Pedrosa takes podium at Hayden´s last Honda hurrah

Repsol Honda ran a special livery for the final race of the season, put on display on the MotoGP podium in Valencia by Dani Pedrosa. He missed out on the top step of the rostrum to a dominant Casey Stoner, whilst Nicky Hayden finished his final Grand Prix for Honda in a creditable fifth place.

Dani Pedrosa - Second

`I am happy with second place today. I pushed Casey as hard as I could but he had something a little extra and he managed the gap very well. We worked hard all weekend, so my thanks to my team and also to Repsol, the bike I rode today was one of the best-looking bikes I´ve ridden. The crowd was great, it was fantastic to see so many fans here, packing the grandstands and obviously really enjoying the spectacle and pushing us along. Overall, I am also happy with the last few races, because we were able to come back from a difficult period during the middle of the season. We changed tyres and I came in for some criticism, but finally we got back on the pace at the last few races, running close to the front in the wet and in the dry. It hasn´t been the easiest of years. I broke my right hand during preseason testing, I broke my left hand in Germany and I injured my left knee at Phillip Island. These injuries caused me to lose my rhythm and they interrupted our development work, while everyone else was racing and improving their bikes. I have had to push really hard to come back from all these injuries. Tomorrow we start testing for 2009 – I am looking forward to it because things are going well now. I hope to have a good off-season and stay healthy.´

Nicky Hayden - Fifth

`We started out the weekend like a bit of a fairytale – fastest in the first three sessions, so we were off to a good start, I think the conditions were better for us then. Yesterday afternoon we were third and on the front row, then this morning we had a big off which probably didn´t help things. I just lost the front at turn nine, maybe conditions were a bit too cool for that front tyre. I had to swap bikes for the race and my crew had to change a lot of stuff: callipers, swingarm and so on. My other bike didn´t feel so smooth. It wasn't too bad but I definitely liked my first bike better, but that was my fault. In the race I didn´t quite get the start I wanted and those guys were just quicker in the beginning, my rhythm wasn´t quick enough. It obviously would´ve been better to finish my last race with Honda a bit stronger. I rode hard this weekend, now I´m looking forward to doing something different. I have to finish off by saying thanks to my team, to Honda, to Michelin and to everybody here. They made me a world champ, I´m grateful to them all.´