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Wednesday, 30th May 2007

...You can start to work out a scenario here: Were James Toseland to depart to MotoGP, Ten Kate and Honda could form a dynamic Superbike pairing consisting of Colin Edwards and Kenan Sofuoglu...

"Our engineering staff was put together to handle MotoGP projects, but when we downsized to one rider this year, we had to ask what we could do to keep everyone employed and utilise our technology," Aksland said.

Now one of Team KR's five designers is the contact man for the Superbike teams. The KR swinging-arm is completely machined from billet just like the component on the team's KR212V Honda-engined MotoGP bike. "There isn't a stamped component on it," Aksland said. "Obviously it's lighter than the standard swinging arm, but that's only a part of the advantage. It's about controlling the stiffness of the product to match the tyre performance, and we have a lot of experience in that area."

So Team KR now makes swinging-arms and exhaust pipes, and is looking at footrest assemblies, ignition systems and traction control units. So when's the complete Superbike coming? Will the Roberts squad run a WSBK team?

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"We've not really looked at it," Aksland said. "But you know racing - you never say never..."

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