It was a difficult weekend for Brendan and his Ducati Xerox Junior team who suffered a number of technical problems throughout the weekend on the Ducati 1098 R, before he crashed whilst in a dice for the lead.

After winning the opening round at Valencia a couple of weeks ago, he qualified fifth in the second qualifying session for the 13-lap race.

Brendan got a good start and by lap three he was through to third. For a brief moment he was up to second but made a mistake, forcing him wide across the dusty chicane and dropping him back to sixth.

In a fight to try and regain his position he hit the throttle too hard too soon and high-sided his bike on on lap five.

Brendan said: "It was a nightmare weekend for me really from start to finish. We had a number of problems with the bike throughout the weekend and the mechanics couldn't quite place the main problem and therefore they had to change as much as they could to try and solve it.

"Perhaps I was pushing that little bit too hard in the race. I had a brief lapse of concentration and that's all it took, I was over the bars and sliding through the gravel trap.

"I was lucky as I knew the bike was near to me and thought it was going to collect me and cause me more injuries. I've got two very sore ankles, a damaged calf muscle, and I also took a nasty knock to the wrist I broke last year."

Despite Brendan not finishing, with eight rounds remaining, all is not lost. He still lies sixth overall in the championship and will be back in action at Monza next weekend.