KENNY Roberts Jr. finished 17th in Sunday's Italian MotoGP at Mugello, and brother Kurtis, in his first GP since 2005, retired on the fourth of 23 laps.
But in spite of the disappointing results, Banbury-based Team Roberts could mark the weekend as an important occasion.
With two riders for the first time since 2005 doubling the feed-back to the engineers, they believe they have been able to isolate problems that have prevented the KR machine achieving the competitive form of last year. Younger brother Kurtis has been drafted in for this and the next race, to provide more input and data to team engineers.
The Honda-powered hybrid, built in the Team Roberts factory, is now in a position to resume progress, according to team principal Kenny Roberts although only after major surgery. It will take time, and the season is entering an intensive phase, but Roberts hopes that after the summer break new chassis designs will be ready.
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