Like an extra in a late night b-movie zombie flick, it appears that Kurtis has again risen from the afterlife to return and again haunt the US roadracing series. Last year, it appeared the Kurtis had thankfully…uh, I mean fortunately…been given an opportunity to move on to GP. I thought he had left US waters, if not for the remainder of his career, at least long enough for us to get a break from his whining.

Kurtis is a talented racer, no doubt. He has garnered three AMA championships in hard fought classes (Formula Xtreme in ‘99 and a double with Formula Xtreme and 600SS in ‘00). He also won two Superbike races in ‘03 against Mat Mladin, something few accomplished that year. Kurtis was successful enough in the AMA series to justify him having a shot at something on the world stage and I don’t begrudge him a MotoGP ride. What’s more, in his ‘03 season he only destroyed about half the motorcycle parts of previous seasons, so he was starting to ride with more smarts which is something any crew chief for a MotoGP team will appreciate.

So for 2004, Kurtis parked his helmet in the Roberts/Proton garage and his longevity in Grand Prix seemed pretty certain. He has a historical name which is a PR gold mine, he was managed by top class International Racers, Inc., was slated to help develop his father’s GP bike (an experience which did wonders for the skills of his older brother Kenny Roberts, Jr), was getting the all important knowledge of the GP circuits and had an opportunity to adapt to the travelling life of the MotoGP series. While no one expected him to fight for the title, he was gaining experience that would probably see him staying in MotoGP for awhile.

Unfortunately, his MotoGP debut didn’t go as well as originally planned.

So what is my beef with Kurtis, you might ask? Well, as I mentioned above, I think he’s a multi-time national champion in whining. Whether he’s complaining about the other riders or making excuses or moping about the pits he always seems to come across as a pouty little kid. While piling up trashed bodywork and bent sub-frames, it seemed like it was always the track, some other racer, the wind, or even his mechanics giving him a bad set-up that was to blame. I prefer to see a little more humility and a lot more personal responsibility. Second, I think he’s relied on his huge reserves of natural talent to win races and thus hasn’t put in the hard work that would raise him game to the level necessary to be a world champion. He’s not another playboy like Gobert but he’s not another freak like Mladin either.

Now things have fallen apart for Kurtis in ‘05. He’s left International Racers, he isn’t re-signed with KR/Proton and there have been rumors flying that he’ll be back in AMA Superbike next year on either a Honda or a Yamaha. Maybe this set back will be a little wake-up call. Maybe he’ll feel a little less entitled and a little more thankful to be racing motorcycles for a living. Then maybe he’ll have the focus to fight for an AMA Superbike championship and then go back to MotoGP with the dedication necessary to get a top ride and fight for that championship as well.

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