VIDEO: Slid-Down Crash Brings Heartbreak for Joe Roberts During Austrian Grand Prix

The Austrian Moto2 championship is going ahead with full steam. After a dramatic and intense FP1 that saw Somkiat Chantra take pole position and celebrate with an audacious wheelie, the next session threw bigger twists.

The next session saw the current championship contender, Pedro Acosta, return to the top after an albeit subdued performance in the first session. Somkiat’s glory was only short lived, as he couldn’t repeat the same performance and finished sixth.

Red Bull Ring sees intense racing action

The third and final practice session was scheduled for today and began at 9:30am local time. All the teams were keen on testing their bikes and especially their tires on the track. Conditions were optimal for racing and the just concluded FP3 of the Moto3 too went absolutely smooth.

American racer Joe Roberts had a tough day at the office yesterday with a 15th place finish in FP1 and a worse performance in the second session. The rider ended the day at the 23rd position, with more questions than answers after the two practice sessions.

The racer must have entered the Red Bull Ring with thoughts of bettering his performances from the previous day and putting himself and his team Kalex in the driver’s seat, albeit in this case, the “rider’s seat”.

All riders and their teams walked into the final practice session with immense hopes and million plans running in their minds. It all came down to the execution of the rider to justify their hard work behind the scenes.

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Heartbreak for Joe Roberts

The session started with no hiccups whatsoever and all riders made their exit from the first turn without any damage or crash. Joe too started the session with great ease but midway through the session, met with an unfortunate crash.

The American racer came down the from the straight and made his way to T2 where he lost control. Roberts lost control of the rear of his bike and that led to him falling off the bike.

He carefully dragged himself along the track before both him and his bike stopped. He quickly got up and made his way back.

Much to his and Kalex’s disappointment, the American could only manage a finish at the 25th spot out of a total of 30 but there were only 29 after one rider didn’t start. From a 15th place finish in the first session to a 25th place finish in the third, Kalex and Roberts both will rue their missed chance.

Pedro Acosta establishes his dominance and ended the practice session at the top. Honda racer, Somkiant Chantra too made his way back to top and finished second.

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