New Assen starts Proton's build up to home run.

Next weekend's Dutch TT at the classic Assen circuit is the first of a run of special races for Proton Team KR - at tracks where the lightweight triple's greatest strengths will pay the biggest dividends.

The next round is the British GP at Donington Park, close to home base at Banbury; followed by the German round at the ultra-twisty Sachsenring ... and then, after the long summer break, the sweeping Brno circuit for the Czech Republic GP. All are tracks that favour the 500cc two-stroke KR3 machine in different ways.

Next weekend's Dutch TT at the classic Assen circuit is the first of a run of special races for Proton Team KR - at tracks where the lightweight triple's greatest strengths will pay the biggest dividends.

The next round is the British GP at Donington Park, close to home base at Banbury; followed by the German round at the ultra-twisty Sachsenring ... and then, after the long summer break, the sweeping Brno circuit for the Czech Republic GP. All are tracks that favour the 500cc two-stroke KR3 machine in different ways.

This year's premier motorcycle class has been opened to 990cc four-stroke prototypes as well as the established 500cc two-strokes like the Proton - and until now the heavier but more powerful four-strokes have held the advantage. Even though their braking and handling is clumsier and their mid-corner speed slower, full throttle acceleration and a 200mph-plus top speed potential has made up for it.

Assen is different. Although one of the fastest tracks of the season, its sinuous layout and complex combinations of fast corners mean that there are hardly any opportunities for MotoGP riders - two-stroke or four-stroke - to open the throttle all the way.

The classic Dutch circuit has been changed for this year's seventh round of the new MotoGP World Championship. The run from the Strubben hairpin to Stekkenwal corner down the back "straight" (actually a series of kinks) has been altered, and the track is 22 metres shorter. But the rest of the 6.027km track is the same, and the essential character is unaltered.

Proton riders Jeremy McWilliams - a winner at Assen last year - and Nobuatsu Aoki are confident that this will go a long way to redressing the balance and making up for the relative top speed deficit of their agile lightweight machines. In fact, both have already exceeded expectations, with Aoki claiming a string of top-ten finishes already.

But this track offers even more. The KR3 excels on fast corners as well as under braking, while both riders enjoy the highly technical challenge of the famous Dutch circuit, the only motorcycle-dedicated circuit on the calendar.

At the last round, McWilliams gave a new prototype chassis its first run, claiming points for 12th place, and enjoying a resolution of a tyre "pumping" problem that had been plaguing him. At the same time, team owner Kenny Roberts spoke of a big leap in understanding, with important lessons learned from the new geometry.

"It's one of my favourite tracks - you always like a track where you've won," said McWilliams. "We learned a lot from the new chassis at the last race, about spring rates, especially at the rear, which helps tyre life, and we can incorporate a lot of that into the standard chassis. Let's hope the four-strokes are a bit weak there. I'm not sure what effect the track changes will have, but I think it will suit our bike, and Kenny Roberts does as well. That goes for the next few races ... this is the part of the season I've really been looking forward to."

On the next day, Aoki also tried the chassis for the first time, and liked it. But both will revert to the standard chassis for Assen, while back at base staff will go full steam ahead to make enough new chassis and the special body parts required so that both riders can switch to the latest version two weeks later in Britain.

"Assen is a great track, where the rider can really make a difference, and horsepower is less important than good handling and braking," said Aoki. "I've already said how much I enjoy riding the KR3, with the way it handles, and how much you can do under braking and with corner speed. I am confident of another good result at Assen."

"We felt that the earlier version, with some modifications, would suit Assen better, and it was more important to make sure that each rider would have the new chassis at Donington Park," said team manager Chuck Aksland.

"That's where its advantages will be most useful, and both riders felt that the standard chassis would work well at Assen.

"It's going to be an interesting race," he continued. "It's hard to predict anything this year - for example, at Mugello were almost 20mph down on top speed, yet both riders qualified well and were on course for top-ten finishes until mechanical gremlins spoiled our day. The changes to Assen also make it tough to call.

"But both our riders like the track, and we got a good top-ten finish there last year. And it seems likely that the four-strokes won't be able to use their speed advantage there, because there just aren't many places where you can use full throttle.

"Like I said, an interesting race."

The race schedule at Assen has been changed in order to avoid a clash with a World Cup football semi-final, with the day starting later than usual, and the MotoGP race starting at 15:30 CET.

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