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Try to find much of ANYTHING on '78 on the net, other than who won. I couldn't even find the final points standings to see who the other 'works' Yamaha rider was in '78 (I think Cecotto is correct, seems like the other was Wil Hartog but he changed teams a couple of times and I can't remember definitely if it was him).
Joe, you checked the facts on the AMA site and it said Roberts was a factory Yamaha rider in '78? What link?
And to think these idiots are getting rid of SS
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OK children, Motorcycle Racing History 101: http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/hofbiopage.asp?id=88
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funny... that does not say much about the level of support he reveived from Japan during any of his time in the GPs...
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OK children, Motorcycle Racing History 101: http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/hofbiopage.asp?id=88
Where's the part where it says he had factory support? I know that he won '78-80, was third in '81, 4th in '82 and second in '83 - I didn't need that to tell me it (not even sure it said it there, I remember that time).
When I say he had support from American Yamaha, he received some monetary support and they bought his bikes. Kel modified them in his garage and off they went.
I think Cecotto (as LJB said) and Hartog were the factory Yamaha boys.
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The reason this wasn't an option, imo, is it would leave Buell to contest the "non" premier class and they (DMG) desparately want them in the top category.
Have you taken a look to see how competitive Buell has been in MotoST?
That is where the ECU's come into play. Like I said before the teams already assume there will not be a "spec" ECU for the class or even a model. Like I said in another thread, if you read the interview with the two DMG officials on the SOUP site there is no doubt they are only concerned with attracting the Harley crowds just like the NHRA has done. And just like the NHRA they will what ever it takes to make Harley win. The NHRA has even added weight to the aftermarket "Buell" engine bikes because the factory Harleys aren't winning.
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The reason this wasn't an option, imo, is it would leave Buell to contest the "non" premier class and they (DMG) desparately want them in the top category.
Have you taken a look to see how competitive Buell has been in MotoST?
That is where the ECU's come into play. Like I said before the teams already assume there will not be a "spec" ECU for the class or even a model. Like I said in another thread, if you read the interview with the two DMG officials on the SOUP site there is no doubt they are only concerned with attracting the Harley crowds just like the NHRA has done. And just like the NHRA they will what ever it takes to make Harley win. The NHRA has even added weight to the aftermarket "Buell" engine bikes because the factory Harleys aren't winning.
No way to have spec ECU unless all the engines are the same - in F1 every engine is a V10 so they can do it.
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If they start adding weight 'so the Harley can win', that will surely drive the factories out. Perhaps that's what they want, who knows. But recall how Honda dropped the AMA flat track series when they came in and slowed the Honda down so the ancient XR 750's could compete with Bubba and his team mates. Honda walked away and didn't return.
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Roberts was a factory rider for Yamaha his entire career. However you guys want to nit-pick his level of support you think he had is irrelevant.
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Roberts was a factory rider for Yamaha his entire career. However you guys want to nit-pick his level of support you think he had is irrelevant.
Hmmmm, yeah, Kenny must be wrong....
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/features/122_0503_kenny_roberts/index.html
It started to dawn on me that maybe I wasn't exactly a factory rider, struggling as we were to put together our own program to compete in Europe. I wasn't that smart in those days. I'm not sure I'm any smarter now--I'm still struggling to find tires and money! In any case, Goodyear made the commitment and off we went. Kel and I had a small Mercedes transporter and two mechanics, Nobby Clark and Trevor Tilbury.
When we got to our first race it became crystal clear that, for sure, I wasn't a Yamaha factory rider. Venezuelan rider Johnny Cecotto was. It wasn't hard to tell; all we had to do was look at his equipment and then look at ours. We did have a Yamaha engineer by the name of Mikawa, and at some races we also had a Goodyear technician. But it was us against the factory, really.
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Roberts was a factory rider for Yamaha his entire career. However you guys want to nit-pick his level of support you think he had is irrelevant.
Gary, you could probably mince word to say that Kenny wasn't always the #1 rider at Yamaha and had to make do with what they gave him. Yes, he was the only one to use Goodyear tires and Yamaha prodded him to race 250s& F1 at the same time as the 500s, while the other guys got to focus on the 500s alone. There's been a lot written about Kenny lately. The current RoadRacing World and last months Racer Magazine had something about him. In the end, I do believe Yamaha was writing his checks but at the same time he said he made money doing personal appearances.
