Brendan Roberts had to settle for a disappointing sixth and seventh place respectively in the two National Superstock races at the final round at Brands Hatch at the weekend, 12th – 14th October. Roberts was hoping for a strong end to the season but it was not to be as he struggled to find a suitable set up on the Ducati 1098 around the tight 1.2-mile circuit.
With a whole host of riders competing in the Superstock Championship, conditions on the track during qualifying were not ideal. With around 40 riders all competing for the pole position spot and only two seconds covering the entire field of 38 riders it was always going to be a tight fought battle to the chequered flag.
After qualifying in 12th position for the two races he ensured he got a good start for the first race and was through to ninth by the third lap. As the race progressed the pack were bunched together, staring up the exhaust pipe of Marshall Neil when Neil’s bike blew spraying oil all over the track and all over the chasing Ducati of Roberts. With a number of riders falling on the oil the race was red flagged and re-run as a 10-lap sprint. On the re-start Roberts gained a good start and was soon through the sixth position and fending off the chasing riders.
After a few changes on the Saturday night Roberts set the fastest time during Sunday’s morning warm-up, but with his low qualifying position he was going to always struggle to turn that into a strong race result. Fighting a hard race he was sandwiched between the two Yamaha’s of Jon Kirkham and Hudson Kennaugh and due to another red flag and the race being declared at 17-laps, Roberts could only secure seventh place.
A slightly disappointed Roberts said “It’s definitely been a tough year for me, I’ve struggled all year with my injured right wrist, which I sustained early in the year and it’s certainly had a knock on effect to my racing. It’s taken months for it to heal and is still not right now, I’ve been told by the doctor that it’s unlikely I’ll regain full movement in it. I’ve battled through the pain and got on with the job as best I could. We found it difficult to find a good set up for me at Brands and I made things harder for myself by qualifying in 12th place. I’d like to congratulate John (Laverty) on his first win of the season and also thanks to all the guys at the Buildbase team for taking me on half way through the year. They are a great team and it’s been a pleasure to ride for them. I fly back to Oz on the 21st and looking forward to the break. I’m still waiting to hear about next year but fingers crossed I’ll be back in Europe, thanks to everyone at the Ducati Xerox Junior Team and the Buildbase Team for all their hard work this season.”
