KING Kenny Roberts lapped Laguna Seca on the Yamaha M1 yesterday to warm-up for his 'exhitibition' laps around at the US GP this weekend.
The triple 500GP champion was also reunited with his 1980 championship-winnering YZR500. Speaking on MotoGP.com, Roberts compared racing the two-stroke to the modern day machinery: "I'm glad I came up 30 years ago! I was in the right era. In my day if you were within a foot of where you wanted to be - great.
"But with these bikes you need to be millimetre perfect. That's why the racing is so technically close, but hard to pass. Everything has to be so precise.
"The bikes are very rigid and the tyres have a lot of grip. It makes them very hard."
For the celebration of Yamaha's racing history, Roberts will also take to the track on a specially prepped, red and white speedblocked R1.
