PEERLESS PEDROSA PILES ON THE PRESSURE
Repsol Catalan Grand Prix, Catalunya
Race day, Sunday June 8 2008
Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa stormed to a stunning runaway
victory at Catalunya today, cheered all the way by more than
113,000 adoring fans. The Spaniard’s start-to-finish
win was his second of the year and completed a hat-trick of
home-tarmac successes at Valencia last November, Jerez in
March and now Catalunya. Team-mate Nicky Hayden had another
tough one, coming in eighth after running sixth.
Pedrosa rode a perfect race, showing matchless speed and
relentless pace that put him 0.658 seconds ahead after the
first lap, 3.9 seconds in front at one-quarter distance and
7.2 seconds ahead midway through the race. He had stretched
his advantage to more than eight seconds before he eased off,
crossing the line 2.8 seconds ahead of Valentino Rossi. Pedrosa’s
29th GP win (all achieved on Honda machinery) closes the points
gap on series leader Rossi to just seven points as the 18-race
2008 MotoGP series approaches half-distance. Hayden had an
altogether more difficult afternoon. The American looked strong
in the early stages but set-up issues prevented him from holding
a consistent fast pace.
Today’s record crowd showed their enthusiasm for MotoGP
by making it into the track despite traffic jams caused by
a transport strike.
Dani Pedrosa, race winner, 2nd in World Championship
“I’m very happy about this win, my thanks to all
the people around me. Today was also very important for the
championship, I am now five points closer to the lead, but
there are still many races ahead of us, so we need to keep
pushing and be consistent. We had a few issues in practice
here, so my team was thinking what they could do and they
made a small adjustment before the race that improved the
bike and helped me to run that pace. Once again, a big thanks
to them. I couldn’t believe the fans, it seems like
every year there are more and more. I’m very happy they
were here because I know it was difficult to get into the
track today. I was all alone, pushing to go faster and faster
and I could see everyone cheering me on. At one point I lost
a bit of concentration, but I got my focus back and kept pushing.
Now we have two days of tests which will be very important
for the next few races.”
Nicky Hayden, 8th place, 9th in World Championship
“We knew the race was going to be tough. Our bike has
worked quite well when we had grip but something with the
set-up right now we’re not getting the tyre life we
need. It was okay in the beginning but I couldn’t maintain
the pace. Something in the set-up is hurting the tyre life,
it’s quite frustrating. We were in there early and thought
we might be on for a good result and then we lost touch and
went backward. The rear brake went out towards the end which
didn’t help things. Eighth place is not what we want.
We’ve got a really important two days of testing which
we need. I’m certainly looking forward to it, hopefully
we can get a couple of things sorted out.” “That
was a fantastic job from Dani. It’s been a very exciting
day for us, everybody in the team, from riders to mechanics,
has done a good job. Thanks also to everyone who supports
us, like Michelin whose tyres were so consistent today. This
is a very tough season, so we will keep fighting and working
hard. Nicky had a difficult race, we are now going to sit
down and see what happened. Next we have two days of tests
during which we will try the pneumatic-valve-spring engine
as well as working on other aspects of the machine. When we
try the engine we will be looking for overall machine performance,
not just straight-line performance.”
Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager
“That was a fantastic job from Dani. It’s been
a very exciting day for us, everybody in the team, from riders
to mechanics, has done a good job. Thanks also to everyone
who supports us, like Michelin whose tyres were so consistent
today. This is a very tough season, so we will keep fighting
and working hard. Nicky had a difficult race, we are now going
to sit down and see what happened. Next we have two days of
tests during which we will try the pneumatic-valve-spring
engine as well as working on other aspects of the machine.
When we try the engine we will be looking for overall machine
performance, not just straight-line performance.”
Motogp race
1 D. PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team 43'02.175
2 V. ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team + 2.806
3 C. STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team + 3.343
4 A. DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP + 10.893
5 C. EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha + 16.426
6 J. TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha + 21.482
7 C. VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 21.548
8 N. HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team + 22.280
9 S. NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini + 22.375
10 J. HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team + 46.835
11 M. MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team + 57.991
12 A. WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team + 59.168
13 S. GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team + 1'00.779
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