After the debacle last year with KTM, many questioned whether Kenny Roberts’ Team Roberts MotoGP project would continue for another season. The team has been struggling to develop a competitive machine ever since the premiere roadrace series switched to four-stroke power in 2002, and has sunk untold amounts of money into engine development. Despite all the investment, the V-5 powerplant the team ran for the first few years of the four-stroke era was never competitive with the engines of the major teams.
KTM provided hope to the team by agreeing to provide a race engine for the Team Roberts bikes last year, but the Austrian company inexplicably pulled their backing mid-season – leaving Team Roberts “high and dry” without a motor for their bikes.
Today Honda announced that they have reached an agreement with Team Roberts to supply engines for the 2006 season. That means that former World Champion Kenny Roberts Jr. will take to the track this season aboard a Team Roberts machine powered by Honda’s famed 990cc V-five MotoGP powerplant.
Roberts Jr. hasn’t enjoyed much success since winning the championship in 2000, a condition many attribute to his lack of confidence in the factory Suzuki he has ridden since. By all accounts the Team Roberts chassis is capable if not exceptional, and the major thing holding the team back has been the lack of a competitive powerplant.
Could 2006 be a renaissance year for both Team Roberts and Kenny Jr.? If the team can make a successful marriage of their chassis to the Honda powerplant, they should find themselves in possession of the most competitive machine they’ve had since the dawn of the four-stroke era. Perhaps this will be just what Kenny Jr. needs to reignite his career and put him back in contention for top five finishes…
