Pedrosa forced to withdraw from Laguna Seca race
Pedrosa fractured his left index finger and the big bone of his left wrist, as well as suffering a badly sprained right ankle, in the fall. Following a consultation with his specialist Dr Xavier Mir in Barcelona, Pedrosa bravely elected to travel to California to attempt to race and score some points. Going into the German GP he had been leading the World Championship.
Yesterday morning Pedrosa took painkilling pills before the first session but the pain was so bad that he could only complete 21 laps at a reduced pace. Before the afternoon outing he had an anti-pain infiltration and was able to do 28 laps, ending the day 15th fastest. However, the two sessions had aggravated his injuries, the difficulties compounded by the fact that Laguna is an immensely physical anti-clockwise circuit that places immense demands on the left hand, arm and wrist. Taking everything into consideration he decided that it would be impossible for him to finish the grueling 32 lap race. Pedrosa will now devote all his energies to recuperating during MotoGP’s traditional summer break to return to action at the Czech Grand Prix on August 15/16/17.
Pedrosa last missed a race at the end of the 2003 season, shortly after he had secured that year’s 125 World Championship, his first world title. He missed the Australian and Valencia GPs after breaking both ankles during practice for the Australian round. The Repsol Honda Team’s lone representative in tomorrow’s US GP, round 11 of this year’s 18 race series, will be Pedrosa’s team-mate Nicky Hayden.
Dani Pedrosa
“This has been a very difficult decision to take, but there really is no alternative. Yesterday I struggled a lot. I rode in the morning using only painkilling pills and the pain was incredible, so I had an anti-pain infiltration before the afternoon session. Despite that, I still had a lot of pain. I did a nine lap run and it felt like 40 laps. When I woke this morning I had a lot of pain and the fingers were very swollen. I knew that I couldn’t finish the race in these conditions. To face 32 laps would have been impossible, especially since this track is very physically demanding, with many uphill and downhill sections and many left-handers which demand a lot of effort from the left hand and arm. At least I tried – if I had stayed at home I would never have known if I could have ridden. Now I have three weeks to recover and do all the necessary rehabilitation to be ready to race in Brno in the best-possible condition."
Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager
“After the effort Dani made coming to the United States following the operation, it’s a great pity that he cannot race. Yesterday he tried but despite the pain in the hand and especially in the wrist he knew it would be very difficult to finish the race, despite taking more risks. We have appreciated Dani’s strong will to come here and we all support him. Now the most important thing is that he recovers for Brno."