Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Proton Team KR is already assembling a new V5 four stroke MotoGP engine with mock-up parts. A story on the team’s new website describes how a new rapid prototyping system produces full-size engine parts in resin allowing the parts to be assembled into a complete engine, checked for fit and corrected without the necessity of casting or forging any metal.

“Our target is to be testing the V5 four-stroke in November, and ready to race at the start of next season,” Proton Team KR owner Kenny Leroy Roberts is quoted as saying in the story. Roberts went on to tell reporters at the Donington Park GP that his engine is a 60-degree, 990cc V5 unlike Honda’s 75.5-degree V5.


Meanwhile, Roberts eldest son, former 500cc World Champion and current Suzuki MotoGP racer Kenny Lee Roberts, will miss the next round of the MotoGP World Championship series, the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring, in order to have surgery to correct Compartment Syndrome, or “arm pump” as it is commonly referred to.
“I’ve had problems ever since we started riding the four-stroke,” Roberts is quoted as saying on Suzuki’s racing website. “The bike is heavier and takes more muscling around, and you also have to blip the throttle to back-shift while you’re braking, which puts a lot more strain on your arm.
“I’ve been suffering from fatigue and pumping up, and we planned to have the operation done quietly during the summer break.
“Then at the last round at Assen I had a lot more trouble than I’d anticipated. It’s a very physical track, with no straight where you can rest even for a second.
“I had more trouble today, and after discussions with the team and the factory we decided it would be better to go ahead with the surgery directly. The usual recovery time is three to five weeks, but this will give us a little longer.
“I had to have it done anyway. The main thing is to get fit for when the season starts again in Czecho. We’re expecting continued development for the bike there, so it is crucial for me to be at 100 percent for that race.”
Suzuki has announced that Yukio Kagayama will abandon his testing of the Suzuki GSV-R prototype in the All-Japan Road Race Series and fill-in for Roberts at the MotoGP round at Sachsenring.

Meanwhile, Suzuki’s Akira Ryo will stay on in Europe and race the German and Czech Republic Grands Prix thanks to two more wild card rides. Ryo’s presence in the MotoGP series, says Suzuki, is helping development of the GSV-R.

Suzuki hadn’t planned on racing the 990cc, V4 GSV-R until 2003 but pushed the project forward and began racing this year after promising results in initial testing.

Ryo was granted three wild card rides by the FIM earlier this season and took part in the races at Catalunya, Assen and Donington Park.


In other news, West Honda Pons rider Loris Capriossi has had his broken right arm set and casted by Dr. Claudio Costa at his Bologna, Italy clinic, says the team’s website. Capirossi is currently recovering at his home in Monaco and is expected to be fit in time for the Czech Republic Grand Prix August 25.