Fourth For Roberts Australian Brendan Roberts took his best result in dry condition today in the European series for the Ducati Xerox Junior team at Vallelunga Circuit, Italy. Roberts secured a strong fourth place at the penultimate round of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, running in a good third position for the majority of the race the young Australian was forced onto the gravel on the final lap by Ayrton Badovini, losing him an opportunity of a podium position. Looking strong throughout the weekend and setting a stunningly fast lap times in the wet conditions during first practice on Friday, he was eager to making up for the disappointing result he got at Lausitz Eurospeedway Circuit a couple of weeks ago. A time of 1.42.645 in first qualifying saw him sitting in provisional fifth position for the race, despite a faster time in his second qualifying session of 1.41.412 he ended up in sixth position on the grid for the 13-lap race. On the ultra fast technical circuit Roberts secured a good start, which saw him hold his position into the first corner. As the leading pack broke away Roberts matched their every move and was stuck on the back of them and was ensuring that they did not make a break and bridge too much of a gap. Riding almost pillion to his team-mate Nicola Canepa, he was determined to secure a podium results and was consistently setting fast lap times to be able to achieve that. By lap seven Roberts was through to fourth place when race leader Mark Aitchison crashed out allowing Roberts to gain a position and a foot on the podium. Fighting hard and shadowing his team-mate he was looking extremely smooth and in control. Running slightly wide into one turn allowed Badovini to slip underneath him but the Italian forced Roberts to sit up through the gravel trap into the next turn. Staying on the throttle Roberts was eager to regain the podium place but lost too much time and had to settle for fourth. He now currently lies in ninth position in the overall Championship standings. Commenting he said “I’m pretty pleased with the result today as it’s been one of my strongest results all year in the European Championship. The bike felt really good and we found a strong race set up early in the weekend, which certainly help progress things today. I felt comfortable from the start and just settled into a rhythm. I was staying in touch with the front runners and I’m disappointed that Ayrton sat up on me and forced me to run wide, I had no where to go and had to go across the gravel. Luckily I kept the 1098 upright and brought it home in fourth place. I’m hoping for a strong result at Magny Cours next weekend.” The final round of the Championship is next weekend at Magny Cours, France, 5th 7th October. More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: MIXED FORTUNES FOR TROY. Troy suffered mixed fortunes in the twelfth round of the Superbike World Championship at Vallelunga today. He crashed out of the first race, without completing a lap, after a mix-up with the electronics on his R1 Yamaha. But at least he was able to leave 4,110 kilometre circuit on a positive note after taking fourth place in the second race. Local favourite Max Biaggi (Suzuki) won the first race, with Troy Bayliss (Ducati) second and James Toseland (Honda) third, and was heading for a double in race two, but for a mistake after two-thirds distance. That allowed Bayliss to pull out a gap and take the chequered flag by a comfortable margin. Biaggi took runner-up spot, with Troy’s team mate Noriyuki Haga third. Series leader Toseland crashed in race two, but remounted to finish 11th. Troy Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 4th Race one was mistake on my part. In order to get off the line well, I have to turn off the wheelie control, but that also turns off the traction control. So I got off the line OK, but I forgot to turn the traction control back on and when I arrived at the first left-hander (a first gear turn for me), on cold tyres and gave it the usual amount of throttle, there was no traction control and down I went. A silly mistake, but it happens sometimes. In race two, I left it all on, so my start wasn’t the best and I lost ground straightaway. As the race progressed, I tried to push James (Toseland) hard to help Nori and for a while he was holding me up. But then he crashed and that made my job easier. I was struggling a bit in the race with a back brake problem. At a few parts of the track, the bike wobbled a lot and that knocked the pads back into the caliper. When I hit the back brake, nothing happened, so I had to pump the lever 3-4 times to get it to work again and that made the race much harder for me. Also, there were big problems with all the cement dust on the track from an oil spillage earlier in the day. In one place there was so much of it and my visor got completely covered in the stuff! It was a tear-off, so I managed to get rid off it, but then there was more of the dust elsewhere – fortunately not as bad. There was no point in chasing Nori, so I settled for fourth. Generally though, I’m happy with the bike at the moment. We’ve improved the top speed and now I feel I can run with the top guys OK. All I have to do now is to finish the season with a good pair of results in Magny-Cours next weekend. Results Race 1: 1 Biaggi (I-Suzuki), 2 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati), 3 Toseland (GB-Honda), 4 Haga (J-Yamaha), 5 Fabrizio (I-Honda), 6 Lanzi (I-Ducati), 7 Laconi (F-Kawasaki), 8 Nieto (E-Kawasaki), 9 Nakatomi (J-Yamaha), 10 Iannuzzo (I-Kawasaki), TROY CORSER (Aus-Yamaha Motor Italia) DNF, Race 2: 1 Bayliss, 2 Max Biaggi, 3 Haga, 4 TROY CORSER (Aus-Yamaha Motor Italia), 5 Rolfo (I-Honda), 6 Xaus (E-Ducati), 7 Lanzi, 8 Nieto, 9 Nakatomi, 10 Neukirchner (D-Suzuki) Points: 1 Toseland 396, 2 Biaggi 367, 3 Haga 363, 4 Bayliss 341, 5 TROY CORSER (Yamaha Motor Italia) 267, 6 Lanzi 192, 7 Xaus 187, 8 Rolfo 177, 9 Neukirchner 136, 10 Fabrizio 123 More, from a press release issued by Roadrace Southwest: Roadrace Southwest Double Header in Phoenix With an overall points battle in full swing, Rory Palmer and Ray Thibedeau each get valuable podiums in the CCS sanctioned Roadrace Southwest series at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, AZ. The weekend also saw some come from behind glory stories from Nick Terrell. In the Beta Tools-Cirrus Aviation Middleweight Grand Prix on Saturday, Rory Palmer screamed out to the front on his Euromotorsports Triumph 675 with Ray Thibedeau in tow. Rory took the win with Ray second on his Pirelli wearing Suzuki. Nick Terrell overcame a fried clutch from the start to get third after charging through the field. Sunday’s version was a near carbon copy as the day before but with Danny Demel running his Yamaha R6 into third on Dunlop tires. It was almost not to be as Nick, recovering from a bad start pushed his bike to overheating on the last lap. A daring late breaking move was dashed in the last turn as coolant spilled from the required belly pan on braking and caused him to tuck the front- putting him on the ground uninjured and Danny on the podium. The Cycle Trader-Engine Ice Unlimited GP saw Kane Lasky on the Cobbs Restaurant GSXR 1000 make an attempt on Mark Ledesma’s track record of 54.2 seconds. With Mark not in attendance, Kane put down a weekend best of 54.6 but still cruised to two easy victories on a twin sprint weekend. Tom Savoca on his Evan Steel Performance Suzuki garnered two second places on the weekend and looked very happy with his performance. The race was opened up to select amateur racers for the first time since the Unlimited GP was removed from the amateur schedule. One rider took advantage and that was Michelin rider James Joyce. The budding stunt man kept the theatrics to a minimum and used the time on his 750 to get used to running with faster riders. James is racing the upcoming CCS-ROC in Daytona later this month. He was able to hold on to third for both races. Heavy Hitting in the RoadRace Southwest Lightweight GP’s Lightweight GP Saturday. As the flag dropped on the Lightweight GP for Saturday’s race, Aron Weiss chased down a charging Joe Devine to take the holeshot into turn one. Weiss pulled out a sizeable lead on lap one, and for the next two laps, Ted Rich worked his way through traffic and pushed hard in an attempt to reel in Weiss. By lap three, Rich was tight on Weiss’s tail. Rich followed Weiss for the next two laps, and on lap five, feeling he had the quicker pace, he made a clean pass on the inside of turn one to take the lead. Weiss dropped in behind Rich for the next five laps. Weiss showed he had the speed to keep with Rich, and pushed him hard looking to make a pass on several occasions. As Weiss attempted to take back the lead, Mark Kochman and Joe Devine were locked in battle for third place. On lap eight, Kochman started to break Devine with three consecutive fast laps, and pulled away from Devine with a sizeable gap. Back at the front, Weiss and Rich were starting to hit lap traffic, as they passed back markers, Ted Rich used the traffic to his advantage, and pulled away from Weiss for the last two laps to take the win. Aron Weiss ran a good second, and Mark Kochman a very solid third. Lightweight GP Sunday. The second Lightweight GP of the double header weekend saw Ted Rich pull away from the field as soon as the flag dropped. Mark Kochman was determined to catch Rich, and as the laps wound down, Kochman slowly but surely closed the gap. Kochman had to work hard to keep the fast pace Rich was setting, but hung on to keep Rich in his sights. Weiss who had recovered from a poor start, also set off in pursuit of the leaders. As Kochman and Rich were focused on each other, Weiss in third was able to push hard, and managed to join Kochman and Rich for the party. Ted Rich looked back on lap nine, to see Kochman and Weiss on his heels like a pair of rabid dogs looking for a kill. Rich focused, and put in three 1 minute laps, with a race fastest lap of 1.01.685. Kochman and Weiss became more focused on racing each other than catching the leader, and Rich checked out to take the win. Weiss attempted to pass Kochman into turn ten at the end of lap eleven, but was too late on the brakes allowing Kochman back underneath him going into the last lap. On turn ten of the last lap, Weiss tried the same move and came underneath Kochman to make the pass, but he out braked himself again, running wide to give Kochman second place. Weiss stayed on track and recovered well to take third. For full results of this weekends races, please visit www.roadracesw.com