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/143869
(Cloc kwise from left) Kenny Roberts has ridden t he new OW61 V-4 Yam aha very rapidly. bu t tire troubles an d a DN F cost him the title. He di d w in in Argent ina and Spain . He also returned to the U.S . and coll ect ed hi s 30th National win. where he shared the podium wit h Ken J r. had said abou t a teamma te is tha t Yamaha wants younger rid er because I'm going to ret ire, so m y th eory is that we need a younger rider wh o' s fast enough to wi n the world cha mpionship. a But yo u're not insisting on a teammate who would take tea m orders an d ride beh in d you? You can 't give tea m orders until it gets to the positi o n where you need to give team orders. Now ha lfway thro ugh the season, if one guy is head and shoulders a bo ve the rest of th em, the n team orders come out. I've ne ver ridden with team orders so I do n't 'reall y kn o w. Yamaha has fou r other private teams that they run besi des the factory works team. The works tea m is sup posed to be a little higher up so we can win the world cha m p io nsh ip, and move quickly in any di rection tha t we need to to win the world cham p ions hip. The other tea ms run on their ow n as a back up , but if it doesn 't wo rk out, it doesn' t wo rk ou t and y.ou can ' t do anythin g ab out it. The problem is when yo u h a ve that kind of team structure, you don 't . have younger riders coming up. We'v e get Barry who's older than I am, we've got Cros by who's not a yo u n g rider, so we don't have any yo u ng riders in th e works. If yo u h ave one tea m you can bring younger riders up in the same team without a whole lot more money and get them the help tha t they need to get th em wh ere th ey' re supposed to go. Would you ever suggest such a role for Jim Filice (or exam p le? He's not ready for that. Jimmy is still learning how to road race . It takes four or five years to learn how to road ra ce. You just don 't learn in a year, a yea r a n d a half and expect to go race the 500 in Grand Pri x. It 's going to ta ke Jimmy a little while lon ger. We certainly do n't want to p ush h im like so ma ny of the other p eople have been p ushed and th en drop ped o ut beca use of injuries or fri ght. H e's comi ng a lo n g nicely, just keep h im in tha t pa ttern a nd we'll be all righ t. For me to dictate to Ya maha who to hire is im possible because I su ggested people last year for th em to hire. I h eed somebody th at can h elp me . I was supposed to lea ve today to go to Ital y to test th e bike before th e ra ce bu t I can' t - m y hand's not go od eno ugh yet . So I ha ve nobody to test the bike, for example. Coming down to the end of the year, obviously you will be involved in contract negotiations with Yamaha or Honda or whoever. What is Kermy Roberts going to be looking (or ? Are you going to go back and tr y and recapture the world championship or are there other ,th in gs you might like to do? You always think about doi n g someth in g el se. The problem is th at I'd lik e to do something else as a fourtime world champion in stead of a three-time. And I think th at as long as Yamaha wants to go back full , strength to win the world ch a m p ion ship, I would probably be leaning towards that. I'd like to win the worl d championship again and then retire on it , but I have to know before I go in that I'm going to have a shot at winning it. I'm going to have the equipment to do so , because I spend a . lot of time a way from home and if I'm going to do th at I want a decent shot at winning the world championship. I don ' t wa nt to go over there just to ride arou n d and collect money. I' ve got to know the bike is going to be competitive befo re I go. Yo u've mentioned ret irem en t here. Have you made any plans or have an y ideas on what you're go ing to do if you stop racing motorcycles? Well, this is a problem . The la st time I talked to Yamaha, they still ha ve not been able to come up with anybody young enough ' to go win the world championship or someone that they can feel that can win the world ch ampionship. So th ey still would wa nt me to ride the motorcycle. Sin ce I've worked for them since I was 19, I told them last year, "Y ou guys ha ve go t to think abo ut me retir- . ing. " They are, they know I' m getting older and h ave been doing it a long time but still, you have to have a no ther rider. You j ust ca n ' t say " O K, well I'll see you guys la ter." In m y case, because I know I ca n still wi n th e world championship. T hat' s all I' ve thought about for, five or six years. So, until a you n ger rider comes along or a rider that Yamaha feels that they can win the world championship with, obviously they 're in terested in me riding th e bike. Have you enterta in ed thoughts of working in th e capacity of th e tea m manager or team director? Not necessarily as the team manager; may be a director just to see what direction everything is going. Maybe I'll do a little testing for them, bu t when I do re tire , I don't see a full time job because I've traveled so much already . An d to be a successful tea m • manager, yo u usually have to go to every race an d that 's something that I really don 't want to do. I'd like to work with Yamaha because I feel kind of a part of Yamaha. I'd still like to help Yamaha in any kind of raci n g program that they would want me to or that I would think is workable. • 23