MotoGP: Team Roberts On The Ropes

The crisis at Team KR is showing no signs of abating.
First, it was revealed that Johnny Rea will no longer be riding the KR212V at Donington due to his heavy schedule. Of course, his schedule is no heavier than it was when it was announced that he would ride the second KR bike. What has changed is that he has won two races. He took the chequered flag in the Suzuka 300km along with his BSB team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari, then he won race two of the Mondello round of the BSB.
Honda have high hopes for the kid, especially for their favourite race, the Suzuka 8 hour. Putting Rea on Team KR's pile of scrap might have dented his confidence, a bad idea considering that he is currently on a roll.
More surprising was Team KR's revelation that Kenny Roberts Junior will not ride at Donington either, and his little brother Kurtis will be the sole KR rider at the British GP.
Kenny Junior has said that there is nothing much else to find out about the current chassis. Basically, it's rubbish, and the team have pretty much worked out why it's rubbish. The team is fabricating a new chassis that should be a lot better, but that takes time. Kurtis will have to use the old machine.
It is surprising that Team KR, the last of the real independent chassis builders, have produced such a lemon, but then again, so did Honda, and the KR bike was specially designed and constructed around the Honda V4 engine.
Of course, Honda are still supplying King Kenny with the worst of their engines, as shown by the failures early this year. Hopefully when the new chassis is ready, it will be quick and Honda will supply decent motors to the grumpy triple world champion.