Dani Pedrosa: "I just didn't have the speed to stick with them"

© Repsol Media Service. Dani Pedrosa took his RC212V to fourth place in Sunday's Grand Prix of China, a result which maintains his third position in the World Championship. The Spaniard made a solid start from fifth on the grid and kept pace with the leaders in the opening phase of the race at the 5.281km (3.280-mile) Shanghai International Circuit. After battling past Marco Melandri on the Gresini Honda, Pedrosa found himself two seconds down on the front three riders and it proved to be a gap he could not bridge. The 21-year-old former 125 and 250cc World Champion, who won last year's race in China, held off Melandri to take a valuable 13 championship points.

"Well we'll take the points for fourth place because these are useful for the Championship, even though it would have been nice to be on the podium today," comments Dani Pedrosa. "My start was quite good and I could ride with the leaders for the first few laps. However the riders in front were very fast today and in the end the pace was just too quick for us. For the middle part of the race I had a battle with Melandri and when I was able to get past him they had made a gap. Still, I don't think I could have stayed with them today. They were going even faster than the pace in the practice sessions which we were not really expecting. I tried very hard to the end of the race and the Michelin tyres worked quite well today but I just didn't have the speed to stick with them so I settled for fourth place. I'm sure the team will be putting in a lot of effort so we can have a good result in Le Mans." © Repsol Media Service.

Fortune once again played a part in the outcome of the race for the Repsol Honda Team and this time it was Nicky Hayden who was the innocent victim of a first corner incident. The World Champion made a good start from ninth on the grid and was holding a tight line into the first corner when he was hit from behind by Toni Elias, forcing Hayden to ride across the grass and return to the track in 16th place. The gutsy American's RC212V sustained some damage to the swing-arm and bodywork in the incident but despite this Hayden maintained a fast pace for the entire race, setting his fastest time on lap 18, and made up four places to finish in 12th place.

© Repsol Media Service. "This morning I was fifth fastest in the warm-up and I was definitely looking to get my best result of the year, so it's a pity about that first corner incident," said Nicky Hayden. "I got a decent start and going round the inside I felt pretty good and was in a decent position. Then somebody just drilled me from behind and I was lucky to stay on the bike. I was out of the saddle, then my feet were dragging on the ground and I was pretty much cowboying it through the dirt and trying to not come back on the track in the middle of the bunch. By the time I was pointing the right way everybody was gone. I wasn't sure how much damage there was on the back of the bike and there was some vibration after the hit. Right now a lot of guys are evenly paced and these things can happen in turn one, but it's frustrating for sure. I recovered as best I could, caught some guys and made a few passes but it was a pretty lonely race after that. We've just got to stay focused and look forward to getting back to Europe and the next race at Le Mans. Hopefully we'll get a result that the team deserves because those guys are all working hard."

Casey Stoner won the 22-lap race for Ducati - the Australian's third win of the season - with Valentino Rossi on a Yamaha in second and John Hopkins in third for Suzuki. The next event on the MotoGP calendar is the Grand Prix of France which takes place at the Le Mans circuit in two weeks time on May 20.

Race Results: