Dani Pedrosa had one of the more eventful races of his premier class career in Qatar, and certainly earned his eventual five point haul from the opening round of the MotoGP World Championship season. Riding injured, the Spaniard very nearly saw his race ended in a collision with Alex de Angelis, and had some harsh words for the San Marino rider after coming home eleventh.
“He came straight into me, I was in front and he came into me to close me down. (He showed…) no respect, but life will return the favour to him,” seethed the Repsol Honda rider, who had been battling with De Angelis and Chris Vermeulen at the time of the incident. Vermeulen had passed him, but De Angelis’ attempted opportunism led to his touching the Repsol Honda rider and facing a meeting with the stewards following the race.
For Pedrosa –far from fully fit after leg and arm surgery- the collision severely affected his ability to take further positions and could have added another niggle to his list of injuries.
“After eight or nine laps at the front I started to have some vibration, and I don’t know why that was. Finally I started to lose a lot of grip, and when De Angelis touched me I began to have pain in my shoulder. It’s probably nothing, but I will get it checked out anyway.”
Pedrosa eventually held onto eleventh place from former teammate Nicky Hayden in a drag to the line.