Dani Pedrosa takes an impressive third place at Brno

Pedrosa remains in second place in the championship, 25 points behind Hayden. © Repsol Media Service. Dani Pedrosa has taken an impressive third place in todays Grand Prix of the Czech Republic adding a new podium finish to the record of his already successful season in the premier class. While young Dani Pedrosa was heading towards his seventh podium of the season, team mate and series leader Nicky Hayden remained in contention for the first third of the race before a clutch problem compounded a lack of traction at the rear and the Kentucky rider slipped down through the field, eventually finishing in ninth.

Despite a good start of the race both for Hayden – third after the first lap – and Pedrosa – fifth – Hayden began alarmingly loosing ground on the leading riders on the eighth lap of the race. Capirossi made his own race, opening a big gap and riding in solitary to achieve his second victory of the season. The Spaniard rider remained on Rossi's tail for the next ten laps before making his move. The reigning MotoGP and 250cc World Champions then began a thrilling duel for second position, with Pedrosa passing Rossi numerous times, only for the Italian to retake the place. With three laps to go, Pedrosa made a small mistake and lost a second which he wasn't able to regain, deciding to bring his Repsol Honda home in third. The result means Pedrosa remains in second place in the championship, 25 points behind Hayden.

Dani Pedrosa: “I think we did a great race and third place is very good for me because I started from ninth on the grid. I made a good start but I think it could have been even better and I could have made up even more places into the first corner. When I caught Valentino I was waiting because it was very early in the race. By that point though, Capirossi was already gone – he was too fast for us today. So we were battling for second place and we did some very good overtaking manoeuvres, some of them very aggressive. We were pushing very hard. With three laps remaining I made a mistake at one corner and lost a second that I couldn't recover, so for the last lap I decided to finish third. I'm looking forward to the next races.”

Despite the misfortune, Nicky Hayden remained confident of bouncing back with a good result at the next round in Malaysia. And he retains a healthy lead in the world championship, 25 points clear of his team-mate.

Listen to Nicky Hayden's declarations by clicking here: "Hayden Audio"

Nicky Hayden: “I was going pretty good for the first part of the race. I made a good start and was feeling comfortable running in third. The result's frustrating and we had a few little issues in the race – but I'm not going to dwell on that. The bottom line is that the result is not what we wanted this weekend, but that's racing. One week you win and the next you're ninth – that's the level of the competition in MotoGP. We've had some tough results this year and we've bounced back so we'll regroup and do that again. I've got some great support from fans at home and abroad and that means a lot to me. I knew it was going to be hard work but me and my boys are strong so we'll put in a couple of days testing and come back fighting for the next one.”

The Repsol Honda Team remains at the Brno circuit for two days of testing in preparation for an intense race schedule which sees the next three races on three successive weekends. The Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang circuit takes place on September 10, followed by Australia (Phillip Island, September 17) and Japan (Motegi, September 24).
(Repsol Honda Team)

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