Roberts: I didn't want to do 'a Pedrosa'...

Dani Pedrosa may have had no hesitation in attacking world championship leading team-mate Nicky Hayden as if his life depended on it - contributing to a collision that took them both out of Sunday's Portuguese Grand prix - but Kenny Roberts Jr was careful to avoid such a mistake when fighting Valentino Rossi for the race lead.

American Roberts may ride with a Honda engine in his KR211V, be of the same nationality as Hayden and have liked nothing better than to take valuable points away from the Yamaha mounted Italian - but there was no way that Roberts, the last rider to defeat Rossi to a title, was going to risk colliding with the #46.

"When I got up to Valentino in the lead, I'd seen Pedrosa take Hayden out, and I wanted to be real careful, because I didn't want to do the same thing to him," said Kenny, the 2000 500cc champion.

Roberts had started from just 13th on the grid, but - aided by five accidents ahead - was up to fourth by lap nine, overtook both Colin Edwards and Toni Elias on lap 24 of 28, and took the lead from Rossi with a safe pass on the penultimate lap.

But Roberts later revealed that he thought he was on the final lap, and so had taken victory, but when the chequered flag wasn't shown he kept racing - only to be passed by both Elias and Rossi into turn one for the final time. Nevertheless, KR Jr held on to third and his second podium of the season.

"At the end, I mistook two laps to go for one, and when I crossed the line next time I thought I'd get the chequered flag. But there was one more lap. It took me off guard, or maybe I could have blocked them better in turn one," confessed Kenny, before reflecting on the team's progress: "Earlier in the year it was hard to get within ten seconds of Rossi, my old championship rival. Now I'm happy that I was within a tenth of two. With the momentum we've built up this year, next year could be really good. I just hope I get the chance to make the same mistake in Valencia in two weeks time."