From the Racer X magazine feature (on sale at newsstands now), to the AMA Awards banquet at which he received his second Formula Extreme crown and the prestigious 600 Supersport crown, to Suzuka, in Japan where Roberts was given an opportunity to test an RC51 for HRC at Suzuka, Roberts is the man of the moment. 

Kurtis also just completed the Dunlop test at Daytona, and yes, you guessed it, Roberts was the fastest of the three Honda riders. Quicker than three-time Daytona winner Miguel DuHamel and last year's near-winner Nicky Hayden.

Kurtis has zig-zagged the planet the last two weeks, but jet lag hasn't hindered his performances. "The travel's been pretty hard, just because I had to get back (from Japan) and go to the banquet. The day I landed I had to do a photo shoot all day. It was tough bit not too bad."

At Suzuka, Roberts shared a Japanese-spec RC51 with Nicky Hayden. Initial reports had their times as slightly slower, but Kurtis tells AMASuperbike.com his best time was 2:09.3 and Nicky's best was a 2:10.1. 

"It was good. It would have been nice if we had our guys over there , because I never got comfortable sitting on the thing, but I went quite fast and it was pretty good. I like Japan, the country, and I liked the food."

Could HRC be planning to run Roberts and Hayden at the Eight Hour race this summer? "It's an awesome track, and I'd like to go back. I don't know...maybe that's why we went over there. It would definitely be nice. He and I have the same riding style. We complained about the same things on that bike, and we're both bigger than most of the Japanese riders so we could get the thing to fit us."

Although Roberts had just two sessions at Suzuka (with over 26 hours of waiting in between), he still lapped faster than Valentino Rossi did on the RC51 in the "Special Stage" qualifying session at last year's Suzuka. "I couldn't ever get really comfortable on the thing. The handlebars were awry. I put a new seat pad on the thing, the last session I was dropping the bars...if me and Nicky had our own bikes, it would have been 2:07s and 2:08s, I think."

Roberts got a great start to last year's 600 season with a hard-fought win at Daytona, and is confident things will work out again with the new F4i. 

Kurtis focused most of his attentions at the test on the Superbike, however. "I didn't do that much on it (the 600) at all. We were going to, and then we jumped on the Superbike and saw we needed a lot more work on the Superbike and figured out we needed a lot more work there than on the 600," Kurtis said. "So that's what we concentrated on. I might have did 20 laps on the thing. Both days I only had one tire on the thing because I just didn't do enough laps. I'm not too worried, we did 54 something and we'll be right there. That was without a draft. With a draft we could have done a low 54, and that's still way off on what I think it will be for the race. I was way slower last year actually than anyone else. A 600 around here testing for me is kinda boring. I did a 55.6 here last year in testing and then I qualified on pole at 54.1. We'll be right there, no problem."

On the Superbike, Roberts held his own."My fastest lap time was actually on a race tire, a 50.7," Kurtis told AMASoup on Wednesday. "I feel pretty good. I know Doug did a 50.5 on a race tire, and Mladin, well, he's just quite a bit faster than all of us right now on race tires. There's a lot of time and a lot of work to do, but we should be right there. Nicky wasn't really impressive last year in testing, but he damn near won the thing. For the race, we'll get a good set-up the next time were here and we'll be ready to go."

It's hard to believe Roberts has yet to start a Superbike race. Some insiders expect him to win races and playing a major role in the championship this season. "Any championship I'm in I want to win, so I am looking to do the same thing (in Superbike)," Kurtis said. 

"The Superbike is definitely the best bike for me to ride and I am looking forward to it."

ENDS

Read an interview with Kurtis' grandpa in Features