brazil Lucky Strike "was co n fide nt th ey wo u ld n't be ba ck with Rob ert s a nd began to shop around. Thei r choices, h ow ever , wer e lim it ed a nd they eventua ll y fou nd a hom e for th ei r $5 m ill ion o ffer a t Suzuki.

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