Pedrosa back on the podium after Brno disappointment

Casey Stoner achieved at the United States his seventh victory of the season —third consecutive— after dominating the race from the sixth lap, when he overtook Dani Pedrosa. The Spaniard was with him on the podium, confirming the fourth 1-2 of the season after the ones achieved in France, England and the Czech Republic.

Casey Stoner saw Pedrosa having a fantastic start and was even overtaken by Lorenzo. The Australian recovered the second place in the third lap, although a lap later he was about to fall with no television camera registering it. The front tyre of his Honda RC212V slid in a corner, the steering was blocked and thanks to his left elbow, that connected with the asphalt, he was saved from crashing. After that he was able to catch Pedrosa and, in the sixth lap, he took the lead of the race.

From that moment on, Stoner left no chance for his rivals. Increasing his advantage tenth after tenth, the Repsol rider rode at record pace, and he broke the record in lap 20, when he set the fastest lap of the race. Behind him, Dani Pedrosa also secured the second position of the race, with a wide margin over the third, that was finally Ben Spies, more than ten seconds behind the Repsol Honda Team rider.

With very little time to rest, the Motorcycling World Championship will return to Europe next weekend for the Grand Prix of San Marino and Rivera di Rímini.

Dani Pedrosa 2nd at 4.828 sec.
“We are very happy with second place today for several reasons. After yesterday’s qualifying session, we had to work hard to reduce the one second gap we had from Casey [Stoner], it wasn’t normal to be so far away from him.

To finish second after the crash in Brno is a great feeling. I knew that my race pace wouldn’t be as fast as Casey’s, but the team did a very good job, helped me to feel more comfortable with the front and I was able to find a good rhythm, just 3-4 tenths slower than Casey. It was a tough race being alone, but I focused on my lap times and I made my best lap at the end, so I’m happy with my performance and the bike.

To get 20 points is not so bad after the crash in Brno and I look forward to going to Misano next week to try and take another step forward”.

Source: Repsol Media