A podium that tastes like victory
Extraordinary debut of the Repsol Honda Team in the 2006 World Championship with Pedrosa second in his first MotoGP race and Nicky Hayden third in front of 131,000 spectators in Jerez
Excellent debut and excellent result. Both Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden stepped today on the first podium of the season in Jerez as the culmination of an exciting MotoGP race that finished with the victory of Loris Capirossi and in which Pedrosa, class rookie, was just about to beat all records. His second place, very close to become a first place, actually tastes like victory and confirms him as one of the leading characters of the world championship that has just started. Team mate Nicky Hayden also managed to step on the podium, bravely overcoming all problems he had been suffering with the settings during the practices. Both for the Spanish and for the North American rider, this result is an important injection of moral in the face of the races to come and confirms the good work done during the preseason. It was a thrilling race from the start, when an incident in the first corner, involving several riders left Valentino Rossi out of the fight.
Capirossi and Gibernau took the lead but the Spaniard retired from the race on the third lap, while Hayden moved up to fourth and Pedrosa seventh after the first lap. Hayden kept his position while Dani was sixth in the second lap, fifth in the third, fourth in the fourth, third in the fifth and second in the seventh. From that moment on and with the maturity of a veteran rider, Dani even managed to lap two tenths of a second behind the Italian rider who brilliantly defended his leading position. Pedrosa tried to win and he was very close; this classification can almost be considered a victory for him.
Hayden, further behind, also managed to defend his position on the podium against the attacks started by Toni Elías. There results were not as expected in the 250cc race. Shuhei Aoyama was forced to retire after a crash on the third lap while Sebastián Porto retired halfway the race. None of them had the chance to proof anything. In the 125cc Bradley Smith finished seventeenth. Both classes were won by Spanish riders, Álvaro Bautista in the 125cc and Jorge Lorenzo in the 250cc. The next round of the 2006 World Championship will be on next 8 April in Qatar.
Riders comments
Dani Pedrosa:
To start like this is amazing for me! I want to thank my team because they have worked really hard all this weekend and during the winter. And also a big thank you to Michelin because they gave us really good tyres. The race was difficult for me and at the end I was really tired and the tyre was spinning and sliding, so I think this result is very good. I didnt get a good start and I had to pass many riders, which took a long time. Loris was already gone, so I had to catch him up and when I did I was already tired. I wasnt really dreaming of the race win because I knew he was saving his tyres. He pushed hard at the end of the race and my front tyre was sliding a little bit and I was not too confident, so I had to give up because I prefered to finish the race. Im very happy with the result today.
Nicky Hayden: It wasnt pretty with a few guys dropping out, but nonetheless well take the 16 points and the podium. Last year I crashed out so its nice to get off and running with some momentum. We were testing here two weeks ago and at that point we didnt have a chance. But weve made a big step, so thanks to the team and Honda and all my guys who worked really hard this winter. And thanks to Repsol and Michelin too because my tyres were actually really good today. Well be back testing here in the morning and weve still got a lot of work to do to improve. I was there with the leaders right at the beginning of the race but I didnt quite have the pace. In turn one I was running a little wide and Ive got to get some more traction and get the bike to turn better. Its early man – its only round one and well try and get stronger.
Shuhei Aoyama:
Im very disappointed. I made quite a good start but in the fast left-hander after Dry Sack the steering of my bike blocked, the tyre skidded and I crashed. Its been my fault, the tyre was probably cold because it was only the first lap and I pushed too hard. Well have to keep on working as we have done this weekend in Qatar.
Sebastián Porto:
Well, theres not much I can say, only that we didnt manage to get the bike working the way I need to be fast, and although were trying we havent managed yet. The team and Honda are working really hard to help me and I thank them very much for it.
Bradley Smith:
Its been a new experience. It was a 23-lap race, much longer than the 15 or 16-lap races of the Spanish Championship. The tyres wear a lot more; no doubt about that and the behaviour of the bike is different. Its always difficult but I enjoyed and achieved a very good result. The race has been very strange. I made a very good start, but I made a mistake and went through the outside and that made me loose many positions entering in the second corner. Then I managed to overtake five riders. Some were very tight overtakings, but I managed to pass them.
