Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Team Suzuki’s Kenny Lee Roberts missed a three-day test with his team at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia November 28-30, but the situation was simply due to passport problems, according to Steve Dicterow of International Racers, Inc., Roberts’ management group.

“We did not know or expect there to be a need for Kenny to leave the country when he got back (from the final MotoGP race at Valencia),” Dicterow told Roadracingworld.com Tuesday. “So the day he got back we took his passport, we sent it into our passport agency and they then take it into the government and get the pages added. That typically takes four to six weeks, and we just didn’t anticipate it.

“I learned a lesson. Anytime I take a passport out of the hands of one of my guys it’s going to be sent priority one urgency so that we can get it back a little quicker. It would be much more fun for all of us if it were something more mysterious.”

Since there hasn’t been an official announcement from Team Suzuki concerning its rider line-up for 2004, we asked Dicterow about Roberts’ contract status for next season. “We’re on for 2004 and 2005 with Suzuki,” Dicterow quickly answered. “Kenny’s at a point in his career where he recognizes a major part of what he does is work with Suzuki to develop a bike that’s going to be competitive again. It’s been rough the last two years. I’m sure Suzuki would be the first to say the bike’s not been truly competitive for winning races, but we all believe that one day it will be. The only question is when. Kenny realizes that it’s part of his job to make the when sooner rather than later.”