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, finished 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
