The Repsol Honda Team endured its toughest day of the year so far at rain-lashed Sachsenring today. Dani Pedrosa led the early laps in superb style but crashed out, leaving Nicky Hayden the team’s only finisher in an unlucky 13th place after an early race pit stop.
Watched by 98,000 fans, Pedrosa led from the start and set a fast pace. After five laps he was already seven seconds ahead of his closest rival but then he fell at high speed as he braked for the first turn for the sixth time. The Spaniard slid into the run-off, rolled through the gravel several times and finally came to a halt against the safety air fence. He has fractured the top bone of his left index finger and has a suspected fracture of his right ankle. He is due to fly to Barcelona to see his surgeon Xavier Mir in advance of next weekend’s US GP. Pedrosa had led the World Championship going into this event, he is now placed second with eight of 18 races remaining.
Hayden was confident of a good race, wet or dry, but soon after the start the American realised he had traction issues. After a difficult first few laps he came in to change his rear tyre. After that pit stop Hayden’s pace improved but he still felt something was amiss with his machine. Nonetheless the former World Champion persevered, bringing his RC212V home in the atrocious conditions for three World Championship points.
Nicky Hayden, finished 13th, eighth in World Championship:“Today was a bit of a disaster, really. All weekend in the dry we had been going okay but conditions changed a lot for the race. I was actually glad it was raining because the bike has been working good in the rain recently, but the race turned into a disaster. The tyre choice wasn’t good and something also didn’t look right on the electronics, seems like it was a combination of problems. We came in and changed the rear tyre to a slightly different compound. Things were a lot better when I went out but I was right in the middle of everybody and I didn’t want to get in the way of people racing. We got a few points. Now it’s Laguna next weekend, so we’ll just keep pushing and hope to catch a break somewhere along the way.”
Dani Pedrosa, DNF, 2nd in World Championship:“It was a little strange. I had only just touched the brake and I crashed. It was a real pity because I’d got a great start and was going well. I had a good feeling. The front felt perfect, the rear was sliding just a little, but the general feeling was good considering the track conditions. It is a real pity.”
Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager:“Today was a bad race for us, with no real result. Dani was showing very good performance at the start of the race, he had a good feeling for the conditions but he was unlucky. It was a fast crash. Nicky had some difficulties with his machine and with his tyres. He came into change the rear tyre to see if that would improve things, he was faster after the pit stop but still it seems that things weren’t quite right. But he continued to the end and got some points. Racing is a tough sport, sometimes you have bad days. We hope for better at Laguna Seca next weekend.”
MotoGP Race :1, C. STONER - AUS - Ducati Marlboro Team 47'30.057
2, V. ROSSI - ITA - Fiat Yamaha Team + 3.708
3, C. VERMEULEN - AUS - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 14.002
4, A. DE ANGELIS - RSM - San Carlo Honda Gresini + 14.124
5, A. DOVIZIOSO - ITA - JiR Team Scot MotoGP + 42.022
6, S. GUINTOLI - FRA - Alice Team + 46.648
7, L. CAPIROSSI - ITA - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 1'04.483
8, R. DE PUNIET - FRA - LCR Honda MotoGP + 1'04.588
9, S. NAKANO - JPN - San Carlo Honda Gresini + 1'16.773
10, A. WEST - AUS - Kawasaki Racing Team + 1'29.275
11, J. TOSELAND - GBR - Tech 3 Yamaha 1 Lap
12, T. ELIAS - SPA - Alice Team 1 Lap
13, N. HAYDEN - USA - Repsol Honda Team 2 LapNot classified:C. EDWARDS - USA - Tech 3 Yamaha 10 Lap
M. MELANDRI - ITA - Ducati Marlboro Team 21 Lap
D. PEDROSA - SPA - Repsol Honda Team 25 Lap J. LORENZO - SPA - Fiat Yamaha Team 28 Lap
World Championship:1. ROSSI Valentino ITA 187
2. PEDROSA Dani SPA 171 3. STONER Casey AUS 167
4. LORENZO Jorge SPA 114
5. EDWARDS Colin USA 98
6. DOVIZIOSO Andrea ITA 90
7. VERMEULEN Chris AUS 73
8. HAYDEN Nicky USA 73 9. TOSELAND James GBR 65
10. NAKANO Shinya JPN 64
11. CAPIROSSI Loris ITA 60
12. DE ANGELIS Alex RSM 38
13. ELIAS Toni SPA 37
14. GUINTOLI Sylvain 34
15. HOPKINS John USA 32
16. MELANDRI Marco ITA 32
17. DE PUNIET Randy FRA 30
18. WEST Anthony AUS 22
19. SPIES Ben USA 2
20. OKADA Tadayuki JPN 2
Constructor Points:1. Yamaha 216
2. Honda 184
3. Ducati 172
4. Suzuki 96
5. Kawasaki 47
Team Points:1. Fiat Yamaha Team 301
2. Repsol Honda Team 2443. Ducati Marlboro Team 199
4. Tech 3 Yamaha 163
5. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 135
6. San Carlo Honda Gresi 102
7. JIR Team Scot MotoGP 90
8. Alice Team 71
9. Kawasaki Racing Team 54
10. LCR Honda MotoGP 30
