Repsol Dutch TT, Assen
Race day, Saturday June 28 2008
REPSOL HONDA’S PEDROSA RETAKES POINTS LEAD,
HEARTBREAK FOR HAYDEN
Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden looked
set to score their first double podium of the season at Assen
today. Impressive Pedrosa finished the race a strong second
to retake the World Championship lead at the halfway point
of the 2008 MotoGP series. Hayden ran strong too, just a few
seconds down on his team-mate throughout, until his bike suddenly
slowed within sight of the finish. The American coasted over
the line in fourth, just seconds after compatriot Colin Edwards
had passed him to snatch third place.
The race began under threatening skies but the rain stayed
away as the Repsol Honda duo quickly established themselves
in second and third behind winner Casey Stoner. HRC technicians
are now examining Hayden’s RC212V to discover the exact
cause of his end-of-race electronics problem.
Dani Pedrosa, finish 2nd, World Championship leader
“I’m happy with this result because it was a difficult
race and I’m happy to be in the World Championship lead
once again, the 20 points we got here are very important.
We’ve struggled a little bit during practice here, but
my team have worked really hard, so a big thanks to all of
them. Yesterday I was able to qualify on a MotoGP front row
for the first time at Assen. Today I did my best in the race
but unfortunately we couldn’t go with Casey because
he was so fast. Now we need to keep working hard because we
must try to close the gap over the next few races. Sachsenring
is next. We had a great win there last year and we will try
to the same again this year.”
Nicky Hayden, finished 4th, 7th in World Championship
“Man, we had a pretty good race. Unfortunately this
game can be cruel sometimes. To be so close to a really good
result is tough, but we still finished, we made it across
the line and still got some good points out of the deal, but
it would’ve been nice to stand on the podium. The team
certainly deserved it, they’ve worked really hard this
weekend. On the sighting lap I knew something was wrong. It’s
been a little bit frustrating because she hasn’t run
right off the bottom since I got here, especially out of slow
corners. They’ve been changing stuff and they thought
they had it fixed but something was wrong. I had a dash light
come on at the start of the race, though it went off after
the start. She finally quit right before the finish line.
It’s how it goes, I guess me and Colin are even now,
he gave me one here a couple of years ago and I gave him a
podium today. There at the end I was trying to make a push
on Dani, I wanted to keep the pressure on him, he was coming
back to me a bit. I was pushing, then on the last lap I thought
‘oh no, we’re in trouble’. Nonetheless the
bike is working good, now they’ve got a week and a half
to hopefully sort it out in Japan and we can keep moving on.”
Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager
“Both riders rode very strong races, so my congratulations
to them and also my thanks to the team for all their hard
work this weekend. We thought we might get both riders on
the podium. Nicky tried so hard but he was very unlucky, we
are sorry for him and we will solve this electronics problem
before the next race. Dani’s result is very good for
the championship.”
MOTOGP RACE
1. C. STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 42'12.337
2 D. PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team + 11.310
3 C. EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha + 17.125
4 N. HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team + 20.477
5 A. DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP + 27.346
6 J. LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team + 28.608
7 C. VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 32.330
8 S. NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini + 34.892
9 J. TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha + 38.566
10 S. GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team + 38.817
11 V. ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team + 46.025
12 T. ELIAS SPA Alice Team + 48.213
13 M. MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team + 59.594
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team 171
2 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 167
3 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 142
4 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 114
5 Colin EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha 98
6 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP 79
7 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team 70
8 James TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 60
9 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 57
10 Shinya NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 57
11 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 51
12 Toni ELIAS SPA Alice Team 33
13 John HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team 32
14 Marco MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 32
15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini 25
16 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team 24
17 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 22
18 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team 16
19 Ben SPIES USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2
20 Tadayuki OKADA JPN Repsol Honda Team 2
Constructor Points
1 YAMAHA 180
2 HONDA 151
3 DUCATI 122
4 SUZUKI 71
5 KAWASAKI 41
Team Points
1 FIAT YAMAHA TEAM 266
2 REPSOL HONDA TEAM 208
3 DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM 146
4 TECH 3 YAMAHA 135
5 RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP 101
6 SAN CARLO HONDA GRESI 74
7 JIR TEAM SCOT MOTOGP 68
8 KAWASAKI RACING TEAM 48
9 ALICE TEAM 47
10 LCR HONDA MOTOGP 22
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