Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Kenny Roberts at age 58

I haven't seen the race in a while -but I noticed that some people like to stand on the "outside" of some corners.

Bike washes front end in high speed corner -bike goes straight off race coarse -not a good place to spectate from.

Sir Jackie Stewart commenting on the Isle of Man TT; "This is Man's country this...". High praise from a 60s and 70s F1 driver.

You Tube link

Lots of good vids there.

Did you ever make the suspension changes to your SG?

I have an '11 SG & it has no handling issues at any speed but always looking to improve so interested in how yours turns out.

MM

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-Nzq2GorVH4[/video]

I bought the Sputhe stabilizers, both front and rear, and installed the front yesterday.

I took it out on the interstate and twisted it up to a bit faster than the law would allow (a lot, actually) and it didn't wiggle like it did before I installed the stabilizer.

This stuff,...

http://www.sputhe.com/aluminum%20swing%20arms.htm

Kenny Roberts lives about 5 miles from me. Has a big arch over his driveway with a rusty old minibike strapped to it...lol. Never met him but have friends who have been to his compound....has all sorts of different motorcycle tracks and plenty of toys to boot. Bought my first dirtbike at "Kenny Roberts Yamaha" in Modesto in the early 80's.

My first bike was an RZ350 Kenny Roberts special. REst in piece Mr. Roberts.

I only got to watch Kenny race once, at the Houston Astrodome Short Track. I was there pulling for a boy from Baton Rouge - Mike Gerald. I think that Terry Poovey was a rookie that year. Springfield was a first or second year rider, and I think that he won the AMA title that year. May be wrong though, I've slept since then!!! memtb

Once 58 seemed old

Snake

I went to Laguna Seca to watch GP back in '82, IIRC. Kng Kenny was supposed to be up against Freddy Spencer there (nobody else mattered). Freddy broke his foot shortly before that race, so Kenny basically rode unopposed. He was still awesome. I stood at the bottom of the chicane and watched him come down the hill on one wheel through the S-curve. Seemed like he was defying physics...it was so smooth. I always regretted that I didn't get to see him ad Freddy head to head in person, but it's still a great memory.

He's not dead...just memories!

A lot of people don't know that Kenny nearly died in a practice crash, but then came back to win some more.

IIRC, the TZ750 GP bike (the one he was riding at Laguna Seca when I was there) was notoriously a bit over-powered for it's frame. It had some evil quirks when pushed as hard as Kenny pushed it. I remember his comments about actually intentionally sliding both ends on power through tight turns on paved GP tracks - something that was unheard of at the time. His dirt track experience is what made that a reality.

Yamaha was really making waves back then. King Kenny and Hurricane Hannah. Those were the days.....

This video 'Kenny Roberts rides his 1980 Yamaha YZR500 at Laguna Seca' that kg posted up got me into watching some other bike racing videos. This comment was listed below that video;

" Great to see Kenny on the bike and very sad to see Wayne Rainey in the chair. I love Wayne very much, one of the best riders of all time but really seeing him like this makes me feel very bad " .

After reading that comment I went and found a great video about Wayne Rainey and the intense competition he had with Kevin Schwantz back in the early 90's. Check it out;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLuMZMskRCE

What really really impressed me was what Kevin Schwantz said at 12:26 and reiterated at 13:36 . Such humbleness and caring for his fellow racer, it got my allergies kicked up a bit.

A life well lived

Roberts' riding style in which he forced the motorcycle's rear wheel to break traction to steer around a corner, essentially riding on paved surfaces as if they were dirt tracks, changed the way Grand Prix motorcycles were ridden.[1] From 1983 to 1999, every 500 cc world championship was won by a rider with a dirt track racing background.[35] Roberts' cornering method of hanging off the motorcycles with his knee extended forced him to use duct tape as knee pads, and eventually led to the introduction of purpose-built knee pucks used by all motorcycle road racers today. His battles with the Grand Prix establishment eventually led to the adoption of stricter safety standards for Grand Prix race organizers.[4] He was one of the first riders to challenge the FIM over the way they treated competitors and helped improve prize money as well as the professionalism of the sport. It was not until Roberts planned his rival race series in 1980 that the FIM was forced to change the way in which they dealt with motorcycle racers.

And what finer tribute is there than to actually have a production motorcycle named after you?

Anybody remember Rick Hocking? I went to school with him from 4th -8th grade in a 1 room school house.
Not with us anymore, too bad.

He sounded like a great guy who loved to race!! Did you know him later on in his life, after his racing career? Sounds like things didn't go well for him after his knee replacement.......did you ever hear what the cause of death was??

A bit of info I ran across;

I remember Rick Hocking racing Friday night motocross at the Sand Hill Ranch, it was an easy track and he rode a '77 Yamaha TT 500, he really stood out as the only 4 stroke bike on the track.
He was fast on that track as it was more like a TT track than a motocross track.

Kenny Roberts is a legend, an absolute stud at what he did.
That said, and I'll probably take an ass kicking for saying it in this thread, but I believe to this day that the most highly skilled motorcycle riders of all are the Motocross/Supercross guys.
Certainly I'm jaded, as I raced MX/SX for about a decade, but for my money, they simply have more all around bike handling skills.
I can remember practicing on an mx course with the state champ flat track rider on a few occasions and was able to keep up with him, he always was honest to concede that he didn't have the skills of the pro mx'ers.
Certainly apples & oranges, but I'll stick to my belief.

Yep, comparing flat track or road racing to MX/SX is truly apples to oranges, anyone doing either at a high level has my ultimate respect, & both take high levels of skills & balls, just a different skill set, that's all.

MM

Kenny and "Fast Freddy" Spencer did put on some shows competing against each other in the road races. Respect for each other but no love lost between them.