Swing-arm 'gamble' leaves Roberts 18th.

Kenny Roberts Jr will start Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix from just 18th on the grid after a new swing-arm design significantly changed the character of his KR212V.

The new swing-arm, with a revised stiffness, helped address previous grip problems - but also altered the balance of the bike, forcing other set-up changes to be made. Team Roberts were still working towards a solution when qualifying began and plan further front suspension changes in morning warm-up.

"The swing-arms have been modified to change stiffness," confirmed team manager Chuck Aksland. "Even last year Kenny was struggling for grip, and it was one of the areas that hadn't changed much, so we made a big jump and brought it here. The positive thing is it seems to have made some difference, but with the set-up of the bike and suspension having compensated around that weakness, it seems we need some other changes. With the first session wet, we just ran out of time. We'll try a few steps in the morning, and hope it will improve."

"We took a big gamble here, with swing-arms substantially different to anything since the first Honda Team Roberts bike," added Kenny Jr. "It's an area we have never changed, that we think is related to the grip problem. It seems to help that area, but it creates a lot of problems with how I load the bike. I can load the rear harder, but the bike's not in the right position. It's as though it's set up to not overload that area, because we had developed the bike not to overload the tyre. Both my qualifying tyres looked brand new at the end, which means something's not right."

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