Dani Pedrosa

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Dani Pedrosa
Dani Pedrosa
Nationality	Spanish
Date of birth	September 29, 1985 (1985-09-29) (age 22)
Place of birth	Sabadell, Spain
Website	danipedrosa.com
MotoGP Record
Current team	Repsol Honda Team
Bike number	2
World Championships	3 125cc: 2003 250cc: 2004, 2005
Race starts	119
Race Wins	28
Podium finishes	62
Pole positions	28
Fastest laps	28
Championship Points	1759
2008 Championship position	2nd (135 pts) - In Progress

Daniel "Dani" Pedrosa Ramal (born September 29, 1985 in Sabadell, Spain) is a Grand Prix motorcycle racer [1]. Pedrosa grew up in a village near Sabadell called Castellar del Vallès. He is the youngest world champion in 125cc and 250cc Grands Prix. Pedrosa is 1.58m (5ft, 2in) tall and weighs 51kg (112.4lbs).

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Early days 1.2 125cc 1.3 250cc 1.4 MotoGP 2006 2 Career statistics 2.1 By Seasons 2.2 By class 2.3 Races by year 3 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Early days

Dani Pedrosa started riding bikes at the early age of four, when he got his first motorcycle, an Italjet 50, which had side-wheels. His first racing bike was a minibike replica of Kawasaki, which he got at the age of six and which he used to race with his friends. Pedrosa experienced real racing at the age of 11, when he entered the Spanish Minibike Championship and ended his debut season in second place, scoring his first podium finish in the second race of the season. The next year, Pedrosa entered the same championship, but health problems prevented him from improving his results and he ended that season in 3rd position.

[edit] 125cc

In 2001, Pedrosa made his World Championship debut in the 125cc class after being selected from the Movistar Activa Cup, a series designed to promote fresh racing talent in Spain, back in 1999. Under the guidance of Alberto Puig, Pedrosa scored two podium finishes in the first season and won his first race the following year, when he finished third in the championship. In 2003, he won five races and won the championship with two rounds remaining, scoring 223 points. In his first championship winning year, Pedrosa scored five victories and six podium finishes. A week after winning the championship, eighteen year old Pedrosa broke both of his ankles in a crash during practice at Phillip Island (Australia), ending his season.

[edit] 250cc

After winning the 125cc Championship, Pedrosa moved up to the 250cc class in 2004 without a proper test on the new bike because his ankles were healing during the off-season. Going into the season unprepared, Pedrosa won the first race in South Africa and went on to clinch the 250cc World Championship title, including rookie of the year honours. In his first season in 250cc class, Pedrosa scored 7 victories and 13 podium finishes. Pedrosa decided to stay for one more season in 250cc class, and he won another title, once again with two races remaining in championship. In 2005, Pedrosa won 8 races and scored 14 podium finishes, despite a shoulder injury he sustained in practice session for Japanese Grand Prix.

[edit] MotoGP 2006

Pedrosa made the move to 990cc MotoGP bikes in 2006, still riding for Honda. Critics said that Pedrosa's tiny stature wasn't strong enough to handle a big, heavy MotoGP bike and successfully race in the premier class. Proving them wrong, he finished second in the opening round at Jerez on March 26, 2006. At his fourth ever MotoGP appearance, on May 14, 2006, during the Chinese Grand Prix race weekend held in Shanghai, he won his first MotoGP race. This win made him the exact equal 2nd youngest winner (tied with the late Norick Abe) in the Premier Class^[1] behind Freddie Spencer. He won his second MotoGP race at Donington Park and became a strong candidate for the MotoGP Championship. It was a memorable victory for Dani, who shared the podium first time with Valentino Rossi in 2nd place. He also took 2 pole positions in the first half of the season.

Until the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, Pedrosa was 2nd in the Championship only behind his more experienced team-mate Nicky Hayden. However, he fell heavily during Free Practice and suffered a severe gash to the knee; which practically rendered him immobile. Pedrosa qualified 5th on the grid in that race due to the cancellation of the qualifying session proper due to heavy rainfall. He miraculously managed to finish 3rd in that race, only behind Rossi and Ducati rider Loris Capirossi. However, in the next races, his form dropped and he struggled with the bike; moving him down to 5th place in the MotoGP standings.

His poor performance continued at Estoril. After a promising start, he briefly ran 2nd before being passed by Colin Edwards and then championship leader and teammate Nicky Hayden. On lap 5, he and Hayden were involved in a crash. Pedrosa slid and crashed out of the race, taking out Hayden on the way. This crash ended his slim chances of winning the championship and also caused Hayden to lose his lead in the championship standings, as Rossi managed to finish 2nd.

However, two weeks later, Hayden recovered to win the championship while Pedrosa managed to finish in 3rd place. Pedrosa ran a strategic race, holding up the field and allowing Hayden to run away from the pack. This result clinched his 5th place in overall standings in his debut season, thus taking the title as Rookie of the Year in MotoGP category, beating fellow rookie and former rival in 250 cc Casey Stoner. At the final (post 2006 season) three day test of 2006 at Jerez Spain, Dani put his 800 cc RC212V at the top of the timesheets (on qualifying tyres) edging out Valentino Rossi by 0.214 seconds. Rossi had been fastest for the first two days of the test. Dani set a time of 1min 39.910 sec around the circuit.

Pedrosa has continued to race with Honda in 2007 and 2008, on their Honda RC212V, the new 800 cc bike for the new season.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] By Seasons

Seas	Class	Moto	Race	Win	Pod	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd	WCh
2001	125cc	Honda RS125R	16	0	2	0	0	100	8th	-
2002	125cc	Honda RS125R	16	3	9	6	2	243	3rd	-
2003	125cc	Honda RS125R	14	5	6	3	3	223	1st	1
2004	250cc	Honda RS250RW	16	7	13	4	8	317	1st	1
2005	250cc	Honda RS250RW	16	8	11	5	7	309	1st	1
2006	MotoGP	Honda RC211V	17	2	8	4	4	215	5th	-
2007	MotoGP	Honda RC212V	18	2	8	5	3	242	2nd	-
2008	MotoGP	Honda RC212V	7	2	6	1	1	135	2nd	-
Total			119	28	62	28	28	1759		3

[edit] By class

Class	Seas	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125 cc	2001-2003	2001 Japan	2001 Valencia	2002 Dutch	46	8	17	9	5	566	1
250 cc	2004-2005	2004 S. Africa	2004 S. Africa	2004 S. Africa	32	15	24	9	15	626	2
MotoGP	2006-2008	2006 Spain	2006 Spain	2006 China	41	5	21	10	8	567	0
Total	2001-2007				119	28	62	28	28	1759	3

[edit] Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Yr	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Final Pos	Pts
2001	125 cc	Honda	JPN 18	SAF 13	SPA 10	FRA 17	ITA 23	CAT 7	NED Ret	GBR 12	GER 11	CZE 8	POR 5	VAL 3	PAC 3	AUS 7	MAL 4	BRA Ret			8th	100
2002	125 cc	Honda	JPN 8	SAF 3	SPA 4	FRA 3	ITA 4	CAT 2	NED 1	GBR 2	GER 7	CZE 2	POR 10	BRA Ret	PAC 1	MAL 3	AUS 5	VAL 1			3rd	243
2003	125 cc	Honda	JPN 8	SAF 1	SPA 4	FRA 1	ITA 2	CAT 1	NED 8	GBR Ret	GER 4	CZE 1	POR 4	BRA 4	PAC 6	MAL 1	AUS Inj	VAL Inj			1st	223
2004	250 cc	Honda	SAF 1	SPA Ret	FRA 1	ITA 2	CAT 2	NED 2	BRA 2	GER 1	GBR 1	CZE 3	POR 4	JPN 1	QAT 2	MAL 1	AUS 4	VAL 1			1st	317
2005	250 cc	Honda	SPA 1	POR 4	CHN 6	FRA 1	ITA 1	CAT 1	NED 2	GBR 4	GER 1	CZE 1	JPN 2	MAL Ret	QAT 4	AUS 1	TUR 2	VAL 1			1st	309
2006	MotoGP	Honda	SPA 2	QAT 6	TUR 14	CHN 1	FRA 3	ITA 4	CAT Ret	NED 3	GBR 1	GER 4	USA 2	CZE 3	MAL 3	AUS 15	JPN 7	POR Ret	VAL 4		5th	215
2007	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 3	SPA 2	TUR Ret	CHN 4	FRA 4	ITA 2	CAT 3	GBR 8	NED 4	GER 1	USA 5	CZE 4	SMR Ret	POR 2	JPN Ret	AUS 4	MAL 3	VAL 1	2nd	242
2008	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 3	SPA 1	POR 2	CHN 2	FRA 4	ITA 3	CAT 1	GBR -	NED -	GER -	USA -	CZE -	SMR -	IND -	JPN -	AUS -	MAL -	VAL -	2nd*	110*

* - season in progress.

[edit] External links

• danipedrosa.com Official website

Preceded by Manuel Poggiali	250cc Motorcycle World Champion 2004-2005	Succeeded by Jorge Lorenzo
Preceded by Arnaud Vincent	125cc Motorcycle World Champion 2003	Succeeded by Andrea Dovizioso

v • d • e Teams and Riders competing in the 2008 MotoGP World Championship Ducati Marlboro Repsol Honda Rizla Suzuki Fiat Yamaha Honda Gresini Alice Team Kawasaki Racing Yamaha Tech 3 Honda LCR JiR Team Scot 1 Stoner 33 Melandri 2 Pedrosa 69 Hayden 7 Vermeulen 65 Capirossi 46 Rossi 48 Lorenzo 15 de Angelis 56 Nakano 24 Elías 50 Guintoli 13 West 21 Hopkins 5 Edwards 52 Toseland 14 de Puniet   4 Dovizioso

v • d • e Repsol Honda Dani Pedrosa (2) | Nicky Hayden (69) Grand Prix motorcycle : Honda RC212V

v • d • e 125 cc Motorcycle World Champions     1949 - N. Pagani 1950 - B. Ruffo 1951 - C. Ubbiali 1952 - C. Sandford 1953 - W. Haas 1954 - R. Hollaus 1955 - C. Ubbiali 1956 - C. Ubbiali 1957 - T. Provini 1958 - C. Ubbiali 1959 - C. Ubbiali 1960 - C. Ubbiali 1961 - T. Phillis 1962 - L. Taveri 1963 - H. Anderson 1964 - L. Taveri 1965 - H. Anderson 1966 - L. Taveri 1967 - B. Ivy 1968 - P. Read 1969 - D. Simmonds 1970 - D. Braun 1971 - Á. Nieto 1972 - Á. Nieto 1973 - K. Andersson 1974 - K. Andersson 1975 - P. Pileri 1976 - P. Bianchi 1977 - P. Bianchi 1978 - E. Lazzarini 1979 - Á. Nieto 1980 - P. Bianchi 1981 - Á. Nieto 1982 - Á. Nieto 1983 - Á. Nieto 1984 - Á. Nieto 1985 - F. Gresini 1986 - L. Cadalora 1987 - F. Gresini 1988 - J. Martínez 1989 - À. Crivillé 1990 - L. Capirossi 1991 - L. Capirossi 1992 - A. Gramigni 1993 - D. Raudies 1994 - K. Sakata 1995 - H. Aoki 1996 - H. Aoki 1997 - V. Rossi 1998 - K. Sakata 1999 - E. Alzamora 2000 - R. Locatelli 2001 - M. Poggiali 2002 - A. Vincent 2003 - D. Pedrosa 2004 - A. Dovizioso 2005 - T. Lüthi 2006 - Á. Bautista 2007 - G. Talmácsi

v • d • e 250 cc Motorcycle World Champions     1949 - B. Ruffo 1950 - D. Ambrosini 1951 - B. Ruffo 1952 - E. Lorenzetti 1953 - W. Haas 1954 - W. Haas 1955 - H. Müller 1956 - C. Ubbiali 1957 - C. Sandford 1958 - T. Provini 1959 - C. Ubbiali 1960 - C. Ubbiali 1961 - M. Hailwood 1962 - J. Redman 1963 - J. Redman 1964 - P. Read 1965 - P. Read 1966 - M. Hailwood 1967 - M. Hailwood 1968 - P. Read 1969 - K. Carruthers 1970 - R. Gould 1971 - P. Read 1972 - J. Saarinen 1973 - D. Braun 1974 - W. Villa 1975 - W. Villa 1976 - W. Villa 1977 - M. Lega 1978 - K. Ballington 1979 - K. Ballington 1980 - A. Mang 1981 - A. Mang 1982 - J. Tournadre 1983 - C. Lavado 1984 - C. Sarron 1985 - F. Spencer 1986 - C. Lavado 1987 - A. Mang 1988 - S. Pons 1989 - S. Pons 1990 - J. Kocinski 1991 - L. Cadalora 1992 - L. Cadalora 1993 - T. Harada 1994 - M. Biaggi 1995 - M. Biaggi 1996 - M. Biaggi 1997 - M. Biaggi 1998 - L. Capirossi 1999 - V. Rossi 2000 - O. Jacque 2001 - D. Kato 2002 - M. Melandri 2003 - M. Poggiali 2004 - D. Pedrosa 2005 - D. Pedrosa 2006 - J. Lorenzo 2007 - J. Lorenzo