Kenny Roberts Junior became the latest MotoGP legend, joining his legendary father “King Kenny” on the list of 26 names running from Geoff Duke and Mike Hailwood to Casey Stoner in a ceremony on Friday at the Circuit of the Americas.
Junior, winner of eight 500cc races on a Suzuki in 1999 and 2000, and the title in the second year, was the first to secure a father-and-son championship, and likewise the first father-and-son inducted to the official Hall of Fame.
Kenny Senior joined Junior and Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta on the stage for a ceremony marked by man-hugs and plentiful new-found goodwill.
Ezpeleta paid tribute to Junior’s influence on safety in the years before the official Safety Commission; and the new legend responded in like style, saying how Ezpeleta had always been ready to listen. “Carmelo was always for the riders. He made it better for us, and safer for us.”
He spoke also about the great two-stroke days, when “the racing line was a foot wide, and you had to be in the right gear and the right revs all the time. When it was right it was great, but when it was wrong you could be at the back and still riding harder than the guys at the front.”
Kenny Senior made a typically penetrating remark, with a twist in the tail. “When he said he wanted to race, I told him: ‘You just have to accept you’ll never be as good as me’.” After the laugh, he explained what he had meant – that no matter how much he might achieve, outsiders would always be saying: “He’s not as good as his father was.”
Roberts was Suzuki’s last World Champion, and the company’s first since Kevin Schwantz in 1993. His title year in 1999 was distinguished by eight different race winners, a record that stood until 2016, when there were nine.
