Kurtis Roberts racing the RidersDiscount.com Yamaha R1 Superbike in his return to the AMA Superbike Championship at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on July 18, 2010. Roberts finished 10th in his first race in the series in three years. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Kurtis Roberts made his long-awaited comeback to AMA Superbike racing at Mid-Ohio this past summer where he scored a DNF and 10th in the two races. Sunday’s Mid-Ohio race showed that Roberts still had much of the skill that made him one of the best AMA Superbike riders in the early 2000s.

His 2003 season was perhaps his most memorable. That year he scored nine podium finishes including victories at VIR and Barber on a Honda.

It made him the first and only Roberts to win an AMA Superbike race. Of course the other riders of the famous Roberts clan never raced in the series, but Kurtis still has a nice distinction in history he can hold up to his world champion father and brother.

Many pundits discount Kurtis in comparison to his brother and dad, but to my eye when Kurtis was on top of his game he was thrilling to watch. He was a fearless passer and seemed to radiate confidence. He also told it like it was in press conferences and was one of the few Superbike riders of that era who didn’t seem intimidated by Mat Mladin.

Also, he’s one of the few riders in AMA Superbike history where you can simply use his first name. When people said “Kurtis is coming back to race Mid-Ohio,” there was no doubt who they were talking about.