Anne Roberts’ positive attitude and hard work helped her overcome a lot of obstacles to finish well past her goals at MotoAmerica’s VIR round.

“I didn’t know the weekend was going to turn out as good as it did when the very first thing that happened was my truck pulling the trailer went into ‘limp mode’ 30 miles from the track!” Roberts recalled after the weekend. “We could only do 45 mph the rest of the way. I was on the phone ordering a new throttle-position sensor from a store near the track while Huey (Anne’s mechanic Craig “Huey” Stewart) drove and kept us from getting killed by the 18 wheelers.”

Roberts and crew arrived in plenty of time to repair the truck, get the bike teched, and regroup for the weekend.

In the Bazzaz Superstock 600 class, aboard her Yamaha YZF-R6, Roberts dropped her lap times with every session out. In only the first practice session, she had quickly surpassed her fastest time at the course from a club race two years previous. Qualifying went just as smoothly until the last flying lap when a rider behind her crashed in the braking zone and his motorcycle collected her as she tipped into the fast turn one.

“I heard the tire squeal and next thing I know I’m flying through the air like Spiderman looking down at my bike,” she said. “I (communicated with the other rider), walked behind the tire wall, and that’s when the pain started setting in. Turned out to be nothing more serious than a huge bruise on my hip but that nagged me the rest of the weekend.”

Race one was just a few hours after the qualifying session. Nearly every component on the left side of the Yamaha and all the bodywork needed to be replaced. Roberts rested and iced her hip in the trailer while Stewart repaired the bike. With mere minutes until tire warmers had to be put on, the bike was rolled into hot pit.

“Without Marietta Motorsports, not only wouldn’t I be in this series but there’s no way my bike would have ever made that race,” Roberts confided. “The guys and girls back at the shop get my bike and trailer ready during the week while I’m running my business then they handle everything for me at the races. One-stop shop, for sure!” Roberts rode very cautiously in race one due to her injury, and even though she was still able to lower her lap times, she could only manage a 23rd.

Sunday’s race two was truly a fresh start. Roberts recovered a lot from her crash and was chomping at the bit. “A lot of people had suggestions and everyone was helping with my lines. Even a corner worker I knew from WERA was giving me awesome tips! I’d really like to thank C. R. Gittere with Service Manager Pro. He raced AMA and knows a lot about VIR. When he was talking lines with me over the phone Saturday night, it was like he had ridden there yesterday. I felt a lot more comfortable about how much the bike was moving around after talking to him.”

Roberts got a great start and kept lowering her lap times as she had done all weekend. She finished 19th and met her placement goal of being in “the teens.”

Anne Roberts Racing is tentatively planning for the Road America round and looks forward to learning a completely new track to her and meeting new fans of road racing.