Following the Austin GP former World Champion Kevin Schwantz offered his thoughts on Dani Pedrosa and the fact he is considered the ‘eternal second’ and that he is still ‘too tied’ to his mentor and manager Alberto Puig.
“Dani lacks nothing, but he has too much, like Alberto Puig.
Dani needs to reach another level himself.
I like Dani but he’s been with Honda eight years and he’s won nothing.
I would like him to prove me wrong, but I don’t think he will,” said Schwantz to the Spanish and French press.
Pedrosa was stung by the criticism and told MCN.
com, “These comments seem very unfair to me.
To say that Alberto Puig is my father is a tedious subject and whoever says this clearly doesn’t know the reality,” also adding “I am disappointed with these comments” and “I believe this time he [Schwantz] is out of line.
I also advise him to review my career statistics and then maybe we can chat together.
I may not have won a MotoGP world championship yet, but I have taken many other records in this sport that others have not achieved.
”If Pedrosa was cool in responding to Schwantz, Alberto Puig wasn’t.
The Spanish manager isn’t known for mincing words and while Puig has kept a lower profile over these past few years, whoever criticizes his protégé will receive a very public tongue lashing, as former Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden knows well.
In an interview with El Mundo and picked up by AS.
com Puig addressed Schwantz’s comments in a public letter and here are a few excerpts, but you can read in its entirety on the Spanish website.
To cite some data, we could say that Pedrosa has a total of 45 Grand Prix victories, while the Texan has 25.
Of those 45 victories Dani, 22 have been in the top class.
Add also Pedrosa is credited with 113 podiums in MotoGP, Schwantz 51, and 55 fastest laps (35 of those 55 in MotoGP) compared to the 26 of Schwantz.
If we refer to the data it clearly favors Pedrosa and to say that Dani won nothing in eight years is typical of someone who does not know what he’s saying and it is very disrespectful.
Mr.
Schwantz, I agree with you on a point, Dani has not earned the title of titles, but he has won races and that in spite of the many adversities that he’s had in his career, and I mean injuries.
I’d like to remind you that you packed up and left for home because of a very bad wrist.
While this rider who has injuries all over his body is still out there.
Mr.
Schwantz, Dani has not won this title yet, but let me tell you something that you are not going to like and I’m going to say it anyway because it’s how it happened.
You do have that title (it took eight years to do so and your first race was in ‘86), but you won only because Wayne Rainey crashed at Misano and had to stop competing that year.
If not, you would not have win that title.
You were great rider, super spectacular too, but referring to the results, you were always in the shadow, first by Eddie Lawson, and then permanently by Rainey.
Since I retired from racing I’ve worked hard in promoting pilots, basically with Pedrosa, but I have also helped and managed riders like Casey Stoner, Toni Elias, Alvaro Bautista, Marc Marquez and Julian Simon.
And all of them have been world champions.
You, Mr.
Schwantz, have a riding school and for years you’ve helped kids race, but to this day, not one of your riders has managed to even qualify to race Europe.
None at all, and in this field, zero success.
It will be interesting to see if there will be any reaction on Schwantz’s part to Puig’s letter.
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