King Kenny Roberts starts MotoAmerica Talent Cup team

Words and images courtesy MotoAmerica

MotoAmerica, North America’s premier motorcycle road racing series, has announced that three-time World Champion King Kenny Roberts will make a welcome return to American road racing as a team owner in the 2025 Parts Unlimited Talent Cup. This championship is designed to prepare young North American racers who have the desire and talent to compete on the world stage of MotoGP.

Three-time 500cc World Champion King Kenny Roberts has announced that he will field a team in the new 2025 MotoAmerica Parts Unlimited Talent Cup Championship. The team will feature three-time AFT Singles Champion Kody Kopp. Photo by Brian J. Nelson

Roberts, who was influential as a team owner in getting American road racers Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, John Kocinski, and Kenny Roberts Jr. to be World Champions, is hopeful of giving young racers the opportunity to join those legends as Grand Prix racers. This opportunity will be through MotoAmerica’s new Talent Cup programme. King Kenny Roberts has always supported young talent in racing.

Partnering with Fastrack Racing’s Arney Wick, Roberts will initially start the series with one rider. That rider is none other than three-time American Flat Track (AFT) Singles Champion Kody Kopp. Kopp will make his road racing debut in the opening round of the Talent Cup. This debut will be at the MotoGP event at Circuit of The Americas, March 28-30, on the KrämerAPX-350 MA.

The Krämer APX-350 MA motorcycle has been specifically designed and engineered for the MotoAmerica Talent Cup. It supports a pipeline from the U.S. circuits directly into the European systems that ultimately feed MotoGP teams. This new involvement by King Kenny Roberts is seen as an important step for young American racers.

“This is the first time I can see an avenue where we can get young Americans to MotoGP,” Roberts said. “Production bike racing has never done it for me as it’s really complicated because you must be on the right bike, etc. The Talent Cup will give us the opportunity to really see the talent of the rider. I still think dirt tracking is the first step. The Talent Cup gives us a chance to put a young dirt tracker on the equipment that’s the same as everyone else’s. That hasn’t been the case until now. This is the first step back into the world arena. I’d like to hear the American National Anthem on the rostrum before I slip off the groove.”

Kopp is the winningest AFT Singles rider in history as he has amassed 21 victories while capturing three straight championships.

“I’m extremely excited to begin the next chapter of my career and I’m honoured to be a part of a team with King Kenny Roberts,” Kopp said. “I’m excited to get to work and I can’t wait to ride the bike. Obviously, having King Kenny Roberts as a team owner in MotoAmerica is a win for everybody,” said MotoAmerica President Wayne Rainey. “His presence in the paddock will create interest in the Talent Cup both here and internationally. King Kenny Roberts and his team are also bringing in Kody Kopp, a flat track champion. It will be interesting to watch his development under Kenny’s guidance. Kody couldn’t ask for a better person to learn from. Kenny has truly done it all – as both a racer and a team owner.”