MotoGP news
Pedrosa celebrates third straight podium
13 April 2008Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa had a hard-fought ride to second place in tricky conditions at Estoril today while team-mate Nicky Hayden tumbled out of fourth place while sneaking up on the leading trio. The opening laps of the race were especially tricky because light rain showers had dampened several sections of the circuit.
Pedrosa's third successive podium finish from the first three races - third in Qatar, winner in Spain and second here in Portugal - makes him the equal points leader with today's race winner Jorge Lorenzo. Pedrosa was in the thick of the three-way battle for victory throughout this afternoon's race, moving into third place on lap three, then duking it out with Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi. He got the better of Rossi on lap 15 and worked hard to close the gap on leader Lorenzo, eventually finishing the 28 laps just 1.8 seconds down.
"After our difficult preseason it's good to be in this position now, so we are very happy," said Pedrosa. "Today was a good race, the beginning was quite fun, but also a little dangerous because it was raining a bit and there were a few passing manoeuvres. When the rain stopped, the pace got faster and faster, so we had to concentrate very hard to maintain tyre grip all the time. Eventually we finished second and we're happy. We always expected a tough race, so this result is very important for us. When Lorenzo started pulling away I still had to pass Rossi, then when I did pass Rossi, Lorenzo already had a gap. I tried to close the gap, or at least maintain it, and the gap stayed the same more or less for the remainder of the race. Finally we got second and it's a good result."
Nicky Hayden commented, "The first few laps were certainly not easy, some parts of the track were a little wetter than others and I had on a pretty hard tyre. I had been choosing between that tyre and another a little bit softer, but with the way the weather's been this weekend we really hadn't got to do a lot of endurance on the harder one. I got settled in, and the warmer I was getting the tyres the better they were working and I was able to start moving up, so things were feeling pretty good. I made a few passes, I'd just got into fourth, felt like I wanted to close the gap on the guys in front of me. You know, I got fourth place at Jerez and I certainly didn't want to settle in there and ride around, so I had to push hard and you know when you push hard you make mistakes. It's not a parade you can't just cruise around. The bike was working good, the tyres were working good, I felt pretty comfortable, so I was pushing. Turn seven's downhill, certainly a trick corner, the front let go pretty early and down I went. It's unfortunate because the bike was working good and we were hungry for a good result, so my own mistake. We just have to step it up a bit."
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