Cycle News Staff | July 16, 2008
The following release is from Repsol Honda: FULL REPSOL HONDA LINE-UP AT MotoGP’s RODEO RACETRACK MotoGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT PREVIEW UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX, LAGUNA SECA July 18/19/20 2008, round 11 of 18 Dani Pedrosa will join Repsol Honda team-mate Nicky Hayden at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, despite the heavy tumble he took during last Sunday’s rain-lased German GP. World Championship challenger Pedrosa was leading the race when he fell at high speed, fracturing the left index finger and the big bone of the left wrist and spraining his right ankle. After the accident he immediately returned to Spain where he was treated by the doctor Xavier Mir at Barcelona’s Instituto Universitari Dexeus hospital. He left hospital at noon on Tuesday and flew to the US on Wednesday. 2006 MotoGP World Champion Hayden, winner of the 2005 and 2006 US GPs, comes to Laguna Seca following a run of ill luck and hoping that the first of his two home races this year will turn things around for him and his pneumatic-valve RC212V. Sunday’s US GP is the last event of a frantic run of six races over eight weekends. The MotoGP circus now takes its traditional summer break, reconvening for the Czech GP on August 15/16/17. Repsol Honda and the rest of the MotoGP grid returns to the United States for the inaugural Indianapolis motorcycle Grand Prix on September 12/13/14. Dani Pedrosa “In agreement with my doctor we have decided that I will fly to the US and I will do my best to ride this weekend. We know that it will not be easy and that we won’t know my exact situation until I get on the bike on Friday morning. This is a difficult time for me, of course, but my will is strong and if it is possible for me to ride the bike properly then I really want to ride. Laguna is a physically demanding track when you are 100 per cent, so it will be tough with my injuries, but I know I can count on the support of the people around me to get me in the best possible shape. Laguna is what I call an ‘old school’ circuit, with a lot of steep uphill and downhill sections. The fans are great there, very respectful of all the riders, so I would like to do my best for them. We will see what we can do. I would like to thank everyone around me and also my fans for their support over the last few days.” Nicky Hayden “I’m excited to go to Laguna, even if we go there on a bit of a run of bad luck. Hopefully things will turn around for us, it would be a nice place to get everything to roll from Friday through to Sunday. Whatever happens I’ll just keep pushing. Laguna certainly has a special place in my heart. The track itself is like one big lap, it’s not like all different sections, a lot of the turns lead into one another, so you’ve really got to put it all together. Like if you screw up the Corkscrew you miss the next three or four corners. It’s a very technical track and I love it. Racing your home race is always a special deal and something I don’t take lightly. The first couple of years I came to MotoGP we didn’t have a US GP so I think that makes me cherish it, treasure it even more. I wouldn’t say it’s my home track as far as knowing it goes because the MotoGP guys have had three years there, so I don’t think it has any advantage for me anymore. But that home crowd’s got to be worth something. Last year we struggled, it was our worse place for tyres all year. But I’m excited now because I’ve seen how much Michelin have improved at other tracks this year.”
