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
Rider 01 the Year: Kenny Roberts Jr. The home itself is a relatively norm a l tw o - st o r y h omest e ad i n the growing ci ty o f Modesto in rural Northern Ca liforn ia. It sits in a small , well -kept neighborh oo d that cou ld have been dropped in the ce nter of this town from an y other suburb in the country . His house is modest at b est , lacking the snooty feel that his money could easily buy , and it's in no w a y , sha pe , or f o rm a self-indulg ent museu m to th e man ' s great ness. Th ere are more p h otos of him and h is soo n- to- be bride, Rochelle (o r just Ro) , a n d f a mi ly and frie nds th en there are of him racing , and th e major it y of the trin k ets th at deco rate the pla c e aren 't ab out m otorcycl e racing at all. Wh en he 's n o t ridi n g his Suzuk i RG v5 0 0 with max imum agg re ss ion against th e best of the best, Jun i o r li ve s a relativel y simpl e li fe . Apart fro m h is rat her tenacious tra ining reg i men , when Junior is ho me , he ' s t ruly hom e , s pendi ng th e maj or i t y of his free time w ith f a m i l y (a nd wi th Ro ' s fam il y , th e re' s p lenty) and friends - long t im e friend s . Th er e are n 't the new let 's-hang -w ith -the- Q Did it see m amazing to you that the guy you battled with for th e World Champio nship in 19 9 9, Alex Criville , wasn't even a f ac t or in 2000? A It 's hard for me to comprehend, but there are rac es like Brazil where I was riding as hard as I could , but mentally I wasn 't prepared to risk an ything. I could see the d ifference between first and sixth and , for Alex to ride a little bi t apprehensive, you co uld see how he could easily be bumped down the order. At some races he would have done better than he did. There are places like Ja pan whe re he messed up and Barcelona, Valencia .. . he wou ld ha ve had a bett er year, bu t I thi nk he forced it at the wrong times. It' s easy to do when you're ha vi ng a bad year. And he also had so me ph ysical pr obl em s going in at the beg inning . I'm sure for him at about halfway th rou gh th e ye ar he just wanted to g et it ov er w ith . It's easy to und erst and some of it, but some of it you c an' t underst and . Wo r l d -Cha m p io n-type fr iend s i n Roberts ' world . Inst ead , he han gs with o ld buddi es, li k e good pa l Mar k , wh o has kn own Roberts since the f ifth g rade . J unior has both feet planted firml y on the floor. " F a m i l y i s a m aj or part of the w hole deal ," Rob erts said . " Si nce Rochell e and myself co m b ined p rob ab l y have l ike 45 peop le in o u r im medi ate family that are w ith in 15 minutes of u s, two o r th ree ti m e s a w e ek w e are do ing stuff like t hat getting together." For gr i n s , Rob e rt s w i ll pull o u t h i s car d table , having at it in a good game of p o k er w it h family and friends . And wh ile his guests enjoy the mselves, he takes ca re of the details - like dinner. The 50 0c c World Champion not only cook s, b ut he also grocery sho p s, provi ng to be equa ll y adept at choosing vegetables as he is at picking the co rr ec t-com pound M ichelin. His li fe here in sub urban Modest o seems so far removed fro m the glam our of 500cc Grand Prix racing . There are no pran cing horse emblems on fanc y red sports cars in th e Roberts garage. He 's a me at - and -po tatoe s gu y - a pic kup -t ru ck man. "I ' v e nev e r own ed a car , a n d I p robab l y n ev e r will ow n a c a r ," Robe rts says. "I like driving a pickup t ruck . It' s hard to go do wn to O rchard 's Supply Ha rdware and get a 2x4 that's ei g ht fe et long to fit in a Mercedes." Wh ile sub urb an Modesto is a far cry fr om Monaco , it' s not far from the place where Roberts honed hi s sk ills as a m oto rc ycl ist. Instead , it's j ust close enough for him to co nti nue t o polish those ski lls in an environment of which there is no bet te r. Hickman. Some 20 minutes awa y with a Rob erts at th e wheel, 25 fo r the re st of us. The sit e of the Roberts Ranch , ofte n descr ibed as a danger ous Disneylan d , Mag ic Mo untain w i t h a motor , a revved-up pro verbial man' s to wn - 162 acres of unadulterated fun: m otocross tracks, flat tracks , a go-kart track , a ranch h o u se well sto cked with fi re a rm s. This is dad's p lace. Motorcycle mad n ess personified . It's a log ho me in d ire nee d of a woman 's touch . You' re much m o re likely to find a de er rifle perch ed nex t to a hun ter's bow on a po o l t abl e th an you will a vas e fu ll of fresh ly cut fl o we r s. Who lives here? Kenny Sr., when he' s not on th e road or at hi s oth er ran ch in Montana , and Kurtis, when he 's not off winn ing the AMA 600cc Supers port and Formula Xt rem e titl es . But th is is h ome . A home ofchampions. A nd it's w here Junior cut his teet h, motorcycling-wise. His t e eth were cut , in a literal sen se , in a motorh ome in Europe , tou ring the co nti nent as a five-yearol d wh ile hi s fath e r w on the 19 7 8