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/815139
IN THE WIND P32 ROBERTS JR. INDUCTED INTO MOTOGP LEGENDS HALL OF FAME K enny Roberts Jr. became the latest MotoGP legend, joining his legendary father "King Kenny" on the list of 26 names running from Geoff Duke and Mike Hailwood to Casey Stoner in a ceremony on Friday, April 21, at the Circuit of the Americas. Junior, winner of eight 500cc races on a Suzuki in 1999 and 2000, and the title in the sec- ond year, was the first to secure a father-and-son championship, and likewise the first father-and- son inducted to the official Hall of Fame. Kenny Sr. joined Junior and Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta on the stage for a ceremony marked by man-hugs and plenti- ful newfound goodwill. Ezpeleta paid tribute to Ju- nior's influence on safety in the years before the official Safety Commission, and the new legend responded in like style, saying how Ezpeleta had always been ready to listen. "Carmelo was always for the riders. He made it better for us, and safer for us." He spoke also about the great two-stroke days, when "the rac- ing line was a foot wide, and you had to be in the right gear and the right revs all the time. When it was right it was great, but when it was wrong you could be at the back and still riding harder than the guys at the front." Kenny Sr. made a typically penetrating remark, with a twist in the tail. "When he said he wanted to race, I told him: 'You just have to accept you'll never be as good as me.'" After the laugh, he explained what he had meant—that no matter how much he might achieve, outsiders would always be saying: "He's not as good as his father was." Roberts was Suzuki's last world champion, and the company's first since Kevin Schwantz in 1993. His title year in 1999 was distinguished by eight different race winners, a record that stood until 2016, when there were nine. Michael Scott PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE 125 TWO-STROKE TRIPLE CROWN M X Sports Pro Racing and FMF Racing announced an exciting addition to the 2017 Lucas Oil Pro Moto- cross Championship with the inaugural FMF 125 Dream Race Invitational Triple Crown. This trio of two-stroke races will take place at the season-opening Red Bull Hangtown Motocross Classic on May 20, the True Value Thunder Valley National on June 3, and the Peterson CAT Washougal National on July 29. The format for each of the three races in the Triple Crown will feature one practice and one moto, which will take place in between the pair of motos for both the 450 and 250 classes. The competitors that will make up each 125 Dream Race field will consist of past champions, former pros, factory-level amateur competitors, and potentially even industry icons and celebrities. CN Kenny Roberts Jr. and his father are the first father-son duo in the MotoGP Hall of Fame. The sound of two-stroke MX bikes will return at Hangtown, Thunder Valley and Washougal.