Dani Pedrosa has to be the second unluckiest rider in MotoGP (that title is held by Bens Spies this season).
The Repsol Honda rider bad luck started on the starting grid and finished in the gravel trap in the first lap of the re-started Misano GP race.
Pedrosa’s problems began on the first sighting lap when he had to be pushed and then when lining up in pole position waiting for the lights to turn green, Karel Abraham suffered a clutch problem that cut his engine power and he was forced to raise his hand and the race start was aborted, with all the mechanics and techs returning to the grid to wait for the re-start.
When Pedrosa’s mechanics tried to remove his front tire warmer the front wheel wouldn’t turn with the tire warmer caught on the brakes, in a panic the squad picked up the bike and moved it to the pitlane to be worked and the problem was resolved and when they did return to the grid – and probably missing the sign boards – the Spaniard was demoted to last place because his team had worked on the bike after the three and one minute marks.
The Spaniard starting his second sighting lap, but seemed to still have some problems, as he jiggled his bike a little (it seems someone engaged his pitlane speed limiter) but at the re-start he took off like a banshee and in just a few corners was already carving through the field, but then disaster struck as Hector Barbera punted him off at turn six and giving Pedrosa his first zero of the season, which probably cost him the chance to fight for championship titleDoing the math, even if Pedrosa should win all five of the remaining races and Jorge Lorenzo always takes second (but in motorcyle racing nothing is ever sure – and today proved it) the Repsol Honda rider will still come out second in the standings but we’ll also have to wait and see when Casey Stoner returns from his ankle injury and if he’ll be able to take points off of Lorenzo, because at the present there is no one else has the edge that these three riders have.
Here’s what a highly disappointed and angry Pedrosa had to say: “It’s was total chaos and many things happened at the same time.
It all began with the restart because the procedure was not at all clear.
Nobody knew if it was one minute, three minutes, warmers on or off… We were also getting different information about the number of laps, 26, 27… Then suddenly we were told it was 1 minute to the start of the race, with no board signage, nothing.
The mechanics were rushing to prepare and when they tried to take off the warmers my front wheel was somehow locked, they tried to unlocked it but they weren’t able to, and due to the 1 minute warning – where they are not allowed to touch the bike anymore – they put me to the back of the grid.
I tried to remain focused, not make any mistake on the first lap, make clear moves to overtake riders and I was 8th or 9th by the sixth corner when Barberá hit me from behind, and that was it.
I’m very upset because even though it’s easy to say now, I think I could have had a chance to win this race, even starting from the last place on the grid.
Now the Championship is obviously more uphill for me, but I will continue the same way.
We have done everything we could so far, the bike is working well and I’m riding well, too.
So it’s not over for me; there are still 5 races to go and we will do our best.
”Jonathan Rea made his MotoGP debut this weekend and while many were expecting a ‘win it bin it’ attitude from World Superbike rider, instead Rea, who was filling in for Casey Stoner, rode a very steady race despite the lack of track time due to the mixed weather conditions on Friday and Saturday morning and finished in a respectable 8th despite the caos of the re-start which would have unnerved a MotoGP newbie, with the responsability of riding Stoner’s RC213V.
Rea will be at Portimao next weekend for the penultimate round of the World Superbike championship and back on the MotoGP in two weeks time for the Aragon GP.
“It was a tough race and I just wanted to get into a rhythm and maintain it.
I’m still nowhere near the limit, I’m not really having any moments, just a few mistakes running wide, it’s a matter of trust and I’m still acclimatising to the machine.
I’m really happy with the progress I made throughout the race and I learnt so much that you simply can’t pick up in testing about race distance, how the tyre wear goes down, the fuel load and how the bike behaves differently.
In the beginning Nicky pulled a gap and I was catching him but in the end it wasn’t enough.
To finish 8th is ok, but the gap to the front is a little frustrating.
In general I’m really happy and I’m looking forward to the next challenge in Aragon.
I want to thank all the Rep sol Honda team for their hard work and support they’ve given me and to all the fans back home,” said the Honda rider.
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