Pedrosa feeling confident about Californian visit

Currently sitting fifth in the World Championship standings, tied on points with Yamaha satellite rider Colin Edwards and behind his own team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, it is fair to say things have not gone according to plan so far in 2009 for Dani Pedrosa.

A series of injury problems dating back well into the 2008 campaign and his latest mishap at Assen, where he crashed out when well positioned early in the race, have hindered the highly talented Catalan rider – who wants to use this weekend’s Laguna Seca race to put things right.

Pedrosa has reasons to be cheerful despite his problems, having qualified second on the grid at Assen on the evolving RC212V which has recently been updated with a new chassis.

The 23 year-old also has a decent record at Laguna having finished second on his first visit to the track in 2006, when he set a new lap record. In 2007 he finished fifth after qualifying second.

Last year Pedrosa tried to ride in Friday practice but then withdrew from the event suffering from injuries received in the previous round in Germany. He has perhaps not shown his full strengths since then, but his current injuries are improving and he is in a positive frame of mind ahead of round eight.

“I’m actually really looking forward to getting to Laguna and I’m feeling confident going into the weekend, as I was before Assen,” revealed the Honda star. “The result there wasn’t great, but there’s no reason why we can’t have a strong race in the US. I felt much better on the bike in Assen than I did in Barcelona and, although my physical fitness is not at 100% because I haven’t been training as usual for quite a while, the injury is getting better and isn’t giving me any problems on the machine.”

On returning to the States for the first time this year, Pedrosa added, “The Laguna track itself is unique and it can be a lot of fun to ride, as long as you’re going quickly. When you’re struggling it obviously isn’t quite as much fun! As a team we’ve got to continue working hard and bring the whole machine package up to a level where we can compete for wins again. We’re making progress and with luck Laguna will take us closer to that target.”