P22
WIND
ROBERTS: RACER,
ROCK STAR
H
ave you heard of "living the
dream"? Well you just might
find a picture of Joe Roberts next
to that phrase in the dictionary.
Roberts, the rider who burst onto
the AMA racing scene with dominating performances in the Barber Supersport races this past
weekend, is not only a fast rising
star in the world of motorcycling,
he's also bass player for a rapidly
rising indie rock band based in
Los Angeles called Red Tambourine.
Even though Roberts has been
racing since he was six, including
two years in the Red Bull Rookies
Cup, not many U.S. road-racing
fans had heard of the 16-year-old
from Glendale, California, until this
weekend. His debut in AMA Pro
road racing was epic. He won both
Supersport races going away on
the California Superbike School/
Roadracing World.com Honda –
the first win for a Honda rider in
AMA Pro road racing in two years.
And Roberts did all this with the
experience of only one club race
weekend's worth of experience
on a 600cc Supersport bike.
There was some concern in
the Roberts camp about Joe
making the move from the ultralightweight Red Bull KTM 125s to
the much bigger Supersport machines. In order to get him ready
to race the 600s, his coach Keith
Code came up with a novel plan.
During the schools he put Rob-
Joe Roberts is
making a name
for himself in
road racing
and music.
erts on a 1000cc machine.
"I wanted to give him the feel
of an even heavier and more
powerful bike," Code said. "That
way when he jumped back on the
600 it would feel like a small and
nimble little bike."
Code's
unique
approach
worked like a charm.
While the future looks bright for
Roberts in road racing, he may
face somewhat of a career choice
in the near future. Red Tambourine is generating some major
buzz in the L.A. music scene and
Roberts eventually might need
to make the enviable choice of
whether to become a road racing
star or a rock star.
"I kind of think of it [music] as
my back-up plan," Roberts smiled
when asked about his band. "Me
and my two brothers and a friend
Alex, who plays the drums, are in
the band. I play bass. We go all
around in L.A. and play shows. We
just played at the House of Blues
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN J. NELSON
IN
THE
Voodoo Lounge."
Red Tambourine is the real
deal. One reviewer compared
Joe's older brother Finn to a
young Jim Morrison. So it appears Roberts is on track to be a
success in whichever endeavor
he chooses.
You can check out a video
of Red Tambourine by clicking on the following link:
h t t p : / / w w w. y o u t u b e . c o m /
watch?v=p0Un6AZad9g
Larry Lawrence
NAME CHANGE FOR
WORLD MOTOCROSS
T
he Motocross Grand Prix
commission announced several changes to the World Motocross Championship on Friday,
including a name change to the
premiere class and the dropping
of its Super Final in 2014.
For starters, the FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship
will be known as the FIM MXGP
World Championship, beginning
in 2014. The series will feature
the MXGP class (nee MX1) and
the MX2 class, which will keep
