US MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa aims for landmark win

Dani Pedrosa is aiming to break two personal records in this weekend’s American MotoGP race at Laguna Seca on Sunday.

Pedrosa has never won back-to-back races in the premier class but arrives in California brimming with confidence after his brilliant win in Germany last weekend.
The Spaniard has also never won more than two races in each of his five season’s in the MotoGP world championship, and victory in America would be his third in 2010 with only half of the campaign completed.

The 24-year-old said: ““I never thought about this and it could be good motivation for me this weekend.”

Pedrosa said he was confident of a second successive victory in Laguna Seca with the spectacular California venue similar in nature to the tight and twisty Sachsenring.
The Repsol Honda rider, who is currently negotiating a new deal with HRC for 2011, added:

“It is very similar and the lap time is also very similar and the times can be really close, so it is a track where you have to be perfect in every corner to get a good lap time. It is a difficult track that normally you can’t make any mistakes on if you want to do well.

“It is a hard track and the rivals are very strong here. Last year we saw a tight race. I was leading but the lap times were close. But I’ll try to keep my feet on the ground. The last races have been good for me and I’m confident.”

Pedrosa said he would learn much about his prospects for the 32-lap race at the end of today’s opening free practice session.

The triple world champion has found it difficult to find a set-up quickly at some tracks with the finicky factory RC212V machine.

He added: “I want to keep my feet on the floor.  On Friday in Germany we had a good starting point and hopefully we can start on the right foot again and be competitive straightaway from Friday. That gives you a big step for the whole weekend.”