Landing on the front wheel was verboten back in days of low-travel suspensions and pencil-thin fork tubes. Kenny Roberts makes sure he’s going to land on the back wheel of his factory Yamaha as he comes off the famous Peoria TT jump in August of 1976. (AMA press kit photo)

Landing on the front wheel was verboten back in days of low-travel suspensions and weak front forks. Kenny Roberts makes sure he’s going to land on the back wheel of his factory Yamaha as he comes off the famous Peoria TT jump in August of 1976.

Surprisingly Roberts won the prestigious Peoria TT just once, and that was in 1974.

Yamaha XS650-based TT bikes were a pretty good choice at Peoria in the 1970s and early 1980s. Besides Roberts’ victory aboard a Yamaha in 1974 (the first Japanese motorcycle to win Peoria) Steve Eklund in ’76 and Scott Pearson in 1980 and ’81 all won the race on Yamaha vertical twins.

The Peoria TT is one race every motorcycle racing fan should make a point of seeing at least one time. The racetrack sits before the fans in a natural sunken amphitheater. It’s always very well attended (as you can tell in this photo) and is pure Americana.