Mixed results for Arai’s MotoGP men in sunny California

DANI PEDROSA, REPSOL HONDA

Race Position: DNF                         Championship Position: Second

“I COULDN’T DO ANYTHING, I WAS DOWN…”

Dani Pedrosa looked on course for a carbon copy of his stunning Laguna victory from last year and led for the first 11 laps, but the Spaniard was unfortunate to a hit a bump on the way into Laguna’s turn seven and crash out on lap 12. Pedrosa looked at his formidable best for the first part of the race, making one of his demon starts from fourth on the grid to lead into the first corners. He then edged away from his pursuers Casey Stoner and then Jorge Lorenzo and the race win looked a distinct possibility. However, while pushing hard he lost the front end and his U.S. Grand Prix was over. Obviously disappointed with the way the weekend finished, Pedrosa has taken encouragement from his continued front-running race pace and will come back fighting…

“At the time I that I crashed I was pushing hard to maintain the gap to Lorenzo and my rhythm was good. Unfortunately though I hit a bump on the way into the corner and I couldn’t do anything, I was down. It’s very disappointing obviously but this can happen when you’re trying everything to win. You have to push as much as you can and take risks; and I really wanted to win this race. The one thing we can do now is to remember that we were having a good race until this moment, and we were leading the race – this is what I want to take from the weekend. You cannot sit there with your arms crossed thinking about what could have been. For the whole weekend me and the team were working well and we put ourselves in a winning position. It hasn’t worked out for us but we’ll come back fighting at the next one.”

NICKY HAYDEN, MARLBORO DUCATI

Race Position: Fifth                        Championship Position: Sixth

“THE LAST FIVE LAPS I WAS OVER MY HEAD!”

Nicky Hayden started from seventh on the grid and eventually overcame his compatriot Ben Spies after a race-long battle that had the raucous crowd on their feet, chasing down Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso in their contest for a podium finish over the final few laps, and missing out by just 1.2 seconds. 

“We had a little problem with the bike when I did my practice start this morning and it happened again in the race but we put up a fight as best we could. The last five laps I was over my head, doing my fastest laps of the weekend almost because I thought there was a chance we might be able to get on the box if the guys in front made a mistake. I dug as deep as I could but it wasn’t enough today. My first two years here at Laguna Seca were much more fun, that’s for sure, but hopefully we can be back here fighting for the win next year; that’s the goal. I want to say thanks to all my guys for their hard work, and to all the fans at Laguna, their support was incredible and I’m just sorry I couldn’t be on the podium for them.”

COLIN EDWARDS, MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3

Race Position: Seventh                 Championship Position: Eleventh

“I’M CLOSER TO WHERE I KNOW I SHOULD BE.”

Colin Edwards produced his best result of the season in front of his home crowd to score a thoroughly deserved seventh position. The 36-year-old showed all of his experience to patiently stalk Marco Simoncelli and Marco Melandri in the opening laps as the trio became embroiled in a thrilling fight for seventh. Edwards passed Melandri on lap 10 exiting the spectacular Corkscrew section and he grabbed seventh from Simoncelli on lap 15. Edwards’ superior pace saw him immediately pull away from the Italian duo to secure a seventh that puts him on the fringes of the top ten in the overall standings.

“I’m really happy with the way I rode all weekend and there was nothing more I could have done. Fighting for seventh is not really where I want to be in my home race, but compared to where I have been recently it is a big improvement and thanks to all my guys at the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew for all their effort. I had a good early battle with Melandri and Simoncelli and that was fun and I made a couple of good moves on them because I was quite a bit faster. Once I got by Simoncelli I put my head down to see if I could break them and that’s what I did. But I couldn’t even see the group in front of me and I just slowed my pace up a little bit because it made no sense to crash out of my home race when I was never going to catch them up. I was pretty much stuck in seventh all weekend and I never really had the pace of the leading group. But I’m closer to where I know I should be and the upgrades from Yamaha were a help and I can look forward to a good break confident of a strong second half of the season.”

The next MotoGP round is at Brno, in the Czech Republic, on the 15^th August.

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