MotoGP has a storied historical past in america, starting with the nation’s very first premier class race winner Pat Hennen in 1975 earlier than the likes of Kenny Roberts Sr, Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz celebrated title success for America throughout the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties.
In 2000, Kenny Roberts Jr took the 500cc crown, earlier than the late Nicky Hayden beat Valentino Rossi to the 2006 MotoGP title.
That continues to be the final excessive level for US illustration in MotoGP. Hayden would not win a race once more after 2006, whereas the ultimate premier class victory for an American rider stays Ben Spies’ 2011 Dutch TT success.
The final American to race full-time in MotoGP was Hayden in his remaining yr in 2015, whereas Garrett Gerloff was the final US-born racer to begin a premier class occasion when he was an damage substitute at Petronas SRT in 2021 on the Dutch TT.
The web page, nevertheless, does seem like turning. On the finish of the yr, following the collapse of RNF Racing, MotoGP introduced NASCAR squad Trackhouse Racing can be becoming a member of the grid for 2024.
Decked out in a stars and stripes assertion livery, Trackhouse has lofty ambitions of being a lot greater than a easy buyer Aprilia workforce. Just a few months after Trackhouse was confirmed as an entrant for 2024, information got here of US media big Liberty Media’s transfer to purchase MotoGP for a deal price €4.2 billion.
With increasing MotoGP’s attain in America already outlined as a key battleplan for Liberty – who hopes to shut the deal on the finish of the yr – one rider in Moto2 is completely positioned as a possible poster boy for the USA.
Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing Staff
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Photos
Joe Roberts has had “my journey” in grand prix racing since moving into the Moto2 class full-time in 2018. On an uncompetitive NTS chassis, he scored simply 5 factors that yr, whereas an equally underwhelming KTM body with the American Racing Staff noticed him handle one much less level in 2019.
A change to a Kalex body for 2020 yielded higher kind, with Roberts kicking off the season in Qatar with a fourth having certified on pole earlier than scoring a breakthrough podium within the Czech Republic later that yr.
Picked up by Italtrans for 2021, who gained the Moto2 title with Enea Bastianini the yr earlier than, noticed him rating a primary grand prix win in Portugal the next season. However just one extra podium adopted earlier than he elected to return to American Racing – helmed by Eitan Butbul and MotoGP podium finisher-turned rider coach John Hopkins.
“To be sincere I do not remorse it,” Roberts stated of his transfer to Italtrans. “What’s a life if you happen to stay with regrets, man? You gotta stay it, make errors and issues. However on the finish of the day, I’ve grown rather a lot as an individual, as a rider, and I do know for a truth the group of fellows that I am working with would not have been accessible for me for that subsequent yr. And all of the people who find themselves round me proper now have come from environments they’ve not been pleased with and we have simply discovered one another.”
Roberts, 26 – and no relation to these Roberts’ – has made a powerful begin to 2024. A gentle journey to seventh in Qatar gave approach to back-to-back-to-back second-place finishes in Portugal, on residence soil in America, and final day trip in Spain. The latter got here from beginning eleventh on the grid, with a greater qualifying maybe placing him in a greater place to breach the highest step of the rostrum once more.
However the philosophical Californian did not stew over that truth. Second at Jerez, behind Ducati MotoGP-bound Fermin Aldeguer, moved him into the lead of the Moto2 standings for the primary time in his profession. Coincidentally, the tally of factors he now stands on after 4 rounds in 69 – the quantity Hayden rode in his profession, who was the final American to guide a grand prix championship desk and likewise the final in any class to have three podiums in a row.
“The motto that we all the time stated was ‘perhaps this stuff all occur for a purpose’,” provides Roberts. “It is humorous how the universe works. The race as we speak [at Jerez] I may have gained, however I would not have had that statistic of 69 factors. The world’s a humorous factor and all you are able to do is your finest every day and we’ll see – get these factors and see the place we tally up on the finish of the yr.”
Joe Roberts, American Racing Staff
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Photos
A number of issues have come collectively for Roberts in 2024 which have seen him following up on his potential. He credit the workforce he has at American Racing, specific a brand new knowledge engineer from Velocity Up and having the ability to deliver crew chief Mario Martini with him from Italtrans.
Whereas he acknowledged that on the face of it, bringing somebody from a workforce he did not have a lot success with, Roberts famous that it was Martini who was in a position to get the bike pointing in the proper route for him within the second half of final yr which led to a podium return in India.
The opposite key factor for Roberts has been the change to Pirelli tyres for 2024.
“To me, I would like that really feel within the entrance,” he defined. “You get extra suggestions and I bear in mind the primary time I rode them in Barcelona proper after the race final yr. Flip 5, it is a infamous nook for tucking the entrance. I imply, I crashed out of the lead there. I bear in mind simply getting into there considering ‘oh shit, shit, I am not going to make it’, and I simply held the brake and it simply went [makes bike noise] and turned.
“And instantly at that time I knew that with these tyres you may maintain the brake a little bit longer and have that final little bit of turning. So, yeah, I feel it offers you that skill to regulate, transfer your traces spherical if you have to. I felt up to now that no matter I’ve, I am unable to transfer from doing. I’ve to brake on the similar level, flip on the similar level, open the identical level. And if I blew it by like a few toes, it was completed, I used to be simply going to lose about half a second. So, there’s simply much more playability and much more really feel.”
Robust from pre-season testing, Roberts has been probably the most constant frontrunner in Moto2 in what he’s branding a “no-bullshit” yr. Regardless of not having a win, he is the one rider to have scored three podiums in 2024 to date. Requested the place he may anticipate a win to come back, he responded, “Shit, the following one man! And the one after that,” earlier than noting that the following run of races via Le Mans, Barcelona and Mugello are a number of the finest for his driving type.
What’s most spectacular about Roberts’ begin to the brand new marketing campaign is that the expectation and rumours of a MotoGP transfer in 2025 with Trackhouse have not distracted him. Whereas it may simply be seen as a foregone conclusion that an American rider will find yourself at an American workforce, Trackhouse’s profitable mentality means it will likely be in search of the most suitable choice accessible – and the present MotoGP grid is filled with them.
Joe Roberts, American Racing Staff
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Photos
However Roberts is doing one thing an American rider hasn’t for a very long time in establishing themselves as a real contender for a MotoGP seat. That is commendable given not even extremely rated five-time MotoAmerica Superbike champion Cameron Beaubier may do this in his change to Moto2 from 2021 to 2022.
America’s lengthy, profitable historical past in MotoGP has considerably pale into the background over the past decade and that, as Roberts admits, has made it tough from time to time “to maintain the passion”.
However his surge in kind is coinciding with a serious altering level in America’s MotoGP story.
“Properly, there’s not been an actual aggressive American for some years,” Roberts concludes. “I have been right here and had years which were good and had nice outcomes. However to battle for the title, that was simply Nicky, proper? So, generally it is exhausting to maintain the passion. I feel America’s a sleeping big that must be woken up… is {that a} good title? I feel that works, proper?”
