Cycle News

Cycle News 2021 Issue 39 September 28

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/1414541

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F ormer World Champion Kenny Roberts is known for many things—being America's first 500cc Grand Prix road- racing champion, an AMA Grand National Champion, three-time Daytona 200 winner and owner of the rare Grand Slam in AMA racing. One thing Roberts is considerably less known for is for being the man who brought on the ruination of Keith Mashburn's racing career. Mashburn was Yamaha's up- and-coming young AMA Grand National rider in the early 1970s. As a full-time Yamaha employee, Mashburn tested prototype street bikes by day and competed on prototype race bikes on the weekends. It was a good life for the fast kid from Simi Valley, Cali- fornia, but it all ended abruptly when an even younger and inar- guably faster kid from Modesto, California—named Kenny Rob- erts—came on the scene. When Roberts moved to the expert ranks in 1972, and started winning right off the bat, CN III ARCHIVES P122 Roberts Ruined This BY LARRY LAWRENCE

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