MOTOGP ROUND 2, JEREZ, SUNDAY 3rd MAY

A good day’s work for Arai riders in Spain

DANI PEDROSA, REPSOL HONDA
Race Position: Second Championship Position: Third

“MMM, MAYBE THIS IS GOING TO BE DIFFICULT!”
Dani Pedrosa took second place in a gripping Grand Prix of Spain at Jerez, crossing the line just half a second behind the winner and setting the fastest lap of the race along the way. From pole position, Pedrosa led the race right until the final few corners of the last lap, when fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo slipped by to win. The second round of the MotoGP World Championship was a nail-biting affair with Pedrosa’s lead never growing to more than two seconds as Valentino Rossi slotted in behind the fast-starting Spaniard. Pedrosa would edge the gap open only for Rossi to pull back a few tenths, while all the time Lorenzo was creeping his way towards the leading pair. As Lorenzo mounted his challenge on the penultimate lap, Pedrosa held him off as best he could and the pair touched fairings as they battled for the lead.

“Well this result is a little bit surprising for me and, even though I came so close to winning, I’m pleased to be on the podium and so close to the top step. I didn’t think I was going to be able to lead the race for this long and I was nervous at the start because I knew that to maintain a front-running rhythm was going to be very difficult for us. So I was pleased to be out in front of the race, but then I saw on the pit board that Lorenzo was closing at a pace that was half a second faster than me and Rossi and I thought, “Mmm, maybe this is going to be difficult!” I tried to hold him off for as long as possible but in the end I couldn’t. Second place after leading for all but half a lap is disappointing obviously, but after the first race at Qatar this is a good result for us. I’d like to thank all the fans who came here and supported us, and all the people around me in the Repsol Honda Team. We must keep working really hard so that we can improve for Le Mans.”

NICKY HAYDEN, MARLBORO DUCATI
Race Position: Fourth Championship Position: Fifth

“I THOUGHT WE MIGHT FIND A LITTLE EXTRA”
Nicky Hayden looks like he’s now got the package he needs to race consistently up at the front of the MotoGP field, and made his qualifying speed stick when the red lights went out at Jerez. He made a great start and was lapping in third place over the early laps, but didn’t quite have the pace to stick with the leaders, eventually finishing fourth, nine seconds behind Lorenzo.

“Fourth place is no disaster but I was hoping to stay closer to the top three towards the end and put up a bit of a fight. I’m not happy to be nine seconds adrift but we’re trying to build something here and we’ve had another solid weekend. The team, the bike, everything has been great this weekend but we just fell a couple of tenths short on race day. To be honest I thought we might find a little extra for the race, like we did in Qatar, but it wasn’t to be. My guys worked like dogs to put me in this position and we’ve got more to do so I want to give a big thanks to them. This is the Ducati factory team and we don’t jump up and down at fourth place but we’ll take it. We got some great data to work from that should help us be stronger at Le Mans and hopefully we can keep this upward trend going.”

COLIN EDWARDS, MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3
Race Position: Twelfth Championship Position: Seventh

“I’D JUST LIKE TO BE IN A RACE…”
Colin Edwards fought a determined battle at the rear of a frenetic battle for seventh position; the Texan eventually had to settle for 12th after he encountered small rear grip issues in the crucial final stages that left him unable to mount a sustained offensive on the exciting mid-pack dice.

“I think I’ve had one good race at Jerez in my entire career and today wasn’t it. This weekend has been a struggle and I’ve never been comfortable on the bike to show the pace I know I am capable of. Right from the start I had issues with the rear grip and I couldn’t hold any load on the tyre at full lean angle. That also created some problems with the front-end, so I just struggled with the balance of the bike. It’s the exact same issue that I had in Qatar even though the set-up I’m running is quite a bit different. I’d just like to be in a race. At the moment I just feel like I’m riding around and suffering. I can only look forward to Le Mans knowing that I go really well at that track and so does the Yamaha.”

HIROSHI AOYAMA, INTERWETTEN HONDA
Race Position: Fourteenth Championship Position: Thirteenth

“THIS WAS NOT AN EASY RACE FOR ME”
A braking misjudgement meant Hiroshi Aoyama lost touch with the riders ahead of him early in Sunday's Spanish Grand prix at Jerez. The MotoGP rookie, who had qualified in twelfth, was already 17th and last at the end of the first lap – then ran wide to avoid colliding with another rider at turn eight. From then on it was a lonely ride to 14th place for the Interwetten Honda rider.

“I didn’t have a good start and I made a mistake. After braking too hard I had to avoid crashing into another rider and went wide. After that I lost the connection. This was not an easy race for me. I am so sorry for my team to have destroyed all their work of the weekend with this mistake – I really hope the next race will be better again.”

Top placed Arai man in the action-packed second race of the brand new 600cc Moto2 championship was Yuki Takahashi in fourth place, while the spectacular supermoto riding style of Yonny Henandez bought the reward of tenth.

The next MotoGP round is at Le Mans, on the 23rd of May.

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