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/1309849
VOLUME 57 ISSUE 46 NOVEMBER 17, 2020 P115 Right from the start of the weekend, Doohan and Honda appeared to be on the ropes, struggling with traction, while another American, John Kocin- ski—whose promising return to the GP wars after winning the factory a World Superbike title now seemed to be in great peril due to lack of finances-proved he had the stuff by taking the pole. Roberts Jr. also showed that he was a player, posting the third- fastest time, just behind former 250cc World Champion Max Biaggi. Doohan's seventh-fastest time meant that he would start on the second row for the GP, but the tough Australian could never be counted out. Kocinski jumped into the lead as the field zipped off the grid for the start of the 21-lap race, with Honda's Alex Criville and Roberts Jr. giving chase, while Doohan was mired in 11th place. Criville took the lead from Kocinski, but it was short-lived as Roberts Jr. wasted no time in making his bid for the lead. He moved past Kocinski and then Criville on lap three, and he immediately started to pull clear of the field. "When I saw the gap was opening, I just concentrated on being smooth and doing what I knew I could do," Roberts Jr. told Cycle News then. "I knew I could pull away from Criville, but thought somebody else, like Mick, might get past him and close up, so I wanted to get a cushion." Doohan never really came. Instead, Yamaha rider Carlos Checa came from seventh place to pick his way past the Hondas after Biaggi's Yamaha gave up under his own intense riding and forced him out of the race. Checa moved into second on lap eight, and he stayed there until the finish. But there was no catching Roberts Jr. On the last lap, he peered over his shoulder, only to find that there was no one in sight. Shaking his head in disbe- lief, as he crossed the finish line, he claimed his first career Grand Prix win, not his first 500cc win, but first win, period, by a whop- ping 4.279 seconds. It was the first for Suzuki since the German Grand Prix of 1995. It was the first time since that same race in Germany that a Honda had not finished first or second. It was the first win by a rider whose father had also won a 500cc GP since Alberto and Nello Paganani, and the first win by an American since Kevin Schwantz at Donington Park in 1994. It was a dream come true. "I can still hardly believe it now," Roberts Jr. told Cycle News after the event. "It has always been my ambition to be the best motorcycle racer in the world—and today I was." That dream repeated at round two of the series just a fortnight later, when Roberts claimed the pole and won again in a driving rain at the Twin-Ring Motegi Cir- cuit in Motegi, Japan. He would go on to win two more times en route to a runner-up finish to Criv- ille in the championship chase. A year later, though, he would fulfill the ultimate dream of winning the 500cc World Road Racing Championship, making for the first father/son pairing ever to accomplish such a feat. Kenny Roberts, the 2000 World Champion, though the "Jr." attached to his name is long gone. Instead, people refer to his father as "Senior," proof enough that Little Kenny has earned his place. CN This Archives edition is reprint- ed from issue #46, November 24, 2004. CN has hundreds of past Archives editions in our files, too many destined to be archives themselves. So, to pre- vent that from happening, in the future, we will be revisiting past Archives articles while still plan- ning to keep fresh ones coming down the road. -Editor DOING Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives