Roberts: The bike had a podium in it.

Kenny Roberts Jr may have opted to use the 'older' spec chassis on his KR211V in Sunday's British Grand Prix, but still looked capable of clinching his second podium in three starts until fading to fifth in the closing stages.

The former world champion had qualified in ninth, but was up to sixth by the end of lap one - then overtook Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen, Honda LCR's Casey Stoner and his former team-mate John Hopkins to hold third by lap 9 of 30.

Kenny kept that position, just behind Fortuna Honda's Marco Melandri, for the next ten laps, but the balance of his Honda powered machine changed as the race progressed and he eventually settled for a safe fifth.

"I raced with the old chassis, the one we built after the Barcelona race, because I felt more at home on it than the new one," said Kenny. "The start was OK and I closed on the leaders but as the race went on the balance of the bike shifted its bias forward and then back. The flowing sections were tough and braking good and then the opposite.

"I really tried but didn't want to risk not finishing. I saw Marco hit the kerb and lose the front and he did a fantastic job saving it. This bike had a podium in it today, but I didn't quite get it there. I've been through three bikes and a crash this weekend and I have to thank everybody in the team for what they did for me.

"When we get to Germany for the next race I'll have to find the best machine balance on Friday if I am to get a good set up for the race," added the American. "We have made so many changes and a lot of progress these last few weeks but now we have the time before the German GP to sit down and analyse everything."