Despite going into their home Grand Prix full of optimism, the Penrith-based PBM MotoGP Team left the Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone empty handed and unable to add to their points tally.

For the second weekend in a row, both Colombian rider Yonny Hernandez and Ulsterman Michael Laverty brought the machines home inside the top 20 but again both riders were outside of the all-important points.

It was a disappointing weekend for the team due to a series of crashes which saw Hernandez, from Medelln, on the Rapid Solicitors and Minxflix.com-sponsored Aprilia ART, crash out twice in Free Practice on Saturday and again in this morning's warm-up session whereas Laverty, from Toome in County Antrim, on the Rapid Solicitors and Minxflix.com-sponsored PBM machine also fell during Saturday's Free Practice.

Despite the setbacks, both riders were confident of a good result at a track they know well and have had some good results in the past as Hernandez lined up in 17th on the grid with Laverty two places behind.

In front of 75,000 fans, Laverty got the better start and headed Hernandez for the opening couple of laps until Hernandez took over and the pair circulated in 20th and 21st respectively for most of the race. Laverty passed his team-mate with two laps to go and crossed the line in 19th with Hernandez just behind in 20th.

Hernandez remains in 20th overall in the MotoGP World Championship standings with Laverty holding 24th in his debut season. In the Claiming Rules Teams (CRT) class, Hernandez is seventh with Laverty in tenth whereas PBM occupy eighth in the Constructors Championship and 12th in the Teams Championship in their debut season with their brand new British-built machine.

Michael Laverty:

"Silverstone was my first experience of a home GP and it didn't disappoint, the crowd support was fantastic all weekend. It was great to see the amount of support the whole PBM team has as a British racing project. Obviously the end result is not where we want to be but that's the reality of developing a new motorcycle against the world's best. We will improve from here I'm confident of that and I would just like to thank all the team for the hard work this weekend."

Yonny Hernandez:

"It was a difficult race because after my crashes I lost the good feeling I had on Friday. From the middle of the race I had some strange spinning and so I did not take any risks. I am not happy because I know I can do better and I hope to do be able to challenge for some points in Misano."

Phil Borley, Technical Director:

"Unfortunately our home race has been the most disappointing weekend of the year, with the final results well below our expectations and capabilities. We tried to improve Michael's feeling with some different components and settings but the progress we thought had been made could not be translated into a competitive race pace, so we will have to try and improve at the next race. Yonny started the weekend very well but the crashes he suffered in cool conditions on Saturday and Sunday morning knocked his confidence and this added to a bike problem later in the race and resulted in his low finishing position. There has been a lot of work this weekend for the team so thanks to everyone for their efforts. We have to continue working hard to achieve better results in the future."

Paul Bird, Team Owner:

"Not a very impressive weekend at all at our home GP and especially in front of our sponsors. The crashes on Saturday really put us on the back foot and then Yonny went and crashed early in warm up which was a silly mistake. We need to up our game and do it soon as this sort of performance isn't what we are capable of. Hopefully lessons have been learned this weekend and I'm expecting much better results at Misano."


Round 13 of the MotoGP World Championship takes place on September 13/15 at Misano.