Brendan Roberts

As we’re now half way through the season and my new website is now live I thought it was about time that I gave you an update on what’s happened so far………

The season so far has been a roller coaster ride to say the least. I felt just before I crashed in Almeria, Spain, which saw me needing an operation on my right wrist; that the team and I were heading in the right direction with the new Ducati 1098S.

I missed the first two races at Donington Park and Valencia, but only 14 days after my operation I started physio in hope of being in the best possible shape for round three at Assen. Every tear I shed from the extreme pain I endured since starting physio seemed to pay off as I qualified sixth and finished seventh in the race. I was over the moon with the result as the surgeon told me my season was over as I left the hospital; I thought it can only get better from here.

Monza was next, things never improved, they only got worse. The demands on my wrist were nearly too much as I struggled to brake from 300kph all the way down to 40kph. I salvaged one point as I finished in 15th position, I gave all I had that weekend and it gave me a reality check as to how bad my injury was.

Coming into what I would class as my home round at Silverstone, I felt some pressure from my team and pressure that I had put on myself as I knew I was capable of more. Before leaving Monza I was told from my team, “There is no pressure, but your season will start at Silverstone”. This stuck in my mind for the two weeks leading up to and during the race weekend. I qualified 13th, which I wasn’t happy with considering I messed up a lap while on a new tyre. I was fortunate enough though to start from 11th position, moving me one row closer to the front due to two riders not making the grid. Race day seemed to be on my side when I woke up on the Sunday morning, it was raining and I remember my whole attitude changed there and then. As the lights went out I pushed hard to get to the front of the pack. I was second by the end of lap one and I chased the leader until I passed him. Crossing the finish line in first as the chequered flag was waved and seeing my team on pit wall cheering me on was awesome. The hard times were all worth it, this was my first European win and it came at an unexpected time.

I went back to Australia for two weeks after Silverstone, I was on a high and I was focused to get results. I returned straight to Misano, Italy, where things went better than my 10th position showed. I had engine problems that weekend which cost me crucial track time, also my set up from testing there one month early was terrible as the surface had been re-laid. We had a set up that could handle the rough surface but as soon as the circuit was smooth we needed to go back to the drawing board.

My next time out on a 1098S was a two day test with the JHP Buildbase Ducati team at Croft, in the UK. I was contacted a while ago about this opportunity but it took some negotiating to get the all clear. With no testing planned and the two championships not clashing for the remainder of the season, I hopped on board and felt at home straight away. I’m looking forward to Oulton Park which will be my debut race for 2007 in the British Superstock Championship, and reminding everyone why I have the number one plate.

Ciao

Bren # 155

This entry was posted on Monday, July 9th, 2007 at 5:38 pm and is filed under Rider Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.