Rider Files

An Update on Who Raced All Three? – Kenny, Kenny Jr. and Kurtis

Ascot Half-Mile results from 1977.

Mike Sullivan is one of only four riders I can find who have raced all three Robertses - Kenny Sr., Kenny Jr. and Kurtis.

This past January during an interview with longtime racer Mike Sullivan, I wondered out loud if he might be the only rider to have raced all three of the Robertses in a national. I and a couple of other racing historians started doing some research and we came up with just three riders, Jimmy Filice, Bruce Lind and Rich Oliver who definitively raced Kenny Sr., Kenny Jr. and Kurtis during a national road race or flat track.

At the time Sullivan told me he thought he’d raced all three, but wasn’t sure when, or if, he’d raced Kenny Sr. Well thanks to Sullivan being a packrat he has dug up info proving that he did race Kenny Sr. at Ascot back in 1977.

Sullivan wrote:

Thanks Mike for sending Cycle News results and here is the updated story on those who raced all three Robertses.

Here’s the original story with updates.

(News Release)

Tim Hunt on the Team Hooters' Brock's Performance exhaust-equipped Suzuki GSX-R1000.

DAYTON, Ohio. (September 15, 2010) — Adding to the list of great riders who have lit up hundreds of win lights and brought a dozen national championships to Brock’s Performance at the highest levels of motorcycle dragracing, Tim Hunt delivered its first national roadrace title–in the Michelin/WERA National Challenge Series’ A Superstock Expert class.

Riding a Hooters-sponsored GSX-R1000 equipped with a Brock’s Performance CT Series™ Dual Full Titanium exhaust system, the La Vergne, Tennessee rider sealed the eight-race championship series one round early. Hunt leads Tim Bemisderfer by 30 points going into the final event of the season, the WERA Grand National Finals, which begin on October 7.

Hunt has racked up 20 regional championships since 2006, but this is his first multi-race national title, which he took with one win and six other podium appearances.” When I started racing motorcycles in 2005, I never imagined that I’d win a major title like this, but it wasn’t easy,” Hunt said. “I won championships in midgets and sprint cars. That was just for fun. I didn’t get serious until I did my first track day on a bike. Then I was hooked.

“After taking my racebike to Brock’s Performance early this year to have a custom fuel map built to suit my motor and the pipe, I immediately felt the difference and experienced substantial gains on the track.”

Brock’s CT Series™ Dual Canister Full Titanium exhaust system provides a nicely balanced look. Beautifully crafted from exotic metals, it has the same ground clearance and cornering capability as the single-can CTs, with a pair of carbon-tipped megaphones that provide increased horsepower, incredible style and terrific sound.

Brock’s Performance president and national-championship-winning dragracer, Brock Davidson, said, “It’s difficult for me to put into words how proud I am of Tim and Team Hooters. Seeing the success they had immediately this season, I knew that good things were to come.

“When we set out to design the CT series exhaust, the criteria was simple: Create a class-leading system that could do it all. It would have the most ground clearance possible for drag racing, cornering clearance for national-caliber roadrace capabilities and the best look and a distinct sound.

“Then I looked toward the engineers at my manufacturing company, Nojima Japan, for blending my concepts with their roadracing expertise. Since their exhaust recently finished fourth in the Suzuka 8 Hours round of the FIM World Endurance series, they clearly have world-class knowledge. I’m very fortunate to have such valuable technical partner,” said Davidson in summing up his company’s latest milestone.

Expanding upon 25 years of sportbike dragracing innovation and success on the quarter-mile, Brock’s Performance is proud to be involved with Tim Hunt and the Hooters roadrace team.

For more information on Brock’s Performance exhaust, BST wheels and other products, please visit BrocksPerformance.com.

Billy Huber (7) drafts his Harley-Davidson underneath Bobby Hill's Indian (71) as the two cross the finish line. Officials couldn't decide who won, so they called the race a tie - the only one in AMA National history. High-speed cameras started being used at the finish line shortly after this race. (Bobby Hill collection)

If you look at old AMA national racing records there is one oddity that immediately catches your eye. On August 8, 1948, Lakewood Park, a one-mile horse racing track in Atlanta, hosted that year’s AMA 10-Mile National and the event listed two first-place finishers – Harley-Davidson mounted Billy Huber and Indian’s Bobby Hill. No there weren’t two separate races; the 10-Mile National that year was deemed by officials a dead heat – the only one recorded in AMA National history.

“Being such a new expert rider I didn’t know much about drafting,” Hill said. “Billy sure did though and he drafted right behind me and at the last possible moment zipped underneath me and we crossed the finish line side by side.”

The crowd went nuts as the two crossed the finish line. AMA officials quickly huddled to compare notes to try to determine who came out on top. Heads shook and finally the judges declared the race a dead heat. Mike Benson, president of the fair announced that both riders would receive first-place money. More cheers greeted the announcement.

(News Release from Jared Mees)

Here we were back at Springfield. It seemed like just the other day we were just leaving in May. It’s a good thing we race at Springfield twice a year. The weekend started off with the Short Track. Last year things went well there for me with a 3rd place. This year I qualified worse than I felt, with a 2nd in one session but only a 9th overall time. I went out for my Heat race and finished 4th, which got me on the second row in the Main Event. I needed top two for the Dash for Cash but that did not go as planned. So we made a few adjustments to the bike for the Main Event. Turned out the Main Event was pretty crazy. There were guys stalling and falling and getting shoved around left and right. I ended up 9th which was disappointing, but that is how it works sometimes.

The following day was the Mile. I was pretty excited about the mile for some reason this year. I was thinking the bike was running really well and I was ready. I qualified 11th which on the Mile qualifying is quite different as a lot of riders will get the perfect draft for one lap and record a really good lap. So I wasn’t really worried about it. I was putting in consistent laps in practice and ended up in the 2nd Heat race with Chris Carr. I knew he was going to be the toughest guy in it. We came off the line and I got around Jethro Halbert and Carr and went at it. On the last lap down the back straight away Carr drafted by me and went through turns 3 and 4 hard. I was able to tow off of him and draft him at the line for the Heat race win. This meant that Carr and I would be in the Dash. We did not change a thing except to put gas in the bike—it was working great. I got a good jump and once again Carr and I were mixing it up with Jake Johnson . On the last lap I went into turn 3 right on Carr’s back tire. Jake rode around the outside of me and was trying to get a tow of Carr as well. Jake and I came together going for the same spot and unfortunately he went down. I wasn’t able to complete the draft at the line on Carr so I got 2nd.

For the Main Event I was on the pole. I got another good jump but got passed early. It took a few laps for my tire to come in as I was running around 4th or 5th in the beginning. When I felt my tire come in I went straight to 2nd and was running all over the back of Bryan Smith who was mounted on a Kawasaki Ninja. It was really impossible to draft unless you forced yourself underneath him I towed behind him for several laps, poking underneath him a couple of times, but he would just blow right back by. On the last lap going down the back stretch I stayed glued to his back tire and Carr got the double draft off of Smith and me and stuck it around the outside, pushing his way right in behind Smith. Clean Chris Carr-style move, no big deal. The Kawi then towed him to the finish and I ended up 3rd. Overall, a pretty good race. I felt like I could have had 2nd if things had felt a little differently, but that is how it went.

Canterbury Park, Shakopee, MN

Next we had another mile at a new [for me] horse race track. This track was on the circuit a few years back in the late 90s. I had heard horror stories about this place, but Steve Morehead went there to meet with the owner and promoter to explain how we needed the track to be prepped for us. When we arrived, it looked a lot different that we had expected—they did listen to Steve. It was a hard base, kinda like a red limestone. The top surface of what they scraped off was pure sand. If we race on pure sand it becomes a whole jumping contest and we should just put some right hand corners in it and go motorcross racing!! When we got on it we found that it was a little narrow entering the corners. I would say this is probably one of the best sand mile horse tracks I have been to. I thought that Prescott AZ earlier in the year was the best but the hard surface was good. I just would have liked a little more room entering the corners. Perhaps that will happen for next year.

Anyway, I was 3rd after round one, 2nd after round two and 5th after round three which gave me an overall qualifying position of 4th. I was in the 3rd Heat race with Joe Kopp and Jake Johnson. So here we are, the top three in combined points in the same Heat and only two of us can make it to the Dash for Cash to get some extra points. I got off the line well but got stuck and Joe and Jake took off. I got by Joe and started to run on Jake. He got out really quick and I wasn’t able to run him down. I did get a 2nd in the Heat, making it to the Dash. We tried something different and went the wrong way. I ended up 4th, just missing out on 3rd at the line.

For the Main Event we went with what we had in the Heat race. I got a decent jump and was running 2nd with Jake leading. Here comes wide open Matt Weidman going for it. He ran down Jake and man, that motorcycle was taking Matt for a ride! When he pinned the gas and where the motorcycle was going, there was no stopping it. Then here came Kenny Coolbeth. I put up a small battle with Kenny for a couple of laps and he was getting through the corners pretty well, going on to pass Weidman and take the lead. After a couple of laps Weidman either was tired or his line wore out because right away I was on his back tire. A couple of laps later I was by and pulling away. The rest of the time I tried hard to catch Jake, felt like a couple of laps I pulled on to him and a couple of laps we stayed the same. When the 5-laps-to-go board came out it was pretty much a long-shot trying to catch him unless he really messed up or broke. I settled for 3rd and was pretty happy with that.

Joe Kopp broke down, shaking up the points big time. We were 24 points down going in and now we are 19 down from Jake who is now the leader. With two races remaining anything can happen. It was my first time racing in Minnesota and I hope to be back –all in all it was a good race track for the most part with a lot of fans.

Thank you to all the fans and my sponsors, Jammin’ Jared Mees

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