Honda’s Bet
Honda HRC is firmly committed to Dani Pedrosa. In a statement to a Spanish newspaper in 2005 when Pedrosa was en route to his second consecutive World 250 title, Suguru Kanazawa, then HRC president, was quoted as saying, "Dani Pedrosa is the only current rider that seems capable of beating Valentino Rossi."
Although Honda denied it later, most experienced observers (and every rider I have spoken to about the dimensions of the 2007 Honda RC212V) believe that the compact motorcycle was designed specifically for Pedrosa. Nicky Hayden even said that when he first sat on the bike, "I thought I was getting punked. I thought, is this a joke or something?"
Honda’s politically correct reply to all questions on the subject was to say that the bike was not built for any specific rider, but that it was "a compact bike for compact riders." Honda even recognized that the bike was smaller than would have been ideal for then reigning World Champion Nicky Hayden.
I have never doubted that Honda built the RC212V program around Pedrosa. Even Hayden, who resisted this theory at first, has at last accepted this and has agreed to ride with Ducati in 2009.
But Honda, having bet the farm on Pedrosa when he was still riding brilliantly in 250, stacked the deck against their rider in 2008 when, in spite of Pedrosa’s request to switch to Bridgestone, Takao Fukui, the president of HRC, refused to switch
the factory team from Michelin to Bridgestone.
I believed at the time that this was a mistake and said so in Spanish publications.
But Honda’s decision was based more on admirable loyalty to their long-time association with Michelin. Fukui said, "Honda will not abandon our partner of many years after just one bad season."
There was also the hope that if Michelin got it right and regained their superiority over Bridgestone, that Dani’s key rivals, Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner, both on Bridgestone, would be left behind and the battle for the title would be between Pedrosa and the best of the other Michelin riders -- Hayden, Colin Edwards, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, Randy de Puniet and James Toseland.
It was a potentially sound bet and it looked like a winner after Michelin riders won two of the first three races (Pedrosa won Jerez after Stoner on Bridgestone won the opener in Qatar, and then Lorenzo won the third round in Portugal). Rossi then won three in a row on Bridgestone, but Pedrosa hung close with two seconds, a fourth, and a third after his win in Jerez, and then won again in Spain, this time in Barcelona at Round 7.
Stoner then won the next three on his Bridgestone-shod Ducati, but when tenth round began at the Sachsenring in Germany, Pedrosa was leading the points table by four points over Rossi (171 – 167) with reigning champion Stoner 29 points back of the Spaniard.
