Kenneth Leroy Roberts Jr. (born July 25, 1973) is an American former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who won the 500cc Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing Championship in 2000, after finishing runner-up in . Roberts Jr. is an eight-time Premier Class race winner. He joins his father Kenny Roberts as the only father-son duo to have won 500cc World Championships. Roberts was inducted into the F.I.M. MotoGP Hall of Fame in 2017.

Career

Early years Roberts first raced in the 250cc class at Willow Springs in 1990, winning five races in his debut season in road racing. By 1993, he made his World 500cc debut at the Laguna Seca Raceway event, and was a full-time 250cc racer for 1994 and 1995 with the Marlboro-Yamaha team.

Team Roberts Roberts moved up to 500cc World Championship racing with Yamaha in 1996. He finished his debut season in 500cc in 13th position overall and Yamaha decided not to renew his contract. He then joined his father's team in 1997, spending two years developing their Modenas two-stroke bike. In those two years, he struggled to get into the top position, finishing 16th and 13th respectively in 1997 and 1998.

Suzuki years

In 1999, Suzuki signed Roberts to their Grand Prix team. His debut race with Suzuki in Malaysia resulted in a surprise win, defeating the reigning champion, Michael Doohan. He went on to win the second race in Japan, where he again defeated Doohan. This winning streak put him as a strong contender to challenge Doohan for the championship. However, Doohan retired due to injuries suffered in an accident on the third race in Spain. Afterwards, the main challenge for the championship came from Doohan's teammate, Àlex Crivillé. Roberts failed to find consistency during the rest of the season, notching only two more wins and another four podiums. His lead in the championship subsequently was taken over by Crivillé, who later went on to win the title. Roberts would finish a respectable second in the championship.

Roberts renewed his championship challenge in 2000. With Crivillé failing to regain his form, Roberts' main challenge came from Valentino Rossi, a rookie rider fresh from winning the 250cc title. This time, Roberts managed to find consistency by taking four wins and five podiums in 16 races. Roberts clinched his first title, two races before the end of the season, at the Rio Grand Prix after finishing sixth. He became the first son of a former champion to also win the title. His victory also meant Suzuki broke Honda's six-year championship win streak.

In 2001, Roberts and Suzuki faced a tough task to defend the title. With Rossi dominating the series to win the title, Roberts only managed a single podium and finished the season in disappointing 11th position. This also marked the end of the two-stroke 500cc bike era as the regulations changed for 2002.

Between 2002 and 2005, Roberts faced a difficult time in developing the new four-stroke 990cc Suzuki GSV-R bike to challenge Honda and Yamaha. He was also being challenged by his younger teammate, John Hopkins, who often outperformed him. Even in 2003 and 2004, Hopkins managed to finish the season ahead of Roberts. During the four-year period, Roberts managed to gain only two podiums, one in 2002 and one in 2005. At the end of 2005, Suzuki decided not to renew Roberts' contract and opted for a younger rider in Chris Vermeulen.

Return to Team Roberts Roberts returned to his father's team in 2006. Honda provided the RC211V V5 engine with the frame being designed by Team Roberts and the bike subsequently named KR211V. He took his first podium of the season at Catalunya, having started on the front row.

A run of five successive top-five grid positions in mid-season showed the bike's promise. Roberts again finished third at Estoril, having led with one lap to go. He later explained that he had miscounted the number of laps, and when he came onto the final straight with one lap to go, he expected to see the chequered flag, and that this distracted him and prevented him blocking Toni Elías' passing move. With these two podium finishes, he finished sixth in the standings at the end of the year, aided by riders such as Casey Stoner and Sete Gibernau missing races. This was Roberts' best result since winning the championship in 2000 and the team's best result in the riders' standings since they started developing their own bikes.

Roberts remained on his father's team at the start of 2007. However, 2007 marked a new era as 990cc bike were replaced with an 800cc displacement formula. He rode the KR212V bike which are using the RC212V's V4 engine supplied by Honda. The 2007 season was less successful, due to Honda concentrating on improving the underperforming Repsol Honda factory machine. After only four points in the first part of the season, Kenny Jr. stopped racing midseason, replaced by his brother Kurtis, and never returned in 2007. Both Kenny and the entire team did not participate in 2008 season.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season SeasonClassMotorcycleTeamNumberRaceWinPodiumPoleFLapPtsPlcdWCh 1993 250cc Yamaha TZM250 Team Roberts 75 1 0 0 0 0 6 27th – 1994 250cc Yamaha TZM250 Team Roberts 25 4 0 0 0 0 23 18th – 1995 250cc Yamaha TZM250 Team Roberts 25 13 0 0 0 0 82 8th – 1996 500cc Yamaha YZR500 Marlboro Team Roberts 10 13 0 0 0 0 69 13th – 1997 500cc Modenas KR3 Marlboro Team Roberts 10 15 0 0 0 0 37 16th – 1998 500cc Modenas KR3 Team Roberts 10 13 0 0 0 0 59 13th – 1999 500cc Suzuki RGV500 Suzuki Grand Prix Team 10 16 4 8 5 5 220 2nd – 2000 500cc Suzuki RGV500 Telefónica Movistar Suzuki 2 16 4 9 4 3 2581st 1 2001 500cc Suzuki RGV500 Telefónica Movistar Suzuki 1 16 0 1 0 0 97 11th – 2002 MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R Telefónica Movistar Suzuki 10 15 0 1 0 0 99 9th – 2003 MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R Suzuki Grand Prix Team 10 13 0 0 0 0 22 19th – 2004 MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R Team Suzuki MotoGP 10 12 0 0 1 0 37 18th – 2005 MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R Team Suzuki MotoGP 10 14 0 1 0 0 63 13th – 2006 MotoGP KR211V Team Roberts 10 17 0 2 0 1 134 6th – 2007 MotoGP KR212V Team Roberts 10 7 0 0 0 0 4 24th – Total 185 8 22 10 9 1210 1

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Pts 1993 250cc Yamaha AUS MAL JPN SPA AUT GER NED EUR RSM GBR CZE ITA USA10 FIM 27th 6 1994 250cc Yamaha AUS MAL JPN SPA AUT GER NED ITA FRA GBR CZERet USA8 ARG6 EUR11 18th 23 1995 250cc Yamaha AUS7 MAL9 JPNRet SPARet GER4 ITA6 NED5 FRA6 GBRRet CZE8 BRA13 ARGRet EUR5 8th 82 1996 500cc Yamaha MAL INA JPN12 SPA6 ITA10 FRARet NED5 GER5 GBRRet AUTRet CZE4 IMO10 CATRet BRA13 AUS11 13th 69 1997 500cc Modenas MALRet JPNRet SPA18 ITARet AUTRet FRARet NED8 IMO17 GERRet BRARet GBR11 CZE9 CAT8 INA9 AUS14 16th 37 1998 500cc Modenas JPN11 MAL11 SPA9 ITARet FRA13 MADDNQ NED9 GBRRet GER6 CZE10 IMO14 CAT10 AUS10 ARG11 13th 59 1999 500cc Suzuki MAL1 JPN1 SPA13 FRARet ITA5 CAT6 NED2 GBR8 GER1 CZE3 IMO6 VAL 2 AUS10 RSA22 BRA3 ARG1 2nd 220 2000 500cc Suzuki RSA6 MAL1 JPN2 SPA1 FRA6 ITA6 CAT1 NEDRet GBR2 GER3 CZE4 POR2 VAL2 BRA6 PAC1 AUS7 1st 258 2001 500cc Suzuki JPN7 RSA7 SPA7 FRA6 ITARet CATRet NED6 GBR8 GER9 CZERet POR6 VAL3 PAC8 AUS15 MALRet BRA16 11th 97 2002 MotoGP Suzuki JPNRet RSARet SPA8 FRA5 ITARet CAT7 NED6 GBR14 GER CZE11 POR4 BRA3 PAC6 MAL8 AUS9 VALRet 9th 99 2003 MotoGP Suzuki JPN14 RSA15 SPA13 FRA16 ITARet CAT NED GBR GER15 CZE20 POR17 BRA17 PAC15 MAL14 AUS9 VAL11 19th 22 2004 MotoGP Suzuki RSARet SPA8 FRA12 ITARet CAT17 NED16 BRA7 GER8 GBR17 CZE10 POR14 JPNRet QAT MAL AUS VAL 18th 37 2005 MotoGP Suzuki SPARet POR12 CHNRet FRA13 ITA15 CAT15 NED16 USA14 GBR2 GER11 CZE11 JPN8 MAL7 QAT11 AUSWD TUR VAL 13th 63 2006 MotoGP KR211V SPA8 QAT10 TUR13 CHN13 FRARet ITA8 CAT3 NED5 GBR5 GERRet USA4 CZE4 MAL7 AUS14 JPN9 POR3 VAL8 6th 134 2007 MotoGP KR212V QAT13 SPA16 TUR16 CHN15 FRARet ITA17 CAT16 GBR NED GER USA CZE RSM POR JPN AUS MAL VAL 24th 4

References

External links

Official website of Team Roberts Kenny Roberts Jr profile on Motorcycle Racing Online