Benelli makes history at Laguna.

Peter Goddard took the Benelli Tornado superbike to a fifteenth place finish at Laguna Seca in the USA round of the WSBK, scoring the team's first championship point.

It almost didn't work out for Goddard, though, as he had passed fellow Australian Broc Parkes to move into the points late on, but then missed a gear and lost so much time that Parkes was able to retake the position.

"I'd been having trouble with the gearshift for most of the race," Goddard admitted, "It had a lot of play in the lever and must have cost me five seconds in the race because I kept getting false neutrals."

Just when it looked like the Benelli team would have to wait longer for that all-important first points finish, however, Giovanni Bussei made a mistake in the last turn of the final lap and crashed out. Goddard managed to avoid Bussei's fallen machine to
cross the line in fifteenth and open the team's account.

"Now we have our first point, one of many more to come I hope," the superbike veteran smiled afterwards.

Andrea Merloni, the owner of Benelli, was very pleased with the result, particularly as it followed a disappointing debut at Misano two weeks ago. Despite the success, however, Merloni still has his feet firmly planted on the ground.

"This means we are now in the manufacturer's standings, a great result after only two meetings on a brand new bike," he said, "Our aim today was to get our first finish, so getting into the points is very satisfying. We know we have a lot of work to do before Brands Hatch as everyone is going to expect us to improve for that meeting."

Team Manager Max Zani joined in the celebrations but was overcome by the achievement.

"I am speechless," he said shortly after the race, "We'll have a big party tonight!"

After the celebrations, however, the team has to pack the two Tornados and all its equipment away and head home to the team's San Marino headquarters to prepare for the next challenge, at Brands Hatch, on 29 July.