Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

That's what I'm about this year - try to get the number-one plate. I think it'll be harder this year than it was last year." Asked if he thought they were similar, Hayden replied with a smile, "Personality-wise, I wouldn't say so." Their differences are as striking as their similarities. Mostly, it's in their personalities. Hayden, 19, has the mischievous streak of the teenager he is, an electric smile, impeccable manners, and the vocabulary of a preacher. Confident without being boastful, he is living his dream and the joy shows in his riding. "As soon as I started, I found something I was good at and liked to do," Hayden says. "Every kid's dream is to be able to make their living doing what they love to do." Roberts is equally gracious with fans, but wears his confidence proudly, not unlike his famous father in his racing days. Like his father, he's opinionated and out-spoken and his vocabulary is more typical of a 22-year-old. He takes racing very seriously and the language of racing tends to dominate his conversations. Already he's won three National Championships, including the prestigious 600cc Supersport title that he wrested from Hayden last year. Roberts is proud of having won the title last year and uses that to prove that he's beaten most of the best riders in America, and should have beaten them more decisively. "I lost a lot of races last year because I messed up," he says. "I definitely would have been the fastest in the three that I lost - Road Atlanta, where I rode off the track; Laguna Seca, and Colorado, where I fell down. That's something I have to learn from." Even with those miscues, he still won the title in possibly the most thrilling performance of the season, his 'come-from-behind win in the 600cc Supersport race at Willow Springs. Roberts dug himself a hole by crashing at the end of the backstraight in the previous race at Pike's Peak. He remounted to finish seventh. The same day, Hayden also damaged his title chances with a mistake of inexperience. Smoothly cruising to the win, Hayden wore the rubber off his rear tire, which he'd been told would last the distance. "Obviously, we found out it wouldn't. But that's my own problem," Hayden says. The dirt track style that has served them both so well has also hindered Hayden. A heavy throttle hand mandates the hardest rear tire. "Anywhere, we never could pull a [Doug] Chandler and use a soft one," Hayden said. "I think a little bit of it's me, well probably a lot me, and maybe a little bit ~e bike. I think that's the biggest weakness. It [the Honda RC51] doesn't have too many weaknesses, but if it's got one, I'd say it's grip and it spins a lot and I'm pretty happy with the throttle hand." Hayden says that his maturity last year was measured in his ability to ride a complete race. T d say learning to ride the Superbike the whole race, for however many laps it was," Hayden says. "Being consistent the whole race. I think I learned to work with the guys pretty good and understand them and how to get the most out of the bike." Roberts doesn't see a problem in making the transition to the RC5l. "It doesn't have any more horsepower than anything I've ridden before," Roberts says. "It's not lighter, it's not heavier. It's a motorcycle and it's got wheels and I've got to ride it. Sure I can override the bike, but the team is what makes the difference most of the time." What helps the team is the ability of the rider to provide useful feedback. Getting the most out of the machine is paramount in the development of a rider. Hayden improved his diagnostic abilities last year, but he knows there's more to learn. "I think it's something I still haven't mastered by no means, something I need to learn more next year and try to keep getting better at it," Hayden says. Roberts feels that this is one area where he's ahead of Hayden. "I always seem to have quite a bit of feel for what it's doing," Roberts said. "I would say I'm a little farther along." But in the Superbike win column, Hayden already has four - all from his rookie year - and only one without a struggle, his season-ending romp at Willow Springs. Hayden won both races at Road America and the AMA race at Laguna Seca. All three wins came under intense pressure, and all three times Hayden prevailed, his equanimity intact. "I feel the pressure, but that's one thing I take a lot of pride in is I feel that I'm a lot better racer than 1 am anything else," he said. "I'm pretty proud of that. Last year, I had no pole positions and a lot of times I qualified on the second row, third row. But when it comes time to race, I feel that's when it doesn't matter if your bike's not set up right or if you didn't make the right tire pick. But a little bit I think it just comes down to who wants to push the hardest. I enjoy the races. Qualifying, all that's fun and stuff, but sitting on the starting line, first lap, that's what I enjoy the most, and I guess, obviously, it shows." Hayden likes to race so much that he'll be doing an unspecified number of dirt track races this year. "I'd race every weekend almost if I could," he says, un bothered by the specter of injury. "I've thought about it. I do so many things where I can get hurt at the house. I'm 19, if I went around and cut out all the things I could get hurt on, I'd just sit in my room and read all day. Just here thinking, dirt bikes, mountain bikes, everything, rent-a-cars, whatever." On race weekends, Hayden will have less to do this year. He'll no longer face Roberts in the 600cc class, opting out to concentrate on the Superbike title. For Roberts, there's no choice but to defend the title while aiming higher. "It's hard to win two championships," Roberts said. "It's hard to have that mentality to win two races, especially when they're on the same day. It's definitely going to be harder a little bit at first, but we should overcome that." It's doubly hard when there are two Superbike races in one weekend. "That's when fitness is going to come into play," Roberts says. Practical considerations caused Hayden to abandon the class. ' "For a young kid, I don't think it really hurts to ride both classes," Hayden said. "The big thing for me is just because if I only ride Superbike, I get to have two Superbikes and it helps me a lot when I got two bikes to try back to back. Sometimes if they make a change to something they can't change on pit row, like off-set, if I try it in the morning then off the bike for a couple of hours, then it's a lot harder for me to tell then if I've got one bike sitting there and I can just try both." In 2001 he'll need it. The AMA Superbike Championship may be the most competitive in the world. "Bar none," Hayden says. "If you look at some of the guys we've got this year and the bikes. [Scott] Russell's won a World Championship. [Anthony] Gobert's won World Superbike races. I guess it's easy for me to say it, but I'm sure anybody you ask, even guys outside the country, there's definitely a lot of talent here. It's going to be good, it should be exciting for the fans. I can't wait to get going." Roberts' view is less sanguine. "It looks that way on paper. As you know, things never turn out the way they seem," he says. "It's all momentum and confidence and all of those guys are going to have confidence problems all year and whoever handles the downswings best will come out on top." Both have strong support from their families. Roberts father is, of course, Kenny Roberts, the three-time 500cc World Champion. When Kurtis was younger he didn't like having his father around. It was a distraction. "Now it's great," Roberts said. "He doesn't open his mouth too much. He helps me out when he's there. He can see what the bike's doing. Not so much what I'm doing, but what the bike's doing." Hayden'S support group is his family, his parents, Earl and Rose, and his fellow racing brothers Tommy, of the Yamaha team, and Roger Lee, of the Bruce Transportation Group. "I think that's one thing that there's no way I would have made it as far as I did if I didn't have such a good family," Hayden said. "A lot of parents try to keep their kids away from bikes. It just makes it so much better when you've got a family supporting you. I've got two sisters and I'm sure they'll be at some of the races and probably one of my parents will be at every race." Kurtis doesn't have .the opportunity to race against Kenny Jr., the 500cc World Champion. Nicky races his older brother every weekend. "I enjoy racing Tommy," Nicky says. "If I had to pick one guy to race against, it'd probably be him. I'm so comfortable racing with him, I've done it so long." At some point he'll have to move on. Roberts has a two-year deal with American Honda and Nicky has a one-year deal. Both are looking to Europe, but not too soon. Roberts was there once already, and it was the worst year of his life. "I try never to look back on that year," Roberts says of the 1997 season, when he rode an unreliable Aprilia in the 250cc World Championship. "If it was my choice, I wouldn't have made it. I was kind of told I was doing GPs. I said, 'What the hell for?' I'd only ridden in 12 to 14 races. I remember that year thinking I wanted to quit half the time. The thing never ran." Roberts had to race on the world trail so that his father could watch him. The senior Roberts didn't have anyone to help Kurtis in the U.S. and was skeptical of the tracks, a feeling Kurtis shares. "They aren't the worst racetracks in the world, but they aren't much better," Roberts says, and it's a widely held view. "There are good ones, but those few are outweighed by the bad ones. We're going back to Sears Point. They said they were changing the track. Changing the track doesn't include putting in parking lots. That's what's going to get me to leave here before I want to. When I get to the breaking point, I'm going to have to move on before I want to. I'm not much on World Superbike. I'm not a big fan of it. I only want the GPs. That may keep me here a little longer. We'll just have to see." Hayden is going to "just take it one year at a time. I think my goal is to go to Europe. I know it's a big, big step - a big commitment - but that's my dream. If I have the opportunity I'll definitely take it." And there's no doubt the opportunity will come for both, it's just a matter of time. eN I"~ cue' e n D _ S • FEBRUARY 28,2001 19

• Cover