Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa (Photo: Honda Pro Images) » More Photos

PEDROSA PUTS IN DETERMINED RIDE TO TAKE SECOND

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) rode a coolly calculating race at rapid pace to settle for second place behind winner Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) and ahead of third-placed Casey Stoner (Ducati). Dani has now finished on the podium at the last five Grands Prix.

Rain fell before the earlier 125 and 250cc races but the track was largely dry when the grid formed for the premier class encounter. Some runners thought about riding with intermediates but then settled on slicks for this 22-lap Grand Prix.

Stoner fired his machine off the line to head the pack into turn one with poleman Colin Edwards (Yamaha) on his tail and then Rossi holding an early third spot as the field poured out of one of the tightest turns in Grand Prix racing without incident. Dani lay fourth at this early stage.

It first looked as though Edwards might have a significant advantage as the Texan rider opened up a half second lead on Stoner and Rossi as a fast-starting Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) worked on getting past Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) for fifth place.

But it was Dani who took control at the head of the field on lap two when he scythed past Rossi for third, before dispatching Stoner in second and then on the same lap taking Edwards for the lead. Rossi saw the danger of Dani making a big break and the Italian immediately upped his pace to chase the rapidly disappearing Dani.

By lap three Pedrosa held a 1.1 second advantage as Rossi dived past Edwards to make chase. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda RC212V) too was on the move, the rookie star snatching fifth as Dani put in an early fastest lap of 2m 00.585s to hold a 0.2 second advantage over Rossi.

But Rossi made his move on Dani on lap five and by the end of that lap he had extended a 0.35 second lead over the Honda man. Edwards meanwhile had run wide at turn one and dropped from third to seventh.

No one could stay with Rossi and Pedrosa and the duo were two seconds ahead of the pursuing Stoner by lap eight. Nicky was fourth at this stage ahead of a revitalized Marco Melandri (Ducati) in fifth.

Dani put in another fastest lap on lap ten as he tried to stay with Rossi. Stoner by now was almost out of sight, a full seven seconds shy of the leaders, such was the dominance of the leading pair. As Rossi upped the pace still further he managed to put 0.6 seconds between him and Dani.

The big fight was for fourth place between Melandri, Dovi, Edwards and Lorenzo. This was acted out while Rossi’s lead over Dani varied between half a second at best and quarter of a second when Dani worked his RC 212V out the turns to claw back some ground.

As the race entered the closing laps Rossi fired in a 1m 59.273s fastest lap to make Dani realize his pursuit might be in vain. Sure enough by lap 20 of this 22-lap affair, the Italian former World Champion was enjoying a comparatively comfortable one second cushion over Pedrosa.

At the flag the clock showed 3.7 seconds, Dani having decided that a safe second place at this early stage of an 18-race season was of far higher value than the risk of throwing away vital points in a vain attempt to pass the leader in only the fourth race.

There have now been four different winners of these four races and with Lorenzo finishing fourth, the title race now shows Dani leading the pack on 81 points, Lorenzo second with 74, Rossi on 72 and Stoner fourth on 56. Nicky lies eighth with 29 after a sixth place finish today.

Dani said: “I’m very happy with today’s result. We had been expecting a wet race, so to get second today is fantastic and it’s 20 good points for the Championship. I started a bit cautious during the early laps because I didn’t know what the track conditions were like, but then Valentino and I began to set an extremely fast pace. Lap by lap our rhythm got faster. I had the advantage through the middle section of the track, he had the advantage through the first and last sections. My Michelin tires were working really well and we were riding at lap record pace all through the race. The wind was very strong today, so my engine was over-revving, which is why I decided to ride a little more conservatively in the final laps to secure second place and the World Championship lead.”

Nicky said: “We knew starting tenth was never going to be easy. I got a really good start and a good first corner too, but I just couldn’t go with the lead group today. We had a huge tailwind on the back straightaway, so I was running out of gear. It made it so hard to get it stopped for the corner at the end of the straight, so a lot of guys were running wide. Mid-race I had a few problems, felt a few drops of rain, and my corner speed in the long turns wasn’t so good. Towards the end I changed a few little things with my lines and the traction control settings. There was a lot of good battling going on but it would’ve been better to have been battling for a better position.”

Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V), a relatively encouraging tenth, said: “The track conditions weren't easy today because there were still damp patches when we started. It wasn't actually a bad start for me and I made up some positions. In the second half of the race my pace improved and I was able to pass Dovizioso for tenth, although I'm not satisfied with that. Now we have to take the positives out of this weekend for the next race in France.”

Dovi was 11th at the flag after he lost grip late on the race. He said: “The final result doesn’t show our real potential. From 11th on the grid I knew I was still in a good condition to fight for the top positions. During the first part of race I could really show my potential for a good result. I was so sorry to be further back at the chequered flag but the weather conditions forced us to make some technical choices that we had not really tested in these conditions. I tried to resist the attacks from Hayden and Melandri, but unfortunately I didn’t have the chance to fight.”

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) finished 13th and said: “My start was bad but at the end of the first lap before the main straight Hopkins tried to overtake but made a big mistake and I went wide. I was able to stay up to continue my race but the front-end wasn’t quite working well enough. The situation improved after some laps when I passed Guintoli. I also tried my best to pass Toseland but it was not possible. Honestly we expected a better result here and I hope to do a good race in Le Mans.”

Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) was 16th. He said: “We knew it wouldn't be easy for us in the dry but early in the race I was hit by Hopkins when we were braking into turn one and we both ran wide, although thankfully neither of us crashed. From then on it wasn't easy to stay in touch with the group and virtually impossible to get amongst them. The bike was becoming harder to ride as the race wore on and we have to study the telemetry to find out why. I think we need to go back to the setting we had in pre-season and start again.”