Kenny roberts father, now 66, recalled his time during a visit to Austin where he was full of praise for today's champion, Marc Márquez. Recognizing having found a premier category of Grands Prix where battles rage at every lap between numerous drivers, he remembered his time and two rivals: Freddie Spencer and Barry Sheene. Two adversaries with diametrically opposed characters...
In an interview with crash.net, the American legend gives us a history lesson: “ Freddie Spencer and Barry Sheene were totally different. With Freddie, the duel was systematic on the track, but with Barry the battle was above all in the press. Regarding Freddie, there was a good combination between him, his bike and the tires. We then had Dunlops from Japan which were four years old. He had a three-cylinder motorcycle that was as fast as my four-cylinder engine. We had to manage tire wear and Freddie had the weapons to do better ».
« With Freddie, we fought like ragtags, our positions were exchanged at every turn. I didn't have that many duels with Barry, but he was strong in the press. I read it of course. Freddie did not take this psychological aspect into account. We sorted it out on the track. Barry was a media star ».
World Champion from 1978 to 1980, the one who had a son also named Kenny and titled in 2000 ends: “ in 1983 I had the bike to be champion and if I had succeeded, I might have continued, even if I had announced that it was my last year. But I don't regret anything. I've done everything I wanted to do in my career ". Including boss of his team.
