2016 saw him compete in AMA/MotoAmerica Supersport[11] on a Yamaha R6 where he climbed the podium 3 times and scored 3 pole positions. Roberts first raced in the 250cc class at Willow Springs in 1990, winning 5 races in his debut season in road racing.

In those two years, he struggled to get into the top position, finishing 16th and 13th respectively in 1997 and 1998. [1] He joins his father Kenny Roberts as the only father-son duo to have won 500cc World Championships. He took his first podium of the season at Catalunya, having started on the front row. At the end of 2010 he was invited to the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup try-outs for the 2011 season and was one of 12 selected from 100 applicants. The 2007 season saw the introduction of a new MotoGP engine formula using 800 cc four-stroke engines. By 1993, he made his World 500cc debut at the Laguna Seca Raceway event, and was a full-time 250cc racer for 1994 and 1995 with the Marlboro-Yamaha team. Roberts spent 3 seasons[4] (2011–2013) with the Red Bull Rookies. We're sorry but riders doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled.

In 2020 Roberts qualified on pole position at the opening round of the season, becoming the first American rider to do so since Ben Spies at the 2010 Indianapolis motorcycle Grand Prix and the first one in Moto2 since Kenny Noyes at the 2010 French motorcycle Grand Prix. With Crivillé failing to regain his form, Roberts' main challenge came from Valentino Rossi, a rookie rider fresh from winning the 250cc title. The 2007 season was less successful, due to Honda concentrating on improving the underperforming Repsol Honda factory machine. He joins his father Kenny Roberts as the only father-son duo to have won 500cc World Championships.Roberts was inducted into the F.I.M. He again finished 3rd at Estoril, having led with one lap to go. [10] There, he dominated practice and qualifying, had a runaway victory in Race 1 and finished a close second in Race 2. Joe Roberts (born June 16, 1997 in Los Angeles) is an American professional motorcycle racer. Joe Roberts (born June 16, 1997 in Los Angeles) is an American professional motorcycle racer. This also marked the end of the two-stroke 500cc bike era as the regulations changed for 2002. Roberts clinched his first title, two races before the end of the season, at the Rio Grand Prix after finishing 6th, although Rossi won the race. However, the combination of an uncompetitive package and some injuries meant he wasn't able to continue his run of success from 2013.

He then joined his father's team in 1997, spending two years developing their Modenas two-stroke bike.


That same year, just 6 days after his 16th birthday, he competed back in the US in the AMA aboard a Honda CBR600RR, recording a sensational double win at Barber Motorsports,[6] setting a record for the youngest win in AMA Pro Road racing. At the end of 2005, Suzuki decided not to renew Roberts' contract and opted for a younger rider in Chris Vermeulen. Kenneth Leroy Roberts Jr. (born July 25, 1973 in Mountain View, California) is an American former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who won the 500cc Road Racing World Championship in 2000. He would qualify for pole again in the fourth round and finished the race in third, becoming the first American driver on the podium since Spies at the 2011 Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix and the first in mid class since John Kocinski at the 1993 Dutch TT. Roberts showed good promise on the 4 stroke machine leading races in Jerez, Brno and Silverstone but some bad luck saw him fail to finish a number of races which lowered his final standing. He was also being challenged by his younger teammate, John Hopkins, who often outperformed him. During the 4-year period, Roberts managed to gain only two podiums, one in 2002 and one in 2005. [3]. This time, Roberts managed to find consistency by taking four wins and five podiums in 16 races. Even in 2003 and 2004, Hopkins managed to finish the season ahead of Roberts. Kenny later explained that he had miscounted the number of laps, and when he came onto the final straight with one lap to go, he expected to see the chequered flag, and that this distracted him and prevented him blocking Toni Elías' passing move. (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap), 2011 Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix, "Profile: MotoAmerica Supersport Racer Joe Roberts", "Introducing Joe Roberts: the new American on the block", "Moto2: American Joe Roberts Will Race Full-Time In 2018 World Championship (Updated)", "Joe Roberts | Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup", "16-Year-Old Roberts Sweeps Barber AMA SuperSport Round", "MotoAmerica Sunday Race Report From Miller Motorsports Park", "Joe Roberts Signs With Team Hammer for 2014 - Cycle News", "Joe Roberts Crowned Champion At Laguna Seca - Cycle News", "Meen Yamaha Rider Joe Roberts Conquers Supersport Class – MotoAmerica", "MotoAmerica 2016 Season Finale Race Results and New Champions", "Injuries Will Keep Joe Roberts Out Of MotoAmerica Action This Weekend At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca", "American Joe Roberts Interview: "Moto2 Is The Hardest Championship In The World" | MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks", "American Joe Roberts Promoted To AGR Moto2 World Championship Team", "American Joe Roberts Scores Top-10 Finish In Moto2 Debut At Brno", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joe_Roberts_(motorcyclist)&oldid=983630965, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 15 October 2020, at 09:51. . Calabasas, CA (October 15, 2020) — After two incredible years together, Joe Roberts and The American Racing Team will … He won again at Laguna Seca and scored another double win at Miller Motorsports Park,[7] thereby scoring 5 wins from the 5 AMA races he entered. Roberts' introduction to motorcycles was at a young age. Roberts moved up to 500c World Championship racing with Yamaha in 1996.

Honda provided the RC211V V5 engine with the frame being designed by Team Roberts and the bike subsequently named KR211V. MotoGP Hall of Fame in 2017.[2].

Rider Joe Roberts to Take Next Step in Racing Career . With these two podium finishes, he finished 6th in the standings at the end of the year, aided by riders such as Casey Stoner and Sete Gibernau missing races. With Rossi dominating the series to win the title, Roberts only managed a single podium and finished the season in disappointing 11th position.
Roberts's earliest competition was in youth flat track and Supermoto. He went on to win the second race in Japan, where he again defeated Doohan. [1][2] Roberts competes in the FIM Moto2 World Championship with American Racing aboard a Kalex chassis bike. Roberts competes in the FIM Moto2 World Championship with American Racing aboard a Kalex chassis bike. Finishing 3rd in Superprestigio in Las Vegas at the end of the year. In 2001, Roberts and Suzuki faced a tough task to defend the title. He renewed his championship challenge in 2000. [12] In 2017 Roberts returned to Europe[13] to compete in the FIM CEV Moto2 class with the AGRteam. Roberts failed to find consistency during the rest of the season, notching only two more wins and another four podiums. Afterwards, the main challenge for the championship came from Doohan's teammate, Àlex Crivillé. He first rode a 50 cc motorcycle just shy of his 4th birthday. He returned to his father's team in 2006. His victory also meant Suzuki broke Honda's six-year championship win streak. (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap), For other people named Kenny Roberts, see, Kenny Roberts Jr profile on Motorcycle Racing Online, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kenny_Roberts_Jr.&oldid=968802774, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 21 July 2020, at 16:09. Roberts was inducted into the F.I.M. However, 2007 again marked a new era as 990cc bike were replaced with an 800cc displacement formula. In 1999, Suzuki signed him to their Grand Prix team. Honda stepped in to help Roberts' team for the 2006 season by providing five-cylinder engines, as Roberts' son, Kenny Roberts Jr., rode the Team Roberts KR211V bike to a sixth place in the championship including two podium results. He became the first son of a former champion to also win the title. This winning streak put him as a strong contender to challenge Doohan for the championship. In his first season he recorded a win and a track record at Brno,[5] a track he had never seen before. He rode the KR212V bike which are using the RC212V's V4 engine supplied by Honda. Mid-year due to his strong performance on the Kalex machine, he was invited by AGR to join the World Championship Moto2[14] team and made a sensational debut in Brno coming from 29th on the grid to finish 10th[15] in his first race at the world level. A run of five successive top-five grid positions in mid-season showed the bike's promise. His lead in the championship subsequently was taken over by Crivillé, who later went on to win the title. For 2015, Roberts returned to his winning ways aboard a Yamaha R6 in the new AMA/FIM MotoAmerica Stock600 class with 9 wins and a 2nd from 11 starts, sealing the championship at Laguna Seca,[9] before the final round of the series at New Jersey, where he moved up to the Supersport class. He finished the race in fourth, after never having finished better than 13th over the previous two seasons. Between 2002 and 2005, Roberts faced a difficult time in developing the new four-stroke 990cc Suzuki GSV-R bike to challenge Honda and Yamaha. However, Doohan retired due to injuries suffered in an accident on the third race in Spain. This was Roberts' best result since winning the championship in 2000. He competed successfully for two seasons in the USGPRU (United States Grand Prix Racer's Union) finishing 3rd in points in 125GP in 2010. Please enable it to continue. Roberts remained on his father's team at the start of 2007. MotoGP Hall of Fame in 2017. Kenneth Leroy Roberts Jr. (born July 25, 1973 in Mountain View, California) is an American former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who won the 500cc Road Racing World Championship in 2000.