Superstock FIM Cup 1000 Xerox Ducati Junior Team Testing Valencia 20th & 21st January 21-year-old Brendan Roberts made his debut appearance at the weekend on the new Ducati 1098 which he will be riding in this year’s European Superstock Championship with the Factory Ducati Xerox Junior Team. The South Australian rider had his first test on his new bike at the technical Spanish circuit, Valencia. Having not ridden since October, Roberts settled into the new team, bike and circuit quickly setting a best lap time on Sunday of 1.38.7. Commenting he said “It was a whole new learning experience for me this weekend and I just wanted to bed everything in gently and not make any mistakes. I’ve never ridden a twin cylinder before and we made a lot of progress in the two days. It was good to work with the team and move things forward, the bike is great, extremely fast and living up to the positive reports that I have read about it to date. I was a little sore after the first day, due to lack of riding but that will improve as our testing programme continues. After two months back home in Australia, I feel refreshed and ready for the season opener at Donington Park in April. This is good news for me as Donington is a track I know very well and feel comfortable on, although the British weather maybe against us so early on in the year. We have a number of tests scheduled in before the season starts, Valencia being the last in late March. Hopefully we can gather a comparison between the bike now and then as it transforms to a complete package. I’m confident that it will be a strong season for myself and the team.”