Kurtis Roberts finished 15th in today's Misano and Rimini GP, adding to his tally of World Championship points but ending the afternoon disappointed after falling innocent victim to a first-lap incident. Improving performance during qualifying meant that the 28-year-old American, son of legendary triple champion and team principal Kenny Roberts, had expected to battle with some of the non-factory Hondas. Instead he found himself way off the back, his only companion top factory rider Nicky Hayden, also put off the track. The incident was triggered by Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet, who crashed into second Honda factory star Dani Pedrosa on the second corner. Both went flying into the gravel; Kurtis and Hayden followed along, although neither fell off.
After that, Roberts and his England-built Honda-powered hybrid ran with Hayden for a few laps before he lost touch. From there to the end he was just riding for a finish.
The race was run before a capacity crowd in hot sunshine, although many left before the end after local hero Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) retired in the early stages. The winner, after 28 laps of the reverse-direction 4.180 km Misano circuit, was Casey Stoner (Ducati) from the Suzukis of Chris Vermeulen and John Hopkins, extending his championship lead over non-scorer Rossi.
Kurtis Roberts - 15th positionIn warm-up today we had the same problem as at the start at Czech, with the electronics not working properly and the engine bogging down, so I tried to start it without the launch control, and I screwed it up a little. Then going through the first corners de Puniet bowling-balls everybody, and Hofmann stops right in front of me. I don't know why, but I just tapped his rear wheel and ran off the track. Nicky Hayden was ahead of me, and I passed him.
We were together for three or four laps, but his bike is quite a bit faster, and I couldn't keep making up the difference on brakes. I did outbrake him a few times after he would pass me on the straightaway, but the accordion effect just kept building, and I kept over-riding it, until I ran off the track. After that I was frustrated because I was so far behind. I'm not sure if I'd bent the front wheel a bit, but it started kind of hopping going into the corners, and that was it. Unfortunately we had a mistake from other people that sent us off into the gravel, and then I made a mistake that really ended my race. After that, the only reason I stayed out was because I was in the points. Otherwise I would have pulled in and jumped on the sword.
Chuck AkslandThe race was over quite early, with the incident on the first lap putting Kurtis in the gravel. It's really unfortunate, because he put in a great effort the whole weekend. The lap times were chipping away, and the whole combination was getting closer and closer. I really think he
could have had a good race and scored some decent points not just by way of attrition but by racing some guys. It's a long way from where we were a few races back, and it shows that we're going forward. But you can't control incidents like that -that's racing; it happens. We're staying to test tomorrow. Hopefully Michelin will give us some tyres to test, and we can help them with their development.
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