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/128322
IrlT!it'II!W Kenny Roberts Jr. instrumental in helping him through his long and distinguished career. "He said 'no' quite a number of times . He was a little bit nervous at offending anybody who thought they were getting that job," Roberts said. Once on board , the work began , and immediately a bond developed. '" understand his mentality, and I'm sure he unde rstands mine," Roberts said. "I like working with Erv, and I want to continue working with Erv until I stop. Warren [Willing] was more into the technical side of it. I loved working with Warren . And I would have wanted to work with him until I stopped. I had a chance to work with Mike Sinclair, and the only other guy that I th ink is up to their level is [jeremy] Burgess . But certainly with Erv it's a nice relationship. We don't have to talk about the computer stuff. Let's just talk about the bike and how it's working. And I know it can work because of how many World Championships he's won." When Roberts wo rked with Warren Willing, there was a heavy reliance on com puters and less on realworl d situation. Kanemoto is the opp osite . "W hat Erv does is he mentally pictures setting the bike. So by dropping the rear, that would affect this. So he does It without the computer telling him what it was going to do . Warren could have done that, but he just used the computer. And sometimes he didn't . Erv more solely looks to me." Kanemoto can take a common part and make it better. "And that's what I wanted ," Roberts said. "I'm not saying that we 're do ing anything special or out of the ordinary. I'm just riding it to a limit, and the limit just happens to be competitive. But we still have plenty to go. To be able to do what Valentino 's able to do , we need a lot of development, and it's coming . The stuff that we 're working on the last couple of tests, we need to have ." It includes a new power-up eng ine due for a test after this weekend's Spanish GP at jerez. That Suzuki is responding so rap idly convinces Roberts that he made the right decision to sign on for two more years at the end of last season. When Rossi made the decision to swap over to Yamaha, Roberts understood . "He seems to always have the best factory stu ff," he said. "It's rea lly a confidence booster when you have that. I don't mean that in a negative way towards Valenti no, saying that it's been easy for him. One of the major reasons I stay wit h Suzuki is they have that in me. You jump on a B Honda , like Sete [Gibernau] and those guys, and prove you can win. Well, I know I can win in myself. But Suzuki's always said, 'We know if we build something close you can win.' '' Same for Rossi. At Welkom , Roberts saw a different rider, a continuation of the evolution in riding style that has kept Rossi at the top of the world . Never one to get complacent or stale , he's sw itched bikes every two years , from 125 to 2S0 to 500 to MotoGP. "His brak ing is way less aggressive, and he's wa iting on the bike to do certain things, " Roberts observed. "I don 't think the Yamaha is as corner speed -high as it used to be anyway. The tires have gotten a lot better to where you can slow down and nail it off the corners. He's braking easier and going into the corner faster, but the corner speed isn't that 34 MAY 5,2004 • CYCLE N EWS much higher. There's corners where it's going to be easier for him to go in, though . Instead of going hard on the brakes, you 're able to go through the faster stuff a little bit better. You're riding it better, and I wouldn't say that the corner speed is higher just because the actual apex speed is nearly similar." Roberts did have one major change for 2004 tires . Michelin, wh ich hadn 't been supplying top-tier tires to Suzuki in 2003, decided to pull the plug entirely. Dunlop was n't an option, not after how it parted early in the 2002 season . Bridgestone was the only choice. Roberts had already signed his contract extensi on when wo rd filtered out at the final race in Valencia that Bridgesto ne was in. "I could've thrown a big shit and left and all th is," he said. There were mixed feelings, but the optimism outweighed the pessim ism. He was encouraged by what it has done in Formula One, winning serially with Michael Schumacher and Ferrari, and the first reports from teammate john Hopkins were encouraging. His first experience was less so. At his first test in Malaysia, Roberts had a rear tire exp lode as he was entering a corner in the company of Aprilia 's • jeremy McWilliams. Alre ady, Makoto Tamada had blown up a tire, so the Ro be rts explosion wasn't the first . The injuries weren't severe, luckily, but he did miss a good porti on of testing. On ce he was hea lthy and able to put them to the test, the re was more cause for optimism. "The way t hat they 're de signed, t hey give you a little more feedb ack," he said. "We 've got good feel, and the y seem to do things we ll. No t that , say, the time is different . It's just that in race distance and st uff they let you set the bike up better because you have a little more feel to make it work. The times you're talking a couple tenths of a second here and there. But you really feel the bike not rea lly wanting to work. The character of the tires lets you know if it's correct or not correct sooner than the Michelin wou ld." Roberts knows that they 're not in it for the win, at the moment. They know what they need to fix. After jerez, there's a different engine that will help off the corner and into the corner. They're doing what Yamaha's done. It began halfway through last year with the management change. More senior personnel started 40th Anniversary showing up. They realized that what works on the dyno doesn't necessarily work on the track . They were asking the right questions. "Whe n I started seeing those signs last year, I said , 'We're going to do this right.' We may not be able to win races this year, but I want to be in the position to w in them in 2005 . 50 I want everything - I want the team, I want the guys behind me , the factory behind me to know that I'm not just here for 2004 to take the money and leave or whatever everybody thinks . So the commitment was more from me saying, 'You've got me , I know I'll never win again unless you make the right bike . So I have confidence in you and you specifically to make the right bike to let me win again .' So it was kind of me giving a little bit and then them understanding that I have the commitment in them." That commitment is mutual, and it's paying off. Finally everyone is on the same page, and they know , how they want the story to end , none more than junior. He's been World Champion, and Kanemoto has been a World Champion, and together there 's nothing they can't do , as long as Suzuki wants it as eN badly as they do .