Fourth for Roberts
Despite a serious groin injury, which required five stitches,
Brendan Roberts fought through the pain barrier to finish
fourth in the FIM 1000 Superstock Cup round at Misano at the
weekend. The young Australian crashed heavily during free
practice on Friday morning and sustained injuries, which required
stitches on Saturday evening. Not letting this trouble him
too much Roberts still managed to qualify in fourth position
on the grid for the 14-lap race.
Using the same gearing he used at Nurbergring a couple of
weeks ago Roberts was unable to get the Ducati 1098 R off
the line and fell back to seventh place after the opening
lap. Avoiding the melee of first lap incidents he soon got
his head down and was working his way back through the field.
Eager to narrow the margin between him and Championship leader
Simeon, who was also riding injured. Roberts knew that he
had to finish ahead of his nearest rival.
Getting held up by two riders Roberts riding for the Ducati
Xerox Junior Team was struggling to find any good passing
places but by lap seven he had finally worked his way through
to fifth position. The race leaders had already bridged too
much of a gap for them to be caught. Giugliano crashed out
of the race promoting Roberts to a comfortable fourth place.
Roberts who is now sitting only eight points behind Championship
leader Simeon commented "I was really pleased with the
result and narrowing the gap in the Championship. I would
have liked to gain another podium but my start was so bad
at Misano that I knew I would have to settle with the fourth
place. It was a tough race and although I was setting consistently
fast times throughout the weekend the start really let me
know, I managed to pull through and now looking forward to
the next round at Brno. Thanks again to all the team at the
Ducati Xerox Junior Team and fingers crossed for the remaining
rounds."
Race Result
Polita Ducati
Pirro Yamaha
Berger Honda
Roberts Ducati Xerox Junior Team
Simeon Suzuki
Championship Standings
Simeon 84
Roberts 76
Polita 67
Pirro 63
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