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I can die happy!

As an eighteen year old Kenny Roberts was my bike racing God.  I loved Barry Sheene but as a Yamaha FS1E rider I always wanted the little American to win simply because his bike resembled mine.  The coverage of Grand Prix in the late seventies was sketchy but I clearly remember watching the epic Sheene/Roberts battle unfold at the Silverstone GP on my council estate telly.  The Dutchman, Wil Hartog was hanging in there for a while but as the laps unfolded it became a two way battle with Sheene looking favourite to win.  Sheene lost the most time as the pair lapped a certain George Fogarty so my hero Roberts eventually won by just three hundredths of a second.  I’m not sure what happened next but being a Sunday we would no doubt be skidding around later in the day at the Pines chippie pretending to be Roberts and Sheene.  Fast forward thirty four years and a boyhood fantasy came true as I headed out on Chris Wilson’s 1980 Roberts machine for the Barry Sheene tribute laps at last weekend’s Moto GP.  It crackled into life instantly and felt as sharp as any of the more modern 500s I used to race.  The temperature gauge had a maximum marker on 60 degrees so to begin with I was nervous as it didn’t move but being a hot day (although still keeping my hand on the clutch) I convinced myself it wasn’t working.    The bike felt tiny, not helped by the fact I only just squeezed into my 1989 Marlboro Yamaha leathers.  It still felt rapid though as I played out the 1979 classic in my head while getting tucked in down the Hanger straight.  Steve Parrish was also out there on one of Barry’s 500cc Heron Suzukis so we did our best to copy the famous last lap at Woodcote Corner where Sheene came so close to winning his home GP. As a lad I would have said the chances of me riding round Silverstone on a GP winning Kenny Roberts machine were zero, but in the words of Gabrielle, dreams can come true!

Kenny Roberts Rides 1980 Yamaha YZR500 Around Laguna Seca [Video]

Kenny Roberts is a true icon of motorcycle roadracing, being the first American to win a 500cc world title, then collecting two more before he moved on to team management. “Without Kenny, we might not be here,” said Colin Edwards, former World Superbike champion and current MotoGP rider, in the below video. “He was the godfather that brought us all over to Europe and showed us more or less that it was possible.

Colin Edwards Joins Forward Racing CRT Squad for 2012

Colin Edwards will join the Forward Racing team to compete in the 2012 MotoGP season as a Claiming Rule Team entry. Edwards, known as a good development rider and an even better quote machine, is the first rider to officially sign on with a CRT. Forward Racing may be more familiar to some race fans by its former name, Hayate Racing, the outfit that ran the Kawasaki ZX-RR with Marco Melandri in 2009 after Kawasaki pulled out of MotoGP racing.