Wayne Rainey, John Kocinski, Eddie Lawson, and Kenny Roberts Jr.: what did they all have in common? Yes, they were all world championship-winning motorcyclists. Yes, they were all from the US. But something that ties these names together even more closely is that they were all directly influenced or mentored by King Kenny Roberts.
Now, the King is back to mentor the next generation of talent from the States in the 2025 Parts Unlimited Talent Cup, something my interview with Wayne Rainey has me eagerly anticipating.
Roberts will be the owner of one of the teams next year. He's partnering with Fastrack Racing's Arney Wick, and will initially start the team with just one rider. But it's not just any rider.
Kody Kopp is already a three-time American Flat Track (AFT) Singles Champion, during the Circuit of the Americas MotoGP event on March 28-30, he'll make his Talent Cup debut on the Krämer APX-350 MA. There's something poetic about Kopp's background in AFT because that is where so many of the top US riders from the 80s and 90s honed their skills—Roberts himself was a two-time A.M.A. Grand National Championship winner.
With so many youngsters coming up through mini-bike Championships, it's practically unheard of to see competitors at the highest level hopping from a purely focused flat-track background. If Kopp does well coming from AFT and continues to do well on GP-spec bikes, it'll be a borderline homage to the US two-wheeled Titans who preceded him.
“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, and the Talent Cup gives us a chance to put a young dirt tracker on the equipment that’s the same as everyone else’s and that hasn’t been the case until now. This is the first step back into the world arena and I’d like to hear the American National Anthem on the rostrum before I slip off the groove.”
Not to jump the gun, but since Kopp is 17, he could theoretically race in Moto3 and bypass the Red Bull Rookies Cup. He'll have a nation behind him, but whether that'll be a help or hindrance remains to be seen. Either way, US racing fans have something huge to look forward to next year with the introduction of the Talent Cup. The King's and Kopp's involvement in the series just makes it even juicier.
