Kenny Roberts
Kenny Roberts, born in a small California village, approached the world of two wheels by chance. He tried to start the motor of a child, the son of breeders, starting suddenly and fracturing his knee. dirt roads, winning several American titles.
In history, he was one of the first to ride 750 cc motorcycles with over 130 horses, which were subsequently banned due to excessive danger, so at the late age of 20 he decided to throw himself on the races on asphalt tracks.
He made his debut at the 200 miles of Daytona then in Houston with scarce and sensational grand prix.
Just in Houston he undertook a close battle with other drivers of the outline and at the end of the race they didn't notice the checkered flag, continuing to duel to the sound of braking and accelerations. The commissioners' attempts to stop them with signs and flags are in vain! A car was needed to block the runway.
Without a doubt, the category that gave him the greatest satisfaction was the 500.
The world championship debut took place in Imola at 200 miles, where he finished second behind Giacomo Agostini.
When asked what he thought of Agostini, he replied that he considered him a mediocre driver, since he could not drive flat trucks. In those years, the world championship was dominated by European drivers, he was the first American "cowherd" to land in that specialties.
A few races were enough to see him in front of everyone and to break like nothing had happened, Haillwood records that had lasted for a decade, as in Assen.
In the early 80's he had to give up the scepter to younger drivers full of desire to win, such as Freddie Spencer, Randy Mamola, Franco Uncini and Marco Lucchinelli. He left competitions in the mid-1980s, has been a team manager for several years and runs a school for drivers in the world championship, where he teaches dirt trucks in Spain.
The Martian was one of the greatest pilots of all time, progenitor of all American pilots, his pupil was Randy Mamola, he invented a new driving style, what we see today in the motogp and first in the 500. "
I am not so interested in competing with others as in reality competing with myself.
A true champion, in my opinion, must not only win. Rather it is important that he wins in his own way.
For this reason, a great race, a race with a capital "G", is the one that no one else would have ever won ", so is Kenny Roberts senior.
After winning a lot, Kenny in 1996, after a winning experience as a team manager, decided to abandon Yamaha to found his own team, building and putting on the track first a three-cylinder 500 two-stroke and in 2003 a five-cylinder four-stroke.
"I will be able to say that I walked my way when I won with one of my bikes.
And I will succeed when I succeed, we will succeed, in finding the perfect balance between what technology and experience can give us, because a driver must know the character of who is ahead and who is behind, in the race.
He must know the level of aggression and intimidation that a colleague is capable of, if he wants to beat him ... and technology will never be able to give you this kind of knowledge ... ".
These are the words of a great champion who has left an indelible mark on the world of motorcycling.
