The last decade has seen some amazing racers come out of the USA. Just to start off, we can mention Nicky Hayden, Colin Edwards, Ben Spies, John Hopkins (1/2 American, 1/2 Brit), Kurtis Roberts and Kenny Roberts, Jr. And, that is just in the road race category. If you go off-road, there is another class entirely: James Stewart, Chris Carr, Greg Hancock, Jeremy McGrath and Ricky Carmichael – again, just to mention a few. One thing all of these personalities have in common is success at international motorcycle competition. If you added together all of the awards, podiums, wins, record breakers and championships together, you would have to take over your neighbors’ house just to have enough room for the sheer volume.
In the premier series of FIM Motorcycle Grand Prix racing, the U.S. had a stronger run of championships for fifteen years starting with Kenny Roberts Sr. in 1978. But back then they did not have Valentino Rossi to contend with. The new American world-class GP entrants have to adapt from the superbikes of the world to the Grand Prix machines, which are very different from your standard race-prepped street bike; GP motorcycles are all prototypes. Even so, AMA Superbike Champion Nicky Hayden managed to win the MotoGP Championship in 2006 after joining the series in 2003 – paired with Rossi at the time, no less. Texan Colin Edwards has yet to take the premier class championship, but he was very successful while competing in the FIM World Superbike Championship. He took two world championships in World Superbike – one in 2000 and another one in 2002. He moved into the MotoGP class in 2003 with Aprilia. In 2009, he finished in a respectable fifth place overall – the highest satellite rider in the series.
Now we come to Ben Spies. He absolutely dominated AMA Pro Racing Superbike Championship from 2006 to 2008 – that’s three titles against the now seven-time AMA Champion, Australian Mat Mladin. Next for him was World Superbike – he originally wanted to go straight to MotoGP – and, in his 2009 rookie season, he won the championship there as well. He beat out veteran and perennial runner-up Noriyuki Haga for that honor. In 2010, he will race alongside Colin Edwards with the Tech 3 Yamaha MotoGP team. “Elbowz” will most certainly get the challenge he so much wants, and we will have the benefit of getting to watch him race against the best in the world.
John Hopkins (technically, he is American and British), known as “Hopper” has not been among the elite in the road racing world, but that is not to say that he has not been great. He finished an incredibly high fourth place in the 2007 MotoGP Championship – right behind Rossi. Now we await his next season in World Superbike. Kenny Jr. and
Kurtis Roberts have made some serious impact in the World Superbike and MotoGP series. Yes, they are brothers and “King” Kenny Roberts – a three-time FIM Champion himself – is their father. In 2000, Kenny Jr. won the FIM Motorcycle Grand Prix Championship ahead of some very talented racers – he gets that from his father. Kurtis Roberts has not won any international titles – yet - but he did win three AMA Championships in the US. He last rode in the World Superbike Championship series.
If we were to look at all of the off-road championships, this would be a long read indeed. Suffice it to say that there are some dominating personalities there as well. The new breed of American motorcycle racer is a bit different from the individuals who represented the U.S. in years before. They are very aware of the media around them, they have solid sponsorships, they are taught how to market themselves, and they probably make more money. But, one thing has not changed about them, and that is the spirit with which they race. American motorcycle racers are taking on the world again – it is now the time of their renaissance.
