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/128644
Q What do you think of the new ru les that will allow four-strokes to come on board in 2 0 02? A stoo d ra ther calmly on the plateau o f a tabletop jump out in the back 40 of th e infamous Roberts Ranch, wa tching as K en n y Rob erts Jr. cut a few hot laps on h is RM250 for the photographer. I was standing in a place where I wouldn't be standing if it were Roberts Sr. or younger brother Kurtis out there on the motocros ser. In fact , I'd rather have roo t -ca nal surgery from a blind man than stand anywhere close to the other two if they were in an y posi tion to m ess wi th m e. But I was safe here . Th i s . after all . wa s Ke nny Ro be rts Jr. - h eav y em p h a sis o n Junior. But th en it happened. Junior exi ted th e c o rn e r before t h e j ump , changed direction ever so slightly and proc eeded to fl y, positioning his rear wh e el ju st i nc h e s fr om m y he ad . D amn ! He is p er f e c t l y c ap able of bein g a Rob ert s. Until then . my im age of Junior had always been that, although cut from the same cloth, he is very different from his famous father and his nowfamous broth er. Hanging th e Roberts J r. tag on Junior is a m isnom er. Kurtis i s the rea l Junior because he i s exactly that - a younger, taller, skin nier Kenny Roberts. Put them both in a room and close your eyes ... you 'll have difficulty telling them apart. But Junior? Well , he 's more pol . ishe d, more refined , so to speak. Wh e n h e sp e a k s, h e c hooses his w ord s ca refully , oftentimes pa using to f ind th e wo rd tha t will p ac k the m os t pun ch in what he is tr y ing t o co m m u n ic at e. He o n ly tal ks abo ut himself wh en prodded , and even th en it is rare ly boastfu l - just hon est . He won 't bad -m outh h is co m pe t i t i o n , in ste ad opti n g only t o h eap p raise u p on them . He d oes so skillfully , h o we ver , n o t w an t in g h i s rivals t o th ink he's we akene d no w that he is the champion of the world. Not that th is di d actuall y ha ppen , you underst and, but if one of th e Roberts did decide t o h id e beh ind a truck with a l oa d ed assault rifle ju st to scare you , chances are it wouldn't be Junior. Junior is the one making certa in that you ' re w earing earplugs b efo r e h e fires h i s .44 Ma gnu m in to the hillside of th e ranch, further prov ing tha t his l apse into Robe rt sd om wi th his j ump p ast my left ear was t ru ly th e exc ep ti o n an d no t t he norm . T he only thi ng that matters to me is where everyth ing is go ing to come from . It's all got to come fro m money and, so far, nobody has been able to sit d o wn and make the numbers work , financially . It's going to be like three times as much as Grand Prix is right now, and already people are compla ining that there's no money. The sponsors aren 't throwing in more money, and I don 't see te am s saying , "Hey , we have too much money right now - we don 't need th is much money .' Nobody is saying we 're overstaffed. Financia ll y , I can 't see it working. T wo- stro k es are far less expens ive to run . Th ese fo ur- strokes are go ing t o be expens ive. Honda wi ll come ou t w it h qualifying m otors, then Yam ah a will have them. There will be eigh t engines at the track for four rid ers, or 12, whatever Superbike had at one ti me with the Du ca ti s. How is it all go ing to make m on ey? How is it all going to work ? How is thi s go ing to make Grands Prix better? Th is has been the closest year in history - on paper. I don 't know what we are try ing to achi eve . Sure we want more manufacturers in , and that's all fine and dandy - if it happens. So far everybody has j ust talked about it being better. Initially, I said I didn't th ink it would be as fun . The power-to-weight ratio wouldn't be what a 500 is , but now that I've won a two -stroke champ ionship ... befor e I just wanted to be 500cc World Champion, so I wa s abs ol utely stuc k on not wanting to do it at all. Now tha t I've won th e cham pi onship, I can say th at the technology part of it sounds fun. Maybe that' s why t hey got started on it , but I think if somebody starts to dominate, you' re going to have to spend a hell of a lot of money to beat those peo ple than what you would spend if it was j ust a two -stroke. Q What bike do y ou see as ha vi ng the advantage? A In itially, I see the two -strokes still having an advantage just on relia bil ity. If we take this year, for example, and we take away the mechani cal problem that caused the Assen crash , you have a consistent year. If we just achieve a little bit more next year, j ust bump it up a littl e. but for an F- J bike to come in and be that consist ent all ye ar with out mechani cal problems, I'd be surprised . Not to say tha t it co uldn' t happen , but theoreti call y , it shouldn 't ha p pen . Q Will riders coming over from the World Superbike Series have an advantage because of the fact that they've ridden four-strokes for so lon g? A Riding them doesn 't sca re me. I have seen eno ugh GP gu ys go over and beat the Superbik e guys qu it e often . It's not even the j um p that a Superbike guy makes when he comes over to GP. I would th ink it would have an im pact on the other series.. . I don 't know how they could even have the other series. You c an t ell a l ot a bo ut a m an b y th e su rro un dings in which he lives. Wh en yo u pu ll u p t o Junior's home, yo u notice that the la wn is f resh ly m ow ed an d t h e C h r i stm as lights have already been hung. No b i g deal , until you lea rn that he did both hi mself. No gardener, no professional l ig hthanging service. The 500cc World Champion cuts h is own grass. And hangs his own Christmas lights. "I do y ardwork myself and other t hings around the house ," Roberts says , matter of factly. "S ure it tak es away from tim e I could be fishing or go lfing, but at the same time it' s stuff you have to do . When I go away, th e house gets run down , and you have (Above) When J unior was truly Junior, or as he was known then L ittle Kenny. Sitting In daddy' s lap. (RIg ht) Roberts and the Telefonlca Mov lStar Suzuki RGv500 during a post-season test a Phillip Island In Au stralia. to fix c y c l e n e _ _1 thi~;; ~-• • • • • • • • • • ng s' S • J ANU A RY 3. 200 1 7