BANBURY'S Team Roberts MotoGP team celebrated its first-ever podium finish in Sunday's incident-packed Spanish Grand Prix.

Ridden by Kenny Roberts Jnr the son of team owner and former 500cc world champion Kenny Roberts the Honda-powered KR211V machine, built in workshops off Overthorpe Road, Banbury, took advantage of a depleted field to come home in third place.

The race lost some of its anticipated front-runners after a six-bike, 140mph pile-up at the first corner.

Championship leader Loris Capirossi, Marco Melandri, and Sete Gibernau went out, and Dani Pedrosa was forced to ride his spare bike when the race was restarted.

In the race proper Casey Stoner crashed out while in second place, and Pedrosa slid off when making ground into sixth spot.

It was Roberts Jnr's first podium since last year's wet Grand Prix at Donington Park when he was a Suzuki works rider, and it was the first top-three finish for Team Roberts who began building their own machines in the mid-1990s.

Team Roberts' good showing was not unexpected after qualifying on the front row of the grid. The race was won by Valentino Rossi from Nicky Hayden, with Roberts just getting the better of Suzuki rider John Hopkins.