Joe Roberts (born June 16, 1997) is an American professional motorcycle racer.
Roberts competes in the FIM Moto2 World Championship with Italtrans Racing Team aboard a Kalex chassis bike.
Career
Early career
Roberts' introduction to motorcycles was at a young age. He first rode a 50 cc motorcycle just shy of his 4th birthday. Roberts's earliest competition was in youth flat track and
Supermoto.
From there he transitioned to mini-road racing on kart tracks and then to full sized tracks on a
Honda RS125
The RS125 is a race motorcycle built by the Honda Racing Corporation for the Grand Prix motorcycle racing's 125 cc class. The motorcycle debuted in the 1980 season.
World Champions with the Honda RS125
The following riders won the World Champi ...
. 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 (
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
–
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
) with the
Red Bull Rookies. In his first season he recorded a win and a track record at Brno,
a track he had never seen before. He improved his results in
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
with best finishes of 2nd, 4th, 5th
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
Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the c ...
,
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
and
Silverstone
Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...
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 US in the AMA aboard a
Honda CBR600RR
The Honda CBR600RR is a sport bike made by Honda since 2003, part of the CBR series. The CBR600RR was marketed as Honda's top-of-the-line middleweight sport bike, succeeding the 2002 Supersport World Champion 2001–2006 CBR600F4i, which was t ...
, recording a sensational double win at Barber Motorsports, setting a record for the youngest win in AMA Pro Road racing. He won again at
Laguna Seca Laguna Seca may refer to:
* Laguna Seca Formation, a geologic formation in California
* Laguna Seca (Mexico), see Convention of London
* Laguna Seca (Santa Clara County), a seasonal lake in California
* Laguna Seca, Texas, United States
* Rancho La ...
and scored another double win at
Miller Motorsports Park
Utah Motorsports Campus is a race track facility located in Grantsville near Tooele, Utah, United States. It operated under the name of Miller Motorsports Park from 2006 until October 2015. The course has hosted auto, motorcycle, bicycle and kar ...
, 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 in AMA Daytona Sportbike on a
Honda CBR600RR
The Honda CBR600RR is a sport bike made by Honda since 2003, part of the CBR series. The CBR600RR was marketed as Honda's top-of-the-line middleweight sport bike, succeeding the 2002 Supersport World Champion 2001–2006 CBR600F4i, which was t ...
. 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
The Yamaha YZF-R6 is a sport bike, produced by Yamaha as a 600 class from 1999 to 2020. From 2021, production availability is limited to race-only specification in most global markets, causing race organisers to re-align their engine eligibility ...
in the new AMA/FIM MotoAmerica Stock600 class with 9 wins and a 2nd from 11 starts, sealing the championship at Laguna Seca, before the final round of the series at New Jersey, where he moved up to the Supersport class. There, he dominated practice and qualifying, had a runaway victory in Race 1 and finished a close second in Race 2. Finishing 3rd in Superprestigio in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
at the end of the year. 2016 saw him compete in AMA/MotoAmerica Supersport 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.
Moto2 World Championship
AGR Team (2017)
= 2017
=
In 2017 Roberts returned to Europe 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 team and made a sensational debut in Brno coming from 29th on the grid to finish 10th in his first race at the world level.
NTS RW Racing GP (2018)
= 2018
=
In 2018, he competed in Moto2 ridng for NTS Racing GP.
American Racing (2019–2020)
= 2019
=
From 2019 season, Roberts riding for the American Racing.
= 2020
=
In Roberts qualified on pole position at the opening round of the season, becoming the first American rider to do so since
Ben Spies
Ben Spies (; born July 11, 1984), is an American former professional motorcycle road racer. He was sometimes nicknamed "Elbows" due to his riding style, in which his elbows protruded outward. Spies won the AMA Superbike Championship for Yoshimur ...
at the
2010 Indianapolis motorcycle Grand Prix and the first one in Moto2 since
Kenny Noyes
Kenny Noyes (born 18 June 1979) is an American motorcycle road racer. His parents Dennis and Heidi Noyes are both American, but lived in Spain for over 20 years where Dennis raced winning the Spanish Endurance Championship and the Motociclismo Se ...
at the
2010 French motorcycle Grand Prix
The 2010 French motorcycle Grand Prix, officially the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France, was the third round of the 2010 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 21–23 May 2010 at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans, F ...
. He finished the race in fourth, after never having finished better than 13th over the previous two seasons. 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
The 2011 Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix was the last round of the 2011 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 4–6 November 2011 at the Circuito Ricardo Tormo. It was the first race after the death of Marc ...
and the first in mid class since
John Kocinski
John Kocinski (born March 20, 1968 in Little Rock, Arkansas) is a retired American Grand Prix motorcycle road racer whose successes include winning the 1990 250cc World Championship, and the 1997 Superbike World Championship title.[1993 Dutch TT
The 1993 Dutch TT was the seventh round of the 1993 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on 26 June 1993 at the TT Circuit Assen located in Assen, Netherlands.
500 cc race report
Honda announces that Shinichi Itoh’s bike is fue ...]
. A documentary was made by Dorna following Roberts and American Racing titled ''Behind The Stars And Stripes''.
After the 2020 season Roberts was seen as a hot commodity in the Grand Prix World Championship. Roberts was offered not only deals with multiple front running teams on the Moto2 grid but was even offered a MotoGP ride with
Aprilia
Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded immediately after World War II in Noale, Italy, by Alberto Beggio. The company started as a manufacturer of bicycles and moved on to manufacture scooters and small-capacity motorcycles. ...
to partner
Aleix Espargaro in 2021, a move that was endorsed not only by Roberts manager and American Racing team principal Eitan Bitbul but also his mentor
John Hopkins and was even endorsed by Espargaro himself.
Italtrans Racing Team (2021–present)
= 2021
=
Roberts ultimately declined the offer to move up to MotoGP for Aprilia upon consulting with Ducati rider
Andrea Dovizioso
Andrea Dovizioso (born 23 March 1986) is an Italian former professional motorcycle racer. He raced with WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team for the 2022 season but announced his intended-retirement after the Misano round in September.
Dovizioso was t ...
and instead chose to race for Italtrans Racing Team, whom Moto2 series champion
Enea Bastianini
Enea Bastianini (born 30 December 1997), nicknamed "La Bestia" (The Beast), is an Italian Grand Prix motorcycle racer, riding for Ducati Lenovo Team in the MotoGP class. He won the 2020 Moto2 World Championship.
Career
Early career
Born in Rim ...
raced for before moving up to MotoGP himself.
Italtrans Racing announced on September 27, 2021, that they had resigned Roberts for another season. Roberts suffered a broken collarbone at Misano on October 22, 2021, and underwent surgery the following Tuesday, forcing him to miss the last two rounds of the 2021 season.
Career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
By season
By class
Races by year
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
Half points awarded as less than two thirds of the race distance (but at least three full laps) was completed.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Joe
1997 births
Living people
American motorcycle racers
Moto2 World Championship riders
Motorcycle racers from Los Angeles