Kenny Roberts Jr and Suzuki to part company Kenny Roberts Jr will not have his Team SUZUKI MotoGP contract renewed for the 2006 season, when his current agreement comes to an end in December. The 32-year old American joined Suzuki in 1999 and within two years the Suzuki Factory and Roberts Jr were celebrating victory in the 2000 World Championship. In his first two seasons with Suzuki, Roberts Jr won eight Grand Prix and was on the podium a further nine times. Suzuki and Roberts Jr have found success a little harder to come by in recent seasons, but still he showed his race-craft at a rain-soaked Donington Park in July this year where he finished in second place. Roberts Jr has been instrumental in the development of the prototype Suzuki GSV-R race bike and has been a consistently good ambassador for Suzuki, and a consummate professional, throughout his career. He is the second highest rider in Suzuki’s list of Grand Prix starters behind only 1993 World Champion Kevin Schwantz. No announcement has yet been made on Roberts Jr’s future plans. The 2000 World Champion was due to make his final appearance for Suzuki at the last round of the season in Valencia, but the injuries sustained at Phillip Island have ruled him out of that event. Kenny Roberts Jr: “I could easily sit here and talk for hours about all the great times I have had with Suzuki; they have always been honest and have given me their best. I will of course miss many people. Over the years I have made many friends here at Suzuki, from the engineering level, to the management and of course within the team. I have many individual people to thank, but that is for another time. I am eternally grateful for what Suzuki has done for me. They have given me the chance to win a World Championship and I wish them the best. I know they can achieve whatever they wish to do.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “It has been a great honour to work with a Kenny during my first season in MotoGP. His knowledge and understanding of a racing motorcycle is better than any other racer I have met. He has great respect from all at Suzuki for bringing them the World Championship in 2000 and for the tireless work he has put into developing the GSV-R into a competitive race bike. He will always be regarded as a great champion within the history of Suzuki. “Suzuki has made this decision because it must look towards the future and the new breed of motorcycles and racers that are due to arrive on the scene. We need to place Suzuki back at the forefront of Grand Prix racing and we must take a fresh and new approach in order to achieve that. Kenny would no doubt have achieved strong results and contributed more to the development of the GSV-R, but we must look further than 2006 and start to make plans for the next generation of machines in 2007 and beyond. “On behalf of Suzuki Motor Corporation, we would like to thank Kenny for his skill, his dedication and his commitment to Suzuki since 1999. Together, Kenny and Suzuki became World Champions and that is something that will never change. “On a personal level, I would like to thank Kenny for helping me and the team to learn so much during 2005. We will miss his consummate skills and his partnership. We very much hope that Kenny will stay in contact with us in the future much like Kevin Schwantz, Kenny will always be one of Suzuki’s Champions at all levels.”