Without a doubt this was not an easy weekend for the local rider Dani Pedrosa, who in spite of an excellent record at this track – with several victories included – today was never in the fight for a podium finish because of his physical condition. On the other side of the pits his teammate Andrea Dovizioso continues to gain good experience on the official Honda, and race after race is improving his performance. Today the Italian Repsol Honda Team rider finished 4th, 8 seconds behind the winner. And a whisker separated him from a visit to the podium, after he caught Casey Stoner, 3rd, who he practically crossed the finishing line alongside. In the end 52 thousandths stopped him from getting his first podium finish of the season in the Repsol Honda Team colours.
When the red lights went out Pedrosa was one of the fastest out of the blocks; he started 8th, and overtook three riders before the end of the straight, he ended his first lap in 4th position, ahead of De Puniet and his teammate Dovizioso. The Italian took a lap to close on Pedrosa who he followed closely for the next four laps. The Spaniard, physically weakened after getting injured in Italy, could not keep up the pace set by the leaders and he saw how his three main rivals in the fight for the title –Rossi, Stoner and Lorenzo – got away from him, and Dovizioso and Capirossi were quickly closing in on his rear wheel.
The first to pass Pedrosa was Dovizioso, who moved into 4th position. The Italian then went after Stoner, 3rd two 2 seconds ahead. He then doggedly stuck to his task, working patiently. Lap after lap Dovizioso fought to lower the gap and get closer to the Australian. In the end, although he was on Stoner`s wheel it was a case of so near yet so far, but he is very satisfied with having put in a great performance. The result is that Dovizioso moves ahead of Pedrosa in the overall and is 4th, two points ahead of his teammate who is now 5th.
Pedrosa`s race is also worthy of praise, he got 10 valuable points that may be worth double at the end of the season. After being overtaken by Dovizioso Dani kept up his pace, concentrating on not making the slightest mistake. Bit by bit Capirossi moved closer to him and when he finally caught him Pedrosa tried to defend his position, but seeing that he was incapable of fighting with the Suzuki, he chose in the end to make sure of the 6th position and not take too many risks. In the end 6th place and ten points in the bag.
Tomorrow, Monday, the plan was for both the Repsol Honda Team riders to practise at the Circuit de Catalunya, but seeing the physical condition of Dani Pedrosa, a decision was taken at the end of the race to only let Andrea Dovizioso ride.
Dani Pedrosa, 6th at 22.182 sec. >> Audio >> Audio (cat)
“It’s been a very hard weekend and I finished the race exhausted and in a lot of pain, but I don’t regret being here this weekend trying to do my best. I didn’t want to miss my home race and even though sixth position is not the best result in front of my fans, I’m happy with it. I could feel their enormous support during the whole weekend and it helpe d me a lot to race. It also wouldn’t have been possible without the doctors’ help: they kept me in the best possible condition to bear the pain. The injections I’ve had on each day worked, but obviously to do 25 laps it’s been very hard. The doctors told me that this fracture needs time to heal so I’m going to rest as much as possible and see what the progress is for Assen. The Team asked me not test tomorrow to give me the best chance to recover and it’s a sensible decision. I didn’t have a great start today, but I could manage to stay in the second group in the race. I tried to stay with Capirossi, but I couldn’t, so I choose to maintain the sixth position. I’m really tired now, but it was a worthwhile race.”
Andrea Dovizioso, 4th at 8.936 sec. >> Audio
“We had a great race today and we finished only nine seconds behind the winner – this is a very important point because we are getting closer every time. We only missed the podium by 52 thousandths of a second, which is a pity because I really like this racetrack and we were fast for the whole weekend, so the podium was the target and it was within the reach. I didn’t have a good start and it took me some time to overtake Randy and then Dani which meant I had a gap to close before I could reach Stoner. Maybe I should have tried to attack Casey with six laps to go, when he slowed down, because later I didn’t have any other chance. The race conditions were really demanding because it was really hot today, but the result was promising and we can move on from here.”
