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
Related Link:www.brendan-roberts.com Words by Carly Rathmell
