Kenny Roberts senior
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 United States
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| Motorcycle world championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| World title: | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup points: | 658 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Podiums: | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Kenneth Leroy "Kenny" Roberts (sr.) (Born December 31, 1951 in Modesto ( California ), USA ) is a former American motorcycle racer and team owner in the motorcycle world championship .
In 1978 , 1979 and 1980 he won the world championship in the 500 cm³ class of the motorcycle world championship .
Career
Kenny Roberts started riding a motorcycle at the age of twelve. He decided to race and won his first race in 1967 at the Lodi Cycling Bowl on a Hodaka .
In 1973 and 1974, Roberts won the AMA Grand National Championship . 1974 was also the year of the first foray into the motorcycle world championship . Roberts started at the Dutch TT in Assen , the Netherlands in the 250 cc class and immediately finished third in the race.
In the motorcycle world championship 1978 he went again, this time with the support of the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer Yamaha , on the international racing stage in the classes up to 250³ and up to 500 cm³, announcing in advance that his goal was to win the world title. This quickly earned him the nickname Loudmouth Roberts .
Kenny Roberts brought his spectacular driving style with him from the USA, which arose from his starts in the AMA Grand National Championship , whose races were not only held on street courses, but also on dirt track courses, hard-rolled sand ovals, and on the so-called. TT steeplechase, flat sandy tracks with left and right turns as well as jumping hills, comparable to the Supermoto races that were only introduced in Europe many years later . This un-European driving style later became the trademark of almost all American motorcycle racers who, after Robert’s successes, increasingly entered the motorcycle Grand Prix sport and also dominated this sport for a few years.
Roberts won the world championship straight away in 1978 on his black, yellow and white Yamaha (these colors were the trademark of Yamaha-USA, Roberts' dirt track machines already had this paintwork) and was also fourth overall in the 250 cc -Class. He was able to defend the title in the 500 cm³ class, the premier class, in the following two years.
This success, which was not expected by the European racing scene, earned him the nickname King Kenny , the loudmouth was forgotten. Another nickname given by the European trade press was Yellow Dwarf , because of Roberts' short height and his yellow leather suit.
After the end of the 1983 season , which Roberts finished as runner-up, he turned his back on active racing.
Career as a team manager
In the 1984 season he reappeared as the team leader of a racing stable - always with motorcycles made by Yamaha. Roberts later founded his own racing team as well as a racing school near Barcelona , Spain .
After the 1996 season , there was a break with Yamaha. Roberts then had his own three-cylinder machine, called Modena's KR-3 , developed for use in his team, the GP Motorsports UK Corporation . Later, Malaysia's largest automaker , Proton , became Roberts' partner and the team started under the name Proton KR . However, since the introduction of the MotoGP class in 2002 at the latest, the in-house developments have proven to be uncompetitive. Kenny Roberts once said: “ Our engine is good when you need a boat anchor. ". In 2004 and 2005 , his son Kurtis piloted one of these machines, but was often plagued by technical defects.
In the 2006 season , the team used Roberts Honda customer engines and only designed the chassis themselves. The machine was piloted by Roberts' son Kenny Jr. Already in the first year he achieved two podium places, reached sixth place in the World Championship and thus beat the works drivers from Suzuki and Kawasaki .
In the 2007 season the team continued to use Honda engines, but was far from able to build on the successes of the previous year and mostly just followed the field. Kenny Roberts then let an option on Honda engines for the 2008 season pass and has not been represented in the MotoGP class since then.
In addition to the two sons, Roberts also has a daughter.
title
- 1971 - AMA Rookie of the Year Award
- 1973 - AMA Grand National Championship winner on a Yamaha
- 1974 - AMA Grand National Championship winner on a Yamaha
- 1974 - 2nd place in Imola 200 mile race on a Yamaha
- 1977 - Imola 200 mile winner on a Yamaha
- 1978 - Daytona 200 winner
- 1978 - 500 cc world champion on a Yamaha
- 1978 - Formula 750 Vice World Champion on a Yamaha
- 1979 - 500 cc world champion on a Yamaha
- 1979 - Mallory Park Race of the Year winner on Yamaha
- 1980 - 3rd place in Imola 200 mile race on a Yamaha
- 1980 - 500 cc world champion on a Yamaha
- 1981 - 2nd place in Imola 200 mile race on a Yamaha
- 1981 - 500 cc World Championship third on a Yamaha
- 1983 - Winner of Imola 200 Mile Race and Daytona 200 Race on Yamaha
- 1983 - 500 cc vice world champion on a Yamaha
- 1984 - Winner of Imola 200 Mile Race and Daytona 200 Race on Yamaha
- 1990 - Induced into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
- 1992 - Induction into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame
- 1998 - Induction into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame
- 2000 - Induction into the MotoGP Hall of Fame
- 24 Grand Prix victories
References
Web links
- Motorcycle Hall of Fame - Kenny Roberts ( Memento from February 17, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- Team KR official website (English)
- Kenny Roberts Sr. on the official website of the Motorcycle World Championship.
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Roberts, Kenny Sr. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Roberts, Kenneth Leroy; Roberts, Kenny (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American motorcycle racer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 31, 1951 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Modesto |