US MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa fades to third

Dani Pedrosa’s impressive return to MotoGP action continued at Laguna Seca yesterday after he claimed his fifth podium finish of the season.

The Spaniard looked like challenging for a second victory in a week as he battled hard with Repsol Honda team-mate Casey Stoner and compatriot Jorge Lorenzo for the opening half of the 32-lap race.

But once he dropped behind a hard charging Stoner to third spot on lap 18, he found it too difficult to maintain his pace in his only third race back from the badly broken right collarbone he suffered in Le Mans back in May.

Pedrosa, who had brilliantly won at the Sachsenring in Germany only seven days earlier, said: “At the very beginning I was feeling good. Jorge was pushing very, very hard and I was trying to stick with him. But by the middle of the race I started to feel my arms are not so strong in that moment and then I just start to drop my lap times. I couldn’t fight with the bike so well and I had to go slower. But I’m very happy because it’s only my third race back, but already I’m on the podium again and I was able to match them for at least half a race.

“I just have to work on my physical endurance and then hopefully in the next races I can be stronger until the end of the race. I need to have some rest to get my muscles softer because now they are all like cramped, so I hope to get some rest and then I have to train a little bit to get my fitness back.”

Despite not scoring in four out of ten races following his controversial tangle with Marco Simoncelli in Le Mans, Pedrosa still climbed above Valentino Rossi into fourth place in the world championship standings and he said: “It’s pretty impressive for me to be back and riding so well so soon. This weekend has been a little bit harder to set-up the bike to get rear grip, but again I am on the podium and I am very, very pleased with that. With last weekend’s win and this podium, I think we are doing things in the right direction.”

For seven pages of news and reaction from the US Grand Prix, see the July 27 issue of MCN.