MotoGP has a storied historical past in the USA, 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 Nineteen 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 is still 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 closing 12 months in 2015, whereas Garrett Gerloff was the final US-born racer to begin a premier class occasion when he was an harm substitute at Petronas SRT in 2021 on the Dutch TT.
The web page, nonetheless, does seem like turning. On the finish of the 12 months, 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 staff. 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 value €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 12 months – one rider in Moto2 is completely positioned as a possible poster boy for the USA.
Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing Crew
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Pictures
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 12 months, whereas an equally underwhelming KTM body with the American Racing Crew 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 12 months.
Picked up by Italtrans for 2021, who gained the Moto2 title with Enea Bastianini the 12 months 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 mentioned of his transfer to Italtrans. “What’s a life in case you dwell with regrets, man? You gotta dwell it, make errors and issues. However on the finish of the day, I’ve grown lots as an individual, as a rider, and I do know for a truth the group of men that I am working with would not have been accessible for me for that subsequent 12 months. 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 gradual trip to seventh in Qatar gave technique to back-to-back-to-back second-place finishes in Portugal, on residence soil in America, and final outing 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 steer 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 mentioned was ‘possibly these items all occur for a cause’,” provides Roberts. “It is humorous how the universe works. The race right now [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 12 months.”
Joe Roberts, American Racing Crew
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Pictures
A number of issues have come collectively for Roberts in 2024 which have seen him following up on his potential. He credit the staff he has at American Racing, explicit a brand new information engineer from Velocity Up and having the ability to convey crew chief Mario Martini with him from Italtrans.
Whereas he acknowledged that on the face of it, bringing somebody from a staff he did not have a lot success with, Roberts famous that it was Martini who was capable of get the bike pointing in the precise path for him within the second half of final 12 months 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 keep in mind the primary time I rode them in Barcelona proper after the race final 12 months. Flip 5, it is a infamous nook for tucking the entrance. I imply, I crashed out of the lead there. I keep in mind simply moving into there pondering ‘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 possibly can maintain the brake just a little longer and have that final little bit of turning. So, yeah, I believe it provides you that capacity to regulate, transfer your traces spherical if that you must. I felt prior to now that no matter I’ve, I can not 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 finished, 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” 12 months. Regardless of not having a win, he is the one rider to have scored three podiums in 2024 up to now. Requested the place he may count on a win to return, he responded, “Shit, the subsequent one man! And the one after that,” earlier than noting that the subsequent run of races by way of Le Mans, Barcelona and Mugello are among the finest for his driving fashion.
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 staff, Trackhouse’s successful mentality means it is going to be in search of the most suitable choice accessible – and the present MotoGP grid is filled with them.
Joe Roberts, American Racing Crew
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Pictures
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 try this in his change to Moto2 from 2021 to 2022.
America’s lengthy, profitable historical past in MotoGP has considerably light into the background during the last 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.
“Effectively, there’s not been an actual aggressive American for some years,” Roberts concludes. “I have been right here and had years which have been good and had nice outcomes. However to struggle for the title, that was simply Nicky, proper? So, generally it is onerous to maintain the passion. I believe America’s a sleeping big that must be woken up… is {that a} good title? I believe that works, proper?”
