The experienced Dutchman signed the one-year contract with the England-based team - owned by former triple World Champion Kenny Roberts on Friday, November 17.

The strength of the new rider has given a major boost to the confidence of the only independent manufacturing team in grand prix racing, in its quest to challenge the big factories head on in top-level competition.

Jurgen (30) is a former top 250 rider who has been knocking on the door of the big time ever since joining the 500 class in 1997. He has two pole positions to his credit, achieved on non-factory machines up against the might of the works teams.

At the same time as Jurgen was harrying the V4s with his production V-twin during the 2000 season, easily winning the IRTA Cup for non-factory riders, Proton Team Roberts were race-developing the all-new Mk3 version of their lightweight three-cylinder challenger.

The new bike combines compact dimensions, light weight and agile handling with an improved and more powerful version of the proven V3 engine, and made its racing debut in the sixth race of the season. Several different riders took the new KR3 through the early stages of its development, and it demonstrated its potential by reliably finishing in the points.

Van den Goorbergh tested the KR3 after the Czech Republic GP, and was immediately struck by the machine's potential. Team Roberts were struck by his sheer speed - setting times that matched those of the race leaders on the previous day, as well as the technical knowledge and intelligence he and his ex-racer brother Patrick brought to the task.

After negotiating throughout the remainder of last year's season, the rider and team have now reached agreement for the 2001 season. As well as Jurgen, his older brother will also join the team. Patrick is himself a former GP racer, and since retirement has worked closely on technical development with Jurgen, both on the four-cylinder MuZ and in 2000 on his V-twin Honda.

Proton Team KR now plan a full winter test season to prepare for 2001.  The first tests will be in Spain in December, with further tests planned in the new year.

"I am very excited," said van den Goorbergh, from his office in Holland.  "It's a big achievement for me to ride for Kenny Roberts. He has put so much into racing, and I think I am the rider to give him back what he deserves in the way of good results.  

"When I first rode the bike at Brno, I was surprised at how much potential it has compared with the lap times and results it had been achieving.  "The KR3 suited me very well. The steering character mid-corner was even better than my V-twin, and of course the power is better. After we had made some changes to the suspension and the tyres, the lap times proved that even at that early stage it could challenge the V4s.

"I enjoyed working with the team - they are very experienced, and in only one day I got a really good over-view of what they are doing. They have an infrastructure like no other I have seen. The factory is very impressive, with design, manufacturing and testing facilities in house. That means they can respond quickly to changes I may want, which is in itself a big advantage. For example, in a week they had already built in the chassis changes we discussed at Brno.

"I really like the whole project, and I felt a bit ashamed that the development riders were not able to give of the bike's best.  "I think we can prove that the bike can not only be a threat to the V4s, but that it can beat them. We have a big advantage with the better steering character, and though the V4s may have more out-and-out power, they can't always use that power.

"There will be some circuits especially that we can be right with them - not only technical circuits like South Africa and Jerez, but even at faster tracks. The KR3 is able to stay in the V4s' slipstream in the long straights, and we can outbrake them into the corners.

"The team need to have one rider who can be dedicated to getting the best out of the bike technically, and on the track. I am that rider."

Proton Team KR owner Kenny Roberts, speaking from his home in the USA, reflected the enthusiasm of the whole team, after news broke of the signing.

"I can't tell you how delighted I am. It's really good to have a rider with Jurgen's talent, and his technical ability. My whole team feels rejuvenated, and this means that I am personally recommitted to the project - there's enough of the rider in me still that I have to feel motivated, and getting Jurgen on the team is more than enough to get us all going in sixth gear once again. We're going to be on a high for weeks.  

"Since we first built our own machine, not everybody has understood what we are doing. We are an independent company developing a 500cc Grand Prix motorcycle, a highly complex and technical product. Our current partners with this programme see that it is an investment, quite different from going racing with a leased Japanese motorcycle with their logos stuck on.  We are building up our engineering expertise, Jurgen is very interested in the project, and he is interested in engineering, as all good riders are. It's been a while since we've had a rider of his calibre committed to our project.

"We're still at a relatively early development stage of this motorcycle.  We feel we're going in the right direction, and we have a good base-line machine. We need to step it up, and we begin our winter test season in Spain in December, with more tests after that. We've never really been in a position to commit to intensive testing pre-season with this machine.

"We've been struggling to get this sort of opportunity, and it's a big plus for all the people who draw and build our motorcycle. We do almost everything in-house at our Banbury headquarters, and we're confident that we can make the bike better. All we needed was a rider who can lead us into that position - and now we have one.  "All the pieces are in place now to do this thing properly."