26 - Dani Pedrosa Fan Site

Dani Pedrosa said that the Brno race might have been the worst race in his career. He was riding so slow due to tyre problem - according to Honda team - in fact all he could do was ride and not race. Pedrosa finished 15th, in front of Randy de Puniet while watching championship leader Valentino Rossi won the race. Rossi’s victory was also ‘a gift’ after Stoner who was leading the race fell on lap 7. Rossi himself admitted that he might not won the race if Stoner didn’t crash out.

Casey Stoner crashed out of the race lead on lap seven, leaving Valentino Rossi to collect a 15 second victory…

1. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 43min 28.841 secs
2. Toni Elias SPA Alice Team (B) 43min 43.845 secs
3. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 43min 50.530 secs
4. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 43min 54.700 secs
5. Anthony West AUS Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 43min 58.306 secs
6. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 43min 59.449 secs
7. Marco Melandri ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 44min 5.294 secs
8. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 44min 5.591 secs
9. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP (M) 44min 7.663 secs
10. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 44min 8.414 secs
11. John Hopkins USA Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 44min 8.451 secs
12. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alice Team (B) 44min 9.733 secs
13. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 44min 40.331 secs
14. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 44min 49.974 secs
15. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 45min 5.879 secs
16. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP (M) 45min 7.248 secs

“This weekend has been a complete disaster,” fumed Pedrosa, who had qualified twelfth. “Today’s race was the probably worst of my career. In fact I couldn’t even race today, all I could do was ride. I couldn’t control the bike, I didn’t feel safe. I was riding so slow, I felt impotent and ashamed. I considered stopping but I stayed out there to get some points.
“We really need a drastic improvement from the tyres. I had no grip at the front and no grip at the rear, from the first lap to the last,” he continued. “It was therefore impossible for me to push any harder, even though I was going very slow, three or four seconds slower than the leader. I almost crashed twice, so I just tried to finish the race. I did my best in very difficult circumstances, at the end the tyre performance was even worse than it had been during the early laps.”
Repsol Honda team manager Kazuhiko Yamano confirmed Pedrosa’s verdict of a tyre-induced ‘disaster’.
“It is very difficult for me to comment, other than to say that I am very disappointed with this weekend. It has been a disaster for us,” he began. “We tried many different settings solutions to find better tyre performance but it was obvious from the first laps today that Dani was in a very difficult situation with poor grip. In fact I was worried that if he pushed harder he might crash. The team has done its best here but we have been restricted by tyre performance.”