Roberts to sort out future soon

Discussions with current sponsors Treasure Island, a massive hotel and casino complex in central Las Vegas, and with the MGM Grand Group, are on going in what those involved say "will be big".

It appears that the whole project may well involve five racing disciplines, including rumours of a NASCAR team.

Chuck Aksland of Team Roberts said: "We have some very important meetings in the next few days. This whole process has been in the making for the past two years so we are not going to rush it, even if it means that we may miss some of the 2008 season."

Aksland was extremely positive and in good spirits.

"We have an entry on the grid and that entry will be there for us even if we are ready mid-way through the 2008 season," he told autosport.com.

The team lost the opportunity to have Honda engines once more this year after the Japanese manufacturer stipulated that there had to be a two rider teams for them to supply engines to Team Roberts.

This was not possible with Honda's deadlines in Autumn last year, leaving the squad to talk to Ducati for a supply of engines or even bikes.

"There are solutions to get around getting a bike," said Aksland. "Sure we know the lead times, but we have solutions. Things take time. First we need to get the finance and then we get the parts.

"We've been struggling in recent years and we are not going to do that again."

Team owner Kenny Roberts Senior has spent an enormous amount of his own money since the team made their debut at Shah Alam in 1997 with the Modenas that had a three-cylinder engine designed by TWR, who had never made a two-stroke engine before.

Pole positions came in 2002 with Jeremy McWilliams on the last model of the three-cylinder engine, beating the might of the four strokes, with had possibly 80bhp more.

The team came closest to winning at Portugal in 2006 but Kenny Roberts Jr miscalculated his laps.

The team's mechanics have not been re-hired for the season so far, with some of them taking other opportunities. There is an infrastructure of staff working at the factory in Banbury, Oxfordshire, but they are making parts for Superbikes.