Tuesday Conversation: Kenny Roberts Jr.
March 21, 2006
By CJ
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With the 2006 MotoGP season about to kick off in Jerez, Spain, this weekend, we figured we’d post this interview with Kenny Roberts Jr., which we conducted in the Team KR big rig at the Circuit de Catalunya IRTA test a couple weeks ago. Junior is now reunited with his father, Kenny Roberts Sr., and they’re running Honda RC211V engines in their KR chasses. They’ve got a big challenge ahead of them, but they have more reason to be optimistic than they’ve had in a long time. Good luck, guys.

RRX: Are you happy to be reunited with your dad?
Kenny Roberts Jr.: Yeah, pretty much. I think it’s just the right time and place and circumstances. It’s kind of a fresh start for everything, as far as the team and what he’s doing within the sport. And then to be a part of it riding-wise is quite unique—not something that anybody could have imagined this time last year.

Will KR Sr., KR Jr., and Honda be a force to contend with this season? Andrew Northcott photo

That’s for sure. Did you have any idea about it?
No. They had mentioned around Czecho last year that there was a possibility that they were going to have Honda motors. I just thought it was good for them, and that was basically the extent of it for me. I had no idea.

Were you planning on trying to stay with Suzuki at that point?
I was flexible with whatever Suzuki decided, as far as if they wanted me. I was in position to stay with them, personally, but it just didn’t work out. They had another way they wanted to go, but everything was in line on my side to stay there. I did everything I could for them through the years as far as effort and trying to get the most out of the team and the bike. It was up to them to decide what they wanted to do. When I was going slow, they were probably deciding what they wanted to do for the future. By the time the bike and the tires kind of gelled together, which was actually right around Czecho—to where I felt that I wasn’t going to fall down every other corner, with the introduction of the bigger tire that Bridgestone brought—from there on out, I started to be competitive with John, but by then they had already decided.

Did you think immediately about your dad’s deal at that point?
No, I was basically ready to stop anyway, so I really wasn’t nervous about anything. I wasn’t really panicking about anything—just kind of done. Then this thing got more serious and all the right pieces to the puzzle that you need to make a winning bike or team just started to pan out. It just went from there.

Has the situation helped your enthusiasm?
Yeah, there’s several things you get complacent about. I was with Suzuki a long time, and you always think that it’s going to get better. You always have faith that they’re going to bring it around. Racing’s funny because sometimes the littlest thing can change a lot. I was there so long and we had so many ways to try and get competitive, you just thought it was going to gel at some point and go. Then of course they decided to go a different route, and I was basically okay—“Thank you very much” type of thing. When I had the opportunity here, I didn’t want or need to do it at the time. If the opportunity arose to where all the right pieces were there, I knew I’d love to do it. It all started to come together. It was just a slow process. We were all kind of calm about what was accumulating, and when it all came together, it was like, This is a really good package.

Kenny Roberts Jr. is in serious development mode with the Honda-powered KR211V. Andrew Northcott photo

Were you surprised that it was actually working out?
Yes and no. I think the problem with [Kenny Senior’s] situation is that there’s a lot of pieces to the puzzle that nobody sees behind the scenes. You have all these factories, and magazines go to riders and do interviews, and they’re riders that have factories behind them. So when you think of what they’re doing, you just think of it as a factory. You don’t recognize all the little, tiny things that are involved to build up a motorcycle, and then from there, to be able to anticipate and react to things like building chasses. There are just a lot of little things that you just don’t see, unless somebody like you actually went to the factory for two days and followed designers and managers and management around the factory. [Otherwise], you just don’t see the workload that’s there. That’s the unique thing for me; when you’re with a company like Suzuki, you never hear about [the reason] they couldn’t get something done. You just hear “Sorry, it’s not here.” It’s really unique to kind of understand how the design part of it goes, and the building part, and then the construction part. When something’s delayed, you actually know firsthand what was involved with the delay or getting it here on time.

Do you like being able to see all that?
For me, I’ve always had the same stuff as my teammates, from the first time I rode with my dad ‘til when I left Suzuki. Most times before I was world champion, I had stuff that wasn’t even equal. If I won a race and my teammate had lesser equipment, to me, it doesn’t count; if you ride the same level, you’re going to be faster. For me, as far as knowing what the factory does, it doesn’t help me from a confidence point of view, riding-wise; it’s just an interesting part of the whole philosophy of what I’m able to tell them and what they’re able to bring to the track. When you’re riding a factory bike or on a satellite team, you’re dealing with grips and bars. You’re not dealing with the direction of the complete factory. It’s a whole different type of thing. You’ve got to choose your development path carefully. You’re not just trying to do a lap time, always at maximum, not really thinking about the bike.

So is the environment just totally different?
I had a lot of responsibility within Suzuki, and it’s a smaller company, so it’s not totally different. But the transfer of information doesn’t have to go through interpretation, from Japanese to English. If something is delayed, we know exactly why. It wasn’t that it was hidden before, it’s just that there was nothing we could do at the time, or it got tested and wasn’t as good. Speaking with Chuck and having a relationship with the actual guys—being able to call a designer on the cell phone—is different. You’re dealing with things that are right there, in real time. It’s just different.

That just seems like it would be a little bit more pleasant of an environment.
It is, certainly. For me, it’s correct. You have a lot more freedom, and you don’t feel as anxious, or that you have to be perfect with what you’re sending back to Japan. It’s more an environment where they can call me and I can give them more information. It’s just a little more natural.

How does it compare to the last time you were with your dad?
I just have more experience. My whole goal in racing—because I grew up when he was 500 World Champion—obviously my goal was to do that. I didn’t care how many times I did it; just to be able to achieve it was enough for me. I could have stopped right after that last championship, or I could have gone for another 10 years. Obviously, I’d like to get competitive again, because I think that we have an opportunity. Physically and mentally, it’s not tough for me yet. I think until you mentally and physically feel like you’re not contributing, then it’s time to keep pushing. I rode with him in ’96, ’97 and ’98—first with the Yamaha and then with their own program and engine—and until you have an opportunity like what Honda has given us, there are just too many things where you just don’t know if it’s the engine. So many things make a big difference—especially now with the electronics—and what do you do if you don’t even know if the motor’s even running right or how much power it has? There are just too many variables, and until a company can get 10 riders and 10 engines running correctly, I just don’t see a small company doing as well as the bigger companies, engine-wise. You just can’t get the information you need.

Since he now knows he has a competitive motor, Junior says testing is easier and more focused. Andrew Northcott photo

How has testing gone so far?
On certain things, you think that it’s going well, and then when you’re inside the team, you always go, “Well, if this would have been different, we’d have been faster.” There’s a lot of variables. In life, from the outside it looks good, but inside it’s different, but you still have to be thankful for a lot of things. That’s kind of like what we’ve been dealing with. We got to the first test and were immediately quick, and then you start looking for the next level. You take one step forward, and then sometimes you take two steps back before you go forward again…. Both bikes need to be refined to get quicker lap times, but they’re pretty close now. Now it’s starting to react the way we thought it should. We’re starting to eliminate variables. It’s just that everything’s new. We couldn’t have really done much better, and we could have done a lot worst at the first two or three tests. Because of the level of the team, the engineering, and the professionalism in their approach to the chassis and swingarm and stuff like that, we’re where we are now and have a clear understanding of where we need to go.

Do you have any idea on the team’s potential?
The potential is you have the best motor in the paddock. You have the best package, motor-wise. The motor does everything that I think a motor should do. From throttle opening to any rpm range, you have constant, useable power. You can put it in a motocross bike or a speedway bike or a flat track bike, or even a go-kart, and it’s going to be useable power in every rpm range where you need it. Given that, we just have to build a chassis to go around the corners as fast as possible. We’ve made dramatic strides in that from the first test, and we’re more competitive.

Do you find it gratifying to be fully using your abilities as a tester?
Yeah. The key is that you have one component—which is the most important component—that you know is the best there, so you can just forget about that. We’re just designing things to make that piece go around the track. That’s all we’re doing is making that motor go around the corners as fast as possible. You’re going to see now, every time we get things, it should be an improvement. At first, you’re just designing something to get it onto the track, and then you’re designing things to make improvements. You hit those areas, and they’re in the next chassis design. They get the chassis out so quick that they don’t really have time to test it. Now we have time to catch up. Chassis 4 should be ready for the first race. Now is when you’re going to start to see bigger improvements, I think. You need to make bigger improvements now, just to make smaller time. Before, it was further off, so you could make up two seconds, but now we have to do a lot of work to get a little bit of improvement.

How does the bike’s character compare to the Suzuki’s?
It’s night and day.

Does this one suit you better?
When I turn the throttle and spin the rear of the bike, I can spin it where I want it and when I want. We just never had that ability. It’s just being able to ride the bike the way you want to ride it. You can choose the way you want to ride it instead of having to ride it one way. The control of the engine is basically everything. It doesn’t wheelie unless you want it to and doesn’t slide unless you want it to, so again, it’s just a whole different package.

From some of the photos I’ve seen, it looks like you’ve been having some fun sliding it.
Yeah, you just switch off the traction control or bring it down a couple settings, and just pick a corner where you want to do it. It’s just basically like getting on one of the new 450s and sliding it on a supercross track, wherever you want to do it—throttle opening and speed doesn’t matter.

Team Roberts and the rest of the MotoGP grid kick their season off this weekend. Andrew Northcott photo

What about not having a second rider to help you with development? Is that a disadvantage?
That’s just a pros and cons answer. At some point, you’re going to need a second rider, but you want two riders who are almost identical in mindset and approaches. For example, if Sete and I were teammates rather than me and a 250 rider, it would be a much better combination. If you get somebody that’s a totally different mindset and wants to go around a corner at a million miles an hour and not have the bike spin, then it’s going to be a detractor; it’s going to hinder things more than it will help. The way to ride a MotoGP bike is to go quick for 20 laps on tires. It’s going to spin, and you’re going to have to brake hard and not use a lot of corner speed. Of course the Yamaha does things a little bit better, but corner speed-wise, you’re going to have to be able to be aggressive and not worry about not having a lot of grip.

So is it just the Yamaha that works best with high corner speed?
I think that you do have to ride with a lot of corner speed, but the difference between the corner speed that Yamaha’s carrying compared to Suzuki is night and day. If it was a corner-speed race, Suzuki would win that race by a mile, easily, but everything after corner speed is not great [with the Suzuki]. The Yamaha’s just doing everything better at the moment; their braking’s good, their acceleration’s good, and their corner speed’s good. But Valentino, if he’s going the quickest lap at the end of the race, it’s not because he’s got more grip, it’s because he’s got consistent grip and is riding extremely hard. You’ve got adrenaline going, and it’s the last two laps, and you’re giving it everything, so you’re going quick. But he’s not doing it with more grip; he’s doing it with the least amount of grip he’s had in the race, but he’s able to give maximum effort and go the quickest he’s gone. That’s the mentality, instead of somebody who goes quick the first four or five laps and it deteriorates from there. Going back to the teammate situation, you need somebody with that mindset, who won’t worry about why they can’t go fast the first three or four laps; it’s why they can’t go fast the last five laps.

Do you go to the shop in England much?
I haven’t had a chance this year. We basically got ready for Malaysia, came back and were home a week or 10 days or something, and then to Australia and Malaysia. We came back for nearly two weeks and packed for three months of being over here. I haven’t had an opportunity, but I will.