Kenny Roberts takes two wins out of four races with him to this weekend's French GP - and a title lead of almost ten points with the first quarter of the 16-round season completed.

One of the most important weapons in Kenny's armory is a winning frame of mind. "It's a while since we went to Le Mans, but I remember I liked the track last time on the 250. If we can get the bike carburating well, I believe I can win the race," he said.

The return to Le Mans for the first time since 1995 - after an interlude at Paul Ricard - sees many changes.

For Roberts, the biggest is that he last raced there on a 250 in only his second GP season. Now he returns as one of the leading riders in the premier 500 class, heading the championship from former 250 rival Carlos Checa by nine points.

Team-mate Nobuatsu Aoki has made a similar move - he raced against Kenny in the 250 GP at Le Mans in 1995. So too did Checa ....

Another change has been to the circuit - the feared and respected fast first corner has been tamed, with the first section of the track reprofiled to slow the approach to the chicane before the famous Dunlop Bridge. This does away with the bumpy high-speed right-hander, taking under increasingly heavy braking - the corner where Alberto Puig ended his career with a heavy crash, elevating Checa to take his place in the 500 class.

"Some of our rival teams have tested at the new track this year, so we are under no illusions that it is going to be easy to add a third victory to our tally so far this year," said Team Manager Garry Taylor.

"At the same time, we can be very optimistic. Kenny is riding superbly, and Nobu has also surprised a lot of people with his strong form this year. We know that our bike is very competitive - and we stand a very good chance of another win, perhaps even more so if the weather conditions are difficult.

"It doesn't help to be over-confident - but don't forget that Jerez has not been a brilliant track for us in the past, and when we got there Kenny was basically unbeatable.

"Our team is performing very strongly at the moment, and just at the present time Kenny and the Suzuki are the combination to beat."

Roberts's two wins so far have come in similar yet different circumstances, but both times while he was showing a certain mastery. At Sepang in Malaysia he was running away when rain interrupted proceedings and the race was stopped. Sufficient distance had been completed for Kenny to be declared the winner.

At Jerez he was running away in similar fashion when rain again cut short proceedings. this time, the distance covered was short of the required two-thirds, and officials were obliged to restart the race. Roberts cautiously chose treaded 'intermediate' tyres, but the track dried off and he was struggling with the wrong equipment for the conditions. Even so he managed to maintain his lead on aggregate times to take a second win and extend his championship lead.

The Repsol Honda riders have just completed a two day test at Portugal's Estoril circuit.

KENNY ROBERTS - "I think Le Mans should be good for us. It was one of my better races on the 250, and I don't recall it as one of those pure horsepower tracks. There's a lot of slow corners followed by hard acceleration, but it's not a Paul Ricard, that's for sure .... with the long straight there it really put the emphasis on acceleration and top speed, whereas at Le Mans the balance of our bike should help us. I look forward to every race, and I have the intention of winning every race. Le Mans will be no different. At the same time, we're looking at the long haul. Either way, we'll arrive in France ready to give our maximum effort, and hope to leave with maximum points."

ALEX CRIVILLE - "In Estoril, I think we found the solution to the problems that have been troubling us since the start of the season.  We were able to test a number of different configurations. We played around with suspension, engine and chassis settings and we think we've now got the best combination. Le Mans is a complex track. There are fast turns but also some very slow ones that are tough on the brakes. But thanks to our Estoril tests I feel very confident for this race. I've been so close to the podium in the last two races, I hope I can finally get there this week-end."

ABOUT THIS RACE

The French GP is a long-standing but irregular fixture on the calendar. The first event was run in 1951, the third year of GP racing - but in the 49 years since there have been just 36 events under that name. The French GP has also been particularly restless, moving from the first event at Albi to Rouen, Reims, Clermont Ferrand, Le Castellet, Nogaro and Magny-Cours over the years. the first time at Le Mans was in 1969, on an early version of the then-new Bugatti circuit, which uses the traditional pits and start-finish area of the famous 24-hour circuit. Since that time the circuit has been changed considerably in detail, even since the last visit in 1995; while the French GP moved down south again to Le Castellet. The move back to Le Mans was forced when the Paul Ricard at Le Castellet was sold to Formula One mogul Bernie Ecclestone last year, while the return to Le Mans is the Bugatti circuit's second major international bike race in almost as many months, following the 24-hour race there earlier this year.

ABOUT THIS TRACK

The Bugatti circuit, slightly shorter than in previous years, is also slower than before, thanks to replacement of the first fast right-hand corner with a tighter and thus safer turn, leading into the chicane complex - itself introduced to reduce danger at the famous section past the pits and over the brow of the hill under the Dunlop Bridge. The bridge, and the pits, are major racing landmarks, most especially for car fans of the historic 24-hour car race, but also for motorcyclists. But the bike track uses only this short section of the much longer public-roads "Sarthe" circuit, turning sharp right soon after the bridge for the first of a series of looping U-bends, taken in first or second gear, and connected by straights - a Le Mans lap has been described as a series of drag strips. The alterations in the track mean there is no previous GP-class lap record - the fastest lap in the 200 French GP will automatically become the new record.

Circuit Length: (new track) 2.680 miles (4.305 km)

Lap Record: (old track) 1m 41.200s - M Doohan (Honda), 1991