DANI PEDROSA, REPSOL HONDA
Race Position: DNS Championship Position: Second
“I DON’T FEEL AS THOUGH I DESERVE IT”
Unfortunately, for Dani Pedrosa the MotoGP at Motegi proved a disaster; he fell early in Friday’s free practice session and suffered a double fracture of the left collarbone. The unlucky fall was caused when a small problem with the throttle cable didn’t allow Pedrosa to close the throttle when he came to brake, an issue which has been investigated and resolved. Pedrosa has returned home to Spain for an operation to plate the fractured collarbone.
“Obviously this was a really bad day for us. It was a strange crash in only my second full lap, in a slow section of the track. I tried to stop the bike as usual but I knew something was wrong and couldn’t avoid going down. After the crash, I knew immediately that I was injured because it was very painful. I had a big impact in my left ankle and also my collarbone was broken as I hit the track; obviously, it feels very unlucky because recently we have had really good results. I’ve been very healthy through the pre-season and through the year and we had been working a lot to get to and stay at the maximum level. Another injury to contend with is really not what I needed – I don’t feel as though I deserve it.”
NICKY HAYDEN, MARLBORO DUCATI
Race Position: 12th Championship Position: 10th
“IT WASN’T TO BE TODAY…”
A difficult weekend for Nicky Hayden – he crashed on Friday and qualified 11th on Saturday – concluded with an unfortunate race, the American running off track on the second lap. Despite returning to the track in last place, he posted some solid lap times to recover four positions and claim twelfth place.
“We haven’t had the best of weekends so we made a few more changes to the bike going into the race than we normally would and actually it felt pretty good from the moment the lights went out. Maybe I got a little too excited because I made a mistake into turn five on the second lap, got in there too hot and a few of us ran pretty deep. Spies went off in front of me and I followed him into the gravel. We touched coming back onto the track and then there was a big kerb that I had to avoid so I lost a lot of time there. Once I got into my rhythm the pace wasn’t too bad and I passed a few guys but each pass took me longer than I would have liked because I didn’t have much confidence on the brakes. By the end, I could see ninth place and maybe with a couple of extra laps I could have made it, but it wasn’t to be today. I have to apologise to the team because I crashed on Friday, which got us behind, and even though they worked hard all weekend, we didn’t find the traction I needed to be competitive. Luckily we don’t have to wait too long to put it behind us in Malaysia.”
COLIN EDWARDS, MONSTER YAMAHA TECH3
Race Position: 5th Championship Position: 10th
“IT IS ALWAYS GOOD TO GET A RESULT IN JAPAN!”
Colin Edwards made a stunning return to the top six in MotoGP at Motegi, producing his best performance of 2010 to finish in fifth position. Edwards made a fast getaway from fifth place on the grid and held fifth for the opening two laps, the American engaging in an exciting early fight with Italian duo Marco Simoncelli and Loris Capirossi. Simoncelli took fifth on lap three but having comfortably pulled away from Capirossi, Edwards used his experience to exert intense pressure on Simoncelli; he made a decisive attack on lap 18 and then opened up a three-second gap in the last seven laps to secure his best finish since the final round of 2009 in Valencia.
“In terms of the result I’m really happy because it is my first top six finish of the year and I think it was deserved after all the hard work we have been putting in to improve our results. And it is always good to get a result in Japan with the race being so important for Yamaha and the Tech3 Team. I rode good all weekend and was only four-tenths off pole, but what I’m a little disappointed about is that I’m 27 seconds behind the winner. That’s a big chunk of time and I’m riding as hard as I can. I feel comfortable and I feel good on the bike now we improved the setting but I guess we just have to shoot for being top non-factory rider. It was hard in the first few laps because I didn’t have a lot of feel in the left side of the rear tyre. But once I got confident, Simoncelli passed me but I was happy just to sit behind him and study him, check where I was faster while making sure I wasn’t going to leave the door open for Capirossi. I think my rear tyre had good grip for a little bit longer than Simoncelli’s and I managed to pass him, put my head down for a couple of laps and pull a gap.”
HIROSHI AOYAMA, INTERWETTEN HONDA
Race Position: 10th Championship Position: 16th
“THIS WEEK I STARTED TO UNDERSTAND MY BIKE A BIT BETTER…”
Hiroshi Aoyama’s home race at Motegi went well, but held a lot of ups and downs. The 28 year-old did his best however and Aoyama managed to repeat his strongest result of the season so far with a tenth place. After a difficult qualifying, where he finished 14th, Aoyama was happy that the race went better and is now looking forward to Malaysia.
“The conditions in the race were a bit cooler and that was not so good for the tyres. I had to wait a couple of laps to warm them up and then I could start to overtake the other riders in front of me. On this track, you don’t have so many possibilities to pass. This race was not ideal for me, but at least I could repeat my best result of the season so far. This week I started to understand my bike a bit better and, especially as I know this track so well, I could learn more about the bike and we improved the set up. Now I am looking forward to Malaysia, which is my favourite track.”
The next MotoGP round is at Sepang, Malaysia, Sunday October 10.
For more information on Arai helmets please visit www.whyarai.co.uk
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