Suzuki squad seek the French connection.

The fourth round of the last 500cc World Championship takes the two-stroke soldiers to Le Mans in north-western France next weekend, with team Telefonica MoviStar Suzuki riders Kenny Roberts Junior and Sete Gibernau (pictured) both looking for the key to the quirky French track.

The names and the venue are redolent of racing history, but the Bugatti circuit is anything but a grand, sweeping circuit in the old manner. Instead it is "a series of drag strips and U-turns", according to reigning World Champion Roberts. Other less charitable champions have dubbed it a go-kart track - and that was before a slow turn and a slower chicane were added last year.

This is not bad news for the fans, who are guaranteed elbow-to-elbow action as riders jostle for position under heavy braking, or squirm and wheelspin out of the slow corners with the throttles wide open. But it makes hard work for riders of 500cc Grand Prix motorcycles - capable of more than 200mph, but here constrained to an average speed less than half that.

Acceleration is vitally important at Le Mans, and it is not a Suzuki strong point, according to Roberts, who has scored three seventh places in the first three races, in spite of leading until almost half distance of the South African GP. But the track has other intricacies, and there are places a technical rider can regain time.

"Le Mans has some diversity, and that is always nice for the riders," said Roberts Jr. "There's a lot of low-speed corners with drag strips out of them, which is not a good sign for us. The Suzuki is better on faster more flowing circuits, where you keep the speed high. The tests went pretty much as expected. Now we'll have to see how well we can get our bike working for France. I'll be racing 100 percent, as usual."

So far this year, Valentino Rossi run away to three straight wins, building up an imposing early points lead. Roberts is confident he can hunt Rossi down - when the expected improvements to the Suzuki put him on more equal footing with the Italian.

The team is working flat out to help him and Gibernau make the most of what they have - including staying on at Jerez after the Spanish GP for two more days of testing.

" I am 100 percent sure that our day will come," stated Sete Gibernau confidently. "We are doing everything right, and working our butts off. In the tests I was trying some suspension changes, especially front forks, that were a good direction. At Le Mans, we need to concentrate on getting a good starting position, and a good start. Then we'll see what we can make the Suzuki do there to start to change our luck."

Technical adviser Warren Willing was also encourage d by the testing results. "The first day was tyre testing," said the Australian racing guru. "We've had a lot of discussions with Michelin, and they had some different tyre constructions based on those discussion. The tests were very positive - but we won't see any of that in France, and possibly not the next race either.

"On the second day we tested suspension. While we were working on chassis details at the start of the season we reverted to 2000 suspension. There's not a great difference, but it was one less variable in the equation. Now we're working on the 2001 suspension, and that was also positive - especially for Sete in the matter of front forks," he said.

Detail refinements all go to improve the package. The team supplies the other ingredients.

"We have to keep looking at the big picture," said team manager Garry Taylor. "The season hasn't started as we had hoped, it's true. But we haven't given up yet by any means, and we're working hard to change the tide in our favour.

"We still have the championship-winning package of last year in place - two top-line and very competitive riders, and a highly motivated crew. We are all very determined," said Taylor.

"Having said that, Le Mans hasn't historically favoured our machine, and we don't entertain false hopes. What we do know is that both our riders will give of their best and achieve the maximum possible points. And - especially if conditions are wet or difficult in any other way - that doesn't rule out a win."