Joe Roberts (motorcyclist)

Joe Roberts (born June 16th, 1997 in Los Angeles) is an American motorcycle racer and currently the only American racer at the world championship competing in any of classes of the MotoGP.^[1][2] Roberts is contesting the full 2018 Moto2 season with RW Racing, aboard the Japanese manufactured NTS chassis.^[3] He climbed aboard a 50cc motorcycle shortly before his 4th birthday.

Career

Roberts's earliest competition was in youth flat track and Supermoto.^[1] From there he transitioned to mini-road racing on kart tracks and then to full sized tracks on a Honda RS125. He competed successfully for two seasons in the USGPRU (United States Grand Prix Racer's Union) finishing 3rd in points in 125GP in 2010. 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.

Roberts spent 3 seasons^[4] (2011–2013) with the Red Bull Rookies. In his first season he recorded a win and a track record at Brno,^[5] a track he had never seen before. He improved his Roberts in 2012 with best finishes of 2nd, 4th, 5th^[5] and was one of very few riders to be invited back for a 3rd year in 2013 to ride the new KTM Moto3 bike. 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. That same year, just 6 days after his 16th birthday, he competed back in the USA 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. 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.

In 2014 he returned full time to the US to ride for Team Hammer^[8] in AMA Daytona Sportbike on a Honda CBR600RR. However, the combination of an uncompetitive package and some injuries meant he wasn't able to continue his run of success from 2013. 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.^[10] There, he dominated practice and qualifying, had a runaway victory in Race 1 and finished a close second in Race 2. In 2015 Roberts was 1st in AMA/Moto America Stock600 class on a Yamaha R6.^[11] Becomes Champion with 9 wins and one 2nd with a round to spare. Enters 4 Supersport races scoring a win and a 2nd. Finishing 3rd in Superprestigio in Las Vegas at the end of the year. 2016 saw him compete in AMA/MotoAmerica Supersport^[12] on a Yamaha R6 where he climbed the podium 3 times and scored 3 pole positions. He was unfortunately forced to miss several races due to injury.^[13] In 2017 Roberts returned to Europe^[14] to compete in the FIM CEV Moto2 class with the AGRteam. Mid-year due to his strong performance on the Kalex machine, he was invited by AGR to join the World Championship Moto2^[15] team and made a sensational debut in Brno coming from 29th on the grid to finish 10th^[16] in his first race at the world level.

Career statistics

References

External links

• Profile on MotoGP.com