Brendan Roberts

Gday All,
 
Well the story so far goes like this, yesterday the bike was fine whilst warming it up, and taking it to scruitneering etc. Then this morning when we went to start it for the first time to warm it up (15 ish minutes before the start of the session) it had this problem that it wouldn’t run. Similar to running on one cylinder but it wasn’t. They tried but didn’t fix it, so they said go out and do some laps, so I did. After the session they looked over it, found a loose fuse that wasn’t connecting real well so they changed that and it somehow fixed the issue.
 
We all thought, awesome, this arvo we are on for it now, problems gone, just turn the gas…….and go….
 
Well f*** me, we start the bike again to warm it up just before the session, and what happens…. the thing pops and farts, misses then conks out. They restarted it and it went Brrraaapp Brraaap Conk!
 
The team were like WTF no way… so flat out like rabbits rooting they pulled it apart, tinkered with this and that and nothing seemed to get better, only this time it seemed a little worse.
 
So I was sitting there in the garage thinking all sorts of scenarios about if it rains tomorrow I wouldn’t even make the qualifying time, so I needed desperately to do some laps and get a time.
 
I got a few words of encouragement from some people within the team, and all I had to do was set a time good enough for the grid.
 
I entered the circuit with 20 minutes to go. I had it nailed and the big girl popped and farted like it was fuelled by Baked Beans. I was in 19th position, so I tried to push it a little more and guess what happened…. I went back to 21st - nightmare!!

I couldn’t do anything more at that point, so I came into the pits and spoke with Dino my engineer. We discussed the situation and tried to look on the positive side. I was pushing so hard entering the corners to make up for it being so slow that it started to bottom out. We did a quick tinker and also disconnected the traction control (not sure who’s idea this was, and as I write this I still don’t know) and away I went again.

It certainly wasn’t pretty but I had to do it, the tyres had now done 20 laps (bearing in mind that the race distance is only 59km / 13laps) and it was sliding all over the place, front and rear. I was a passenger waiting to crash, riding the limit of a bike not set-up well as we had so many other issues to deal with, plus learning the new feeling of Gas to Arse to Wheel Spinning with no traction control all in one lap! Dangerous to say the least, but I managed 16th position, 1.7seconds off pole.
 
Jobs a dream for tomorrow (touch wood, and that means you right now as you read this!) as turning the traction control off worked today. So now they are changing the whole wiring loom, sensors and all that stuff just to be on the safe side in the hope all will be fixed and sorted and we’ll be ready for action. My mechanics worked so hard to try and sort the bike and hopefully we’ll be good from the off tomorrow and it’ll be dry to enable me to be higher up the grid for the race on Sunday.
 
Right that’s about all, hopefully it will be shorter and more positive news tomorrow or after the weekend.
 
Ciao for now
 
Brendan, Brendung, Brenda, Brendix, Robert.

Hi

Seen as I’ve not written on my site for a while I’d thought I’d give you all a quick update. Firstly Happy New Year to everyone, the days are rolling into one and it’s already mid January! I’ve had a few messages via my site about what I’m doing this year and I can confirm that once again I’ll be riding for the Ducati Xerox Junior Team in the 1000 European Superstock class again.

I’m looking forward to this year and hopefully it will go without any hitches unlike last year. 2007 started off badly for me as I broke my wrist in February last year and all season I was fighting with being fully fit and still suffer with a fair bit of pain in my right wrist, something I’ve been told by the doctors that I will suffer with it for a long time.

My wrist is much stronger than what it was last year and I just want to get back out and race and get back to the form that I showed during 2006 and visit the podium a few more times this season. I would like to thank all the people that stood by me whilst I was injured and also all the guys at the Junior Team for being so supportive and giving me another chance to prove myself this year, it also gives me more time to add to my expanding Italian vocab! I’d also like to say a big thanks to all the Buildbase Ducati crew for allowing me to race with them back in the British series and the win at Cadwell is a memorable one!

I’ve been back home in Australia since the week after Brands and it’s flown by. I’ve been doing a lot of training plus I took some time out over Xmas and New Year to chill out a little bit and spend time with my friends and family. Luckily it’s summer over here so I’ve been making the most of the sun, water ski-ing, cycling and motocrossing. It’s been good to spend some time at home and in the sun as we didn’t see much of it last year!

Whilst I’ve been back home I was given the opportunity to ride an old classic bike, which was a good laugh even though the weather was mega hot and I was all fully kitted out in my leathers. Felt a bit strange riding it and definitely different to my Ducati, good fun though but I was worried about dropping it, thankfully all went to plan, have a look in the gallery at the pics.

Well I leave Aus next week and head back to the UK, I’ve been told to bring plenty of jumpers and coats as hearing it’s not quite the 40oC that I’ve been used to the last few months. I have my first test with the team at the end of January in Spain and hope that I can get some strong results this year for my team manager Serafino and his team, fingers crossed.

I will keep you posted on how my test goes and no doubt I’ll be at some of the BSB races again this year as a spectator.

Speak soon
Brendan #155

I’ve given it my all this weekend and can’t say I got the results that I was hoping for. Donington is one of my favourite circuits yet we seemed to have a couple of issues that we were struggling with. The Ducati was handling great out of the corners but I was losing out on top end speed, which prevented me being able to catch and run with the front runners. I’m now lying in tenth position in the overall Championship which isn’t bad after only four rounds. I’m racing in Italy next weekend for the Ducati Xerox Junior Team then Magny Cours and then back for another double headed race at Brands before I fly home to Oz on the 21st October.

It’s been a great weekend and I’m really pleased to be back on the top of the podium in the British series. It’s my first win in the dry since I did my wrist and a real confidence builder. Hopefully this means it’s healing and I’m finally on the mend. 

J Lav, was second so the team couldn’t ask much more, everyone at Buildbase has worked so hard so it was great to be able to return the favour with their first win this season. I go to Germany the week after next and hopefully I can get some strong results there, before coming back to Donington for a double barrelled round.

Cheers, Brendan

It’s been a pretty good weekend. I still only have about 45% movement in my right wrist and although I have been strong at the wet races this is my best result so far in the dry. It’s a good sign that hopefully my wrist is beginning to heal and also that we are making progress with the new 1098. It’s been a good weekend and the team took another win with my team-mate Nic and I’m hoping that I’ll be back on the podium at some point in the near future.

I’m at Croft next weekend for Buildbase in the National Superstock Championship and I’m hoping that the weather will be as good as it has been at Brands. After Oulton was cancelled due to the rain it would be nice to get a decent result back in the British Championship series.

Ciao

Bren

G’day

Oulton started well for me as I managed to secure the fastest time in the wet conditions on Friday. It gave me some time to adjust to the circuit which I hadn’t rode for a year. I find I always start off steady at Oulton as it’s a little daunting while your trying to pick up your speed.
 
During the dry Qualifying the team and I were working on gearing and suspension settings as this was the first dry session for me. We found a good solution with the bike for John (Lav) and myself and I. We were trying many different things and therefore it cut our testing time in half.
 
For the second Qualifying session I could only manage 3rd position. The time I set was slower than last year, although I did make some mistakes as I pushed too hard. I was happy with a front row start, and confident the Ducati 1098S would launch well against the Japanese bikes. I knew if I was to get out in front there would be very few places the other riders could pass as the Ducati has such a faster entry speed into and through the turns.

Sunday, race day! It was raining and there wasn’t an end it sight.

I have always liked the wet conditions but this was starting to very bad, turn one had its own lake plus the rest of the circuit had rivers flowing cross it. My mechanic Rick and I discussed what we were doing with the bike, we decided to set one bike like we had on Friday, which was very soft and worked very well in the conditions, and the other we left with our dry settings in but we reduced the pre-load. The harder bike was there in case the rain stopped and I felt it would have been a better option for the changing conditions.

So out of pit lane I went, looking for all the puddles and rivers before I lined up on the grid. I chatted with Rick about the conditions and I was feeling really relaxed, until we went to start my bike and it wouldn’t turn over. A few attempts were made to get it fired up but nothing was happening, so I ran to pit-lane and grabbed my spare bike (set up for the dry!). I knew I had to make it out of pit-lane before it closed, luckily I did and I then took my new grid position, 39th – the last man!

My game plan had changed for turn one, it was stay up and get through the pack as fast as I could. As the field entered Cascades for the first time I could not see a thing, riders were bumping off each other and I was a little worried at this stage. I pushed on and came across the line on lap one in 10th, I knew from there I could still win, if I could keep it rubber side down. I made a few more passes before catching my team mate J Lav on the exit of Lodge corner, we came up over the rise side by side rubbing paint as we crossed the line to start lap four. I had just moved into fourth position when the red flags came out due the weather conditions, I was enjoying it out there but I was definitely happy to have the race stopped.

My next European race is Brno followed by Brands Hatch and then back in the British Championship to Croft.

Ciao

Bren #155

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

Thanks a lot for your comments.  I always try to catch up with them, when I can, and really appreciate hearing from you.

Misano wasn’t such a good weekend but  we’ve got a month until Brno, where I’ll hopefully be back on track.

Cheers
Brendo !  

Hi!  Thanks for visiting my website, I hope you enjoy it.  Through-out the season I’ll jot down my thoughts, right here on my rider blog, and we’ll keep you up-to-date with race reports in the news section. If you have any ideas, comments or generally want to say hi - click on ‘Comment’ and drop me a message. 

You can also contact me by click here.

Cheers Brendan