Roberts bites back

A week after the announcement that KTM were withdrawing their support of the Team Roberts MotoGP bike, the team has issued a response claiming KTM has “failed to live up to their reponsibilities”.

The Austrian firm said last week that it only intended to act as an engine supplier for the team and was pushed into stretching to paying for tyres and rider Shane Byrne’s wages. They claimed the final straw came when Team Roberts asked for more money mid season.

But Roberts has hit back saying the deal they agreed at the start of the season saw KTM jointly funding the whole project and when they went to KTM to ask for money they were actually asking for agreed payments that hadn’t been made rather than anything over and above the budget as KTM claimed.

“KTM has not only failed to deliver competitive engines in the current racing season,” claims the team. “they have also failed to live up to their funding responsibilities and choose to breach their commitment to supply engines, electronics, tires and a rider to Team Roberts 2005 MotoGP efforts.”

Team Roberts also said they didn’t even hear about KTM’s decision to pull out until the firm made a statement to the press. Team manager Chuck Aksland didn’t even know about the move until he was phoned by Shane Byrne last Friday.

We’ve put up the full press releases from both KTM and team Roberts for you to see for yourself. Check out the links below to read them in full.

KTM press release

Team Roberts press release

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