Pedrosa rules out title
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ByEurosport
Published 27/03/2006 at 10:39 GMT
Spanish MotoGP sensation Dani Pedrosa has ruled out winning the title in his debut season despite stunning the sport with a second position in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, becoming the first rider since Max Biaggi and Noryuki Haga to finish their
2006 Spanish GP Jerez Honda Pedrosa
Image credit: Reuters
The performance was quite simply outstanding as not only did Pedrosa out perform fellow Honda team-mates Nicky Hayden and Marco Melandri, but proved to the world that he is more than capable of riding the 990cc Honda RC211V despite his slender build.
"The race was more than what I dreamed of," Pedrosa told Eurosport.es at Jerez. "I was very lucky at the start of the race because I was able to get through the crash between Elias and Rossi, and the Gibernau retired a few lap later so two of the strongest riders were already out of the race.
"The doors opened for me to challenge for the win but when I caught Capirossi my tyres began to wear so I decided to maintain my second position because it was a good result for me an my team."
The 49kg rider did, however, admit to being extremely tired come the end of the race as it was the first time that he completed a race distance since stepping up from 250cc.
"It was very difficult because the motorbike is very complicated," explained Pedrosa. "You have to get the bike ready for the race, to tune it right, but even then it was much harder than in 250cc. You want to attack but at the same time you have to look after your tyres, so it's all about consistency."
Valentino Rossi has sounded out Pedrosa as a likely challenger for his title, but despite claiming 18 more points that the Italian in race one, the Spaniard has ruled out dethroning the Doctor this season.
"I now know that I can compete in MotoGP, but it depends on the circuits," he explained. "Some are more difficult than others, I know Jerez very well but Qatar will be very difficult and I don't know Laguna Seca at all, so I'm not thinking about the title, I just want to be a debutant."
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