Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

· IN R IE · Kenny Roberts. Jr. TE V W / / By Henny Ray Abrams Photos by Gold & Goose e has the most famous name in racing and yet we don't know a lot about him. Kenn y Roberts [r., son of the three-time world champion and two-time AMA Grand National Champion, enters his first year at the pinnacle of road racing with less experience than most as well as less success. His ascen t has been dramatic, slowed only by an unfortunate series of injuries that kept him off the track for part of 1992, most of 1994, and the beginning of this year. After finishing fourth in the 1992 AMA 250cc Grand Prix championship, Roberts moved his racing career to Europe, first competing in the Ducados Open series, then two years on the 250cc World Championship trail riding for Wayne Rainey . Last year he rode in the shadow of former World Champion Tetsuya Harada and finished the championship in eighth place, never really coming to grips with the little Yamaha tha t was deve loped around Harada's riding style. For 1996 he is one of three young riders on his father's Marlboro Yamaha 500cc team and his results have been both surprising and encouraging. Already he's performed almost as well as he did on a 250 and has been well up the table s in practice and qualifying, at various times -;And that in only the few races he's had since coming back from a ti broken leg suffered in an off-season testing crash. His approach is mature and thoughtful, and it's only a matter of time before he's on the podium. The inexperienced IS-year-old who chased Colin Edwards II in the AMA 250cc championship is now a more resourceful 22. Though it may be an illusion, he appears taller, partly because his body is more muscular. His facial features are more defined and all the years he's spent hanging around race tracks with his dad are starting to show up in his speech. Like his father, he is voluble, direct and honest, and he doesn't mince words. Unlike his dad, he's had a relatively low-profile career, partially because he started late and has been injured often, but mainly because he's had only limited success. Despite not having won a race of any kind for several years, he's gotten one of the most coveted rides in all of motorcycle racing, a SOOcc GP seat on the most experienced team in racing. To deny that nepotism played a part would be fatuous. But he, and the rest of the young team , are defying the naysayers by making a good accounting of themselves early in a season that will certainly see them improve with experience. The year began badly for Roberts. He broke his leg when he took a spill on a cold tire while testing in Mala ysia. It was a costly lesson, but he knows wh y it happened and knows that it won't hap- pen again. Since his return, Junior, as he' s known in the paddock, has been anxious to make up for lost time. After a cautious 12th in his first-ever 500cc GP at Suzuka, Roberts came sixth in Jerez , running within two-tenths of a second of the lap record early in the race, de spite chunking a tire, and was runnin g as high as fifth in Ital y when his tire su ddenly went off, nearly pitching him over the bars. That forced him to back off sensibl y and he motored to 10th place. It wa s, he realizes, yet another learning experience in a year filled with them, not only for him, but for the rest of his youn g teammates. "I know that I'm not riding it as hard as Mick Doohan," Roberts says, rightfully pointing out that Doohan's been at it since 19S9. "In the end, that's what it's goin g to take. Just riding the thing hard. But you've got to get experience to do that: ' That he has the backing of the most experienced team in Grand Prix racing, a total lack of pressure to perform, and a father /mentor with possibly the most famous name in the history of American motorcycle racing, is not lost on him. "He (Kenny Roberts) thinks this is great," the yo u n ge r Roberts said between practice sessions at the Italian GP . " (He sa id ) 'You gu ys (meaning Junior and teammates Jean-Michel Bayle and Norifumi Abe) don't have to do nothing this year. You can just ride around and learn. Abe knows that . Well, I don't know about Abe, but Jean Michel knows and that's ta ken all the pressure off u s because w e're not expected to win. And he's telling Marlboro that and he' s told Yamaha that and they h ir ed us . So they are willing to accept tha t. And Japan (Abe's win) was a bonus and every race here on out is going to get better because we're learning . I know I'm learning. 1 know next year we're go in g to be a force to win races or whatever. We're going to be a lot better than a fte r what w e w en t through this year. I mean, I'm going to start running up there at the top pre tty so on. 1 ma y not fini sh on the box, or w ha teve r you may say , but the time is w hat you've got to look at and the experience you're getti ng." Desp it e being his fa ther's son, Roberts has limited racing experience for someone with a highly coveted 500cc works ri de, m o stl y beca use when he was growing u p in California he led a fai rly norm al life, participating in all for ms of high school spo rts: baseball, soccer, basketball, tenn is, golf, gymnastics, etc. Riding mo torcycles was somethin g he did all the time, bu t always for fun and in th e com pa ny of the best in the w orld , incl u di ng his d ad . Surprisingl y, his father didn' t urge him into following him into racing and that' s on e of the few things that the you nger Roberts laments. "1 sort of wish, 1 know it, 1 wish now that my dad would have pushed me into riding instead of, 'When you want or if you want, it's there, you 've got a good ride: But I wish he would have not let me do all that other stuff. Even then, 1 was saying that this is what my life is, this is what 1 enjoy the most." What it has done is allowed him to mature into a well -adjusted young adult, a state many racers never achieve. The older Roberts' joking response to this: "There's plenty of time for him to turn into an asshole. " His road racing career began on the club level at Willow Springs and he quickly graduated to WERA in 1991 and the AMA 250cc GP class in 1992 where he had a number of epic battles with Colin Edwards II as well as the occasional spill. From there he went to the Ducados Open 250cc Series in Spain in 1993 and on to the 250cc GP class aboard the Marlboro Rainey Yamah a in 1994. It was an abortive year as a result of a preseason crash where he broke his upper arm in a particularly sensitive area. His convalescence was extended because further injury could have resulted in permanent nerve damage and the possible lo ss of use of the arm . He returned to racing late in the year. Last year he was joined by Tetsu ya Harada on the Rainey Yarnahas, but found it to be a struggle from the outset. "The funny thing is, no matter how many world championships I'm going to end up winning, they're going to say 1 was young and inexperienced. But that 250 was the hardest motorcycle to ride. That thing's built up for Harada. He 's

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