Triple 500cc world champion 'King' Kenny Roberts🅰 took to the Laguna Seca circuit on past and present 🍷grand prix machinery on Thursday.

Roberts rode a conte⭕mporary 800cc four-stroke Yamaha M1 as well as his 1980 500cc two-stroke, which he took to his third and final world title (see below for further pictures).

ཧ"I'm glad I came up 30 years ago! I was in the right era," Robert𒀰s told the official MotoGP website after his Thursday ride.

"In my day i𝄹f you were within a foot of where you wanted to bওe - great.

"But with these [modern🐷] bikes you nee🐎d to be millimetre perfect.

"That's why the racing is so technically close, but hard to 𝓰pass. Everything has to be so precise.

"The bikes are very riꦛgid and the tyres have a lot of grip. It makes them very hard [to ride]."

The American legend won 22 races dur☂ing his grand prix career, but never got to race in front of his home fans.

As part of Yamaha's 50th anniversary of road racing celebrations, Roberts will ride demonstr♏ation laps over all three days of this weekend's US Grand Prix.

Present Factory Yamaha🌺 MotoGP stars will race in a special red-and-white livery at🏅 the event.