Estoril MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa anxious to check shoulder recovery

Dani Pedrosa says he’s anxious to understand whether surgery on his left shoulder during the recent MotoGP break has completely cured a numbness issue that plagued him in the opening two races of the 2011 campaign.

The Repsol Honda rider has struggled with a numbness issue in his left arm and hand in Qatar and Jerez because of a problem that materialised after he underwent surgery last October to repair a badly broken left collarbone he suffered in practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Pedrosa learned a compressed artery, which restricted blood flow to his left arm, was the cause of the issue and he underwent further surgery earlier this month to solve the problem.

But the Spaniard, who has ridden heroically to finish third and second in the opening two races, said he would only learn the true extent of his improvement when he rides his factory Honda RC212V bike in Estoril tomorrow (Friday).

Pedrosa said: “I am really looking forward to tomorrow because there should at least be some improvement because the plate and the screws are all out. When I woke up after the surgery I had pain but it was a relief to feel everything free and I hope I have some improvement to do some good races.”

“The collarbone was broken quite badly broken last year and it was like an S shape. There are many places where the nerve and the arteries go round the collarbone and the now the collarbone is straighter. There was not enough space in a certain position for the artery and I lost the blood circulation.”

“That’s why I can’t say if the surgery has solved this problem 100 per cent or I might need to do something else. I have to try on the bike and check the feeling. But I must have some improvement because the plate is out and we have checked that the artery is not damaged after so long with this compression problem.”

“It looks like it is fine and that was a big relief. It should be good but by how much I don’t know. We had some options to do some different surgery but for the time we had and to be fit for this race, this option was the most clever to do.”