331 LX

So Pissed.



Dani Pedrosa committed motor racing's most cardinal sin at Estoril on Sunday, when he took out world championship leading team-mate Nicky Hayden in a moment of madness that could cost the American the 2006 MotoGP crown.

Hayden started the penultimate event of the season with a 12-point lead over reigning five-times champion Valentino Rossi, who converted pole position into an early race lead - while his Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards dutifully held station in second.

By contrast, there was no such co-operation between Repsol Honda team-mates Pedrosa and Hayden - the cited reason being that fifth in the championship Pedrosa still had a slim mathematical chance of the title - but team orders is one thing, team destruction another.

Yet, exactly one lap after Hayden had squeezed inside Pedrosa for third, and with the 28 lap race less than seven-minutes old, the Spaniard - in a moment of utter madness - gambled Hayden and Honda's entire world championship lead on an inexcusably optimistic attempt to retake the position, which he later blamed on a braking mistake.

The 2006 rookie of the year - previously renowned for his cool head - appeared to forget who pays his wages as he tried to make the panicky pass stick but, as Hayden turned in to the left hander, Dani already had nowhere to go, lost his front wheel and wiped them both out.

Hayden, who has finished every other race this season, desperately tried to rejoin, but the damage to his RCV was too great and the furious American was left punching the ground amidst screams of anger and abuse directed at Dani... but most would probably have punched Pedrosa, whose fumbled pass was one of the most costly team-mate-on-team-mate mistakes ever seen in world championship motorcycle racing.

"I don't know what to say really - it just hurts," said a stunned Hayden. "Everybody's made a big deal about team orders, but I don't sign (Pedrosa's) cheques so I can't tell him what to do. I didn't expect Dani to pull over and let me by, but I definitely didn't expect him to do that.

"We should have had a plan in place - even when I passed Dani the first time he did not want to give the position to me," continued Hayden, his voice breaking. "I mean I had to get off the brakes just to get back by him. He had no orders - Honda didn't tell him not to race me hard - but I was watching Colin just following (Yamaha's) plan perfectly.

"I know it wasn't intentional. I just looked back when I was sliding on the ground and saw it was Dani. I didn't expect it from him - a guy that's won three world championships should know what it's like to fight for a title. I just couldn't believe it was Dani. That's not one of his moves.

"I know Dani was still mathematically in with a shot of the title before the race, but I'm a team player and if it was the other way around I wouldn't have been leaning on him and I wouldn't have been stuffing him. Not for a world championship. Not my team-mate. But like I said Honda didn't tell him. The guy didn't have any team orders and he's paid to race hard. I don't expect guys to pull over for me but we should have had a plan. Come on! 15 races down, a world title on the line, seven other Hondas. It was pretty clear Colin was doing all he could for Rossi. You think he was going to pass Rossi?

"Everybody at Repsol Honda is feeling just as sick as I am. I hate it for myself, for the team, for Dani. You work your whole life for something and to be this close, then have it slip away from you, is tough. I'm not going to just brush it off - it could have cost me the world championship. That's something I'll have to live with for the rest of my life. We're professionals and Dani did come to my motorhome afterwards and we shook hands. I'm sure he hates it and it makes him look terrible. I know he's got to feel bad."

"What can I say? I made a mistake and I'm really sorry," offered Pedrosa. "It's the first time I've hit another rider in my career - it's never happened before in practice or racing in six years and it's happened at the worst moment that I could do it. Obviously I'm very unhappy and Nicky is not happy and I just want to apologise because I made a mistake. I said sorry to Nicky and I can understand that he is very upset – I wish I could change it. I didn't want to pass him at that moment. I braked and my rear wheel came off the ground and then it touched the ground again, I got a little more speed. I couldn't stop the bike and there was nowhere to go. I have a fracture in my little finger but we have time for it to be ok for Valencia."

The only 'good' news for Hayden, Pedrosa and Honda is that Toni Elias deprived Rossi of the full 25 points on offer at Estoril - meaning that the Italian will take an eight, instead of 13-point, championship lead into the Valencia showdown in two week's time.

That is still enough to allow Rossi to finish second and take the title, but if Hayden wins with another rider - such as Pedrosa - third, then Nicky and Honda could sensationally snatch the crown.

"I've proved this weekend that I wasn't going to give up without a fight and even now I believe I'm pretty strong," insisted Nicky. "This was not one of my best tracks and I've come here and gone quick - I was fastest in one session, got on the front row and had a good race pace. I need Dani's help now because anything could happen in Valencia, so I hope they don't suspend him and that his hand's ok. I don't know if I'll forgive him, but I told him there's one way to make it up to me and that's if we run one-two in Valencia, then the championship's still possible. But let's be real, you don't give a guy like Rossi an eight-point lead - he just has to follow me at Valencia."

Hayden falling at a crowded first corner, or suffering a mechanical failure, would have been plain bad luck and all a part of racing - but losing a world championship lead because of a team-mate's suicidal attack was plain stupidity and may cause Honda to review the wording of its 'no teams orders' rule. Certainly, it appears that Pedrosa will now have to help Hayden at Valencia.

"This extraordinary season is not over yet. Obviously our target for the next race at Valencia is for Nicky to win and for Dani to finish second which would give Nicky the riders' championship title," confirmed team manager Makoto Tanaka.

Hayden and Pedrosa have already signed to spend the 2007 season as team-mates.


Source: http://www.crash.net/

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Mudvayne

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Paul

I wanted to jump through the TV and kill someone today moreso than I ever have before.

I was in complete and utter shock.

Lets hope he can win at valencia. but the odds arent really that great.

Chad072

Here's a vid of Nicky after the race. The end of the vid has me thinking that Colin will help Rossi out more by keeping an eye on Dani.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6-TMnllGjc

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Paul

colin got lucky this race that he could even run up front. rossi gave him a tow during qualifying to have him up front with him to help him in the race, but it really was just luck for him.

9/10 times he's stuck in like 12th place.

Chad072

Colin is my favorite American rider because he's from Conroe, which is about 5 miles from where I grew up. I was really hoping he'd get his first GP win this year, but he lost it in the last corner. I think he's going to WSB next year, isn't he?

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Paul

nope he's vales teammate again next season. He hasnt signed yet but him and yamaha have already openly said he's staying where he's at.

Chad072

Haven't heard that. Since college football season started, I haven't payed much attention to the news around GP. However, my aside from paint, my bike has completed its transformation from a street bike to a track bike.

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Paul

awesome. yeah, motogp is staying the same pretty much. Gibernau is probably losing the ducati to Casey Stoner and carlos checa is moving up to his spot probably. And Tamada is probably moving to a honda.

331 LX

Wow.

Kills me for real. Knowing Nick and how much this means to him.

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74 Carrera

man I just dont see what the big deal is... No offense but Hayden sounds like a Formula 1 whiner... It's racing and it's part of what happens in racing.. I completely agree that Dani pulled a bonehead move but it's just a part of racing and Hayden just needs to focus on the next race and get it done.. Stuff like this happens in racing all the time(Vickers/Johnson last week in NASCAR). In the heat of the battle and having a slim chance for the title, it's just hard nosed racing and an ill timed mistake, nothing more and nothing less

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Chad072

I'm a Rossi fan and was hoping he'd pull it out. However, I did not want to see Nicky lose the championship like this. Dani knew Nicky was racking to keep his championship lead, and he should have done what was best for his team, much like Edwards did. There's still one race left, so we'll see...

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331 LX

Understood.

It just really makes me mad.. I have known Nick for years, and this is what he put all of his life into. This is what he wanted and he's so close. Either way i'm proud of him and he has done a phenomenal job this year to say the least. Hopefully he can get it done and if not, There is next year. He won't give up and he WILL win. Like i told paul back in the day, just wait until he starts to learn these tracks and the heat will turn on!

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Paul

I disagree. he's not whining. he met and shook dani's hand.

He's been fighting his whole life for a world championship and theres very little he can do at this point to win it. Rossi has a very very good chance of winning the next race, he's just that type of racer, good enough to capitalize on situations like this. he's just bummed/pissed that he had a championship chance and he lost it because of an accident that his team mate caused.

heres a video of the interview, gives a little better perspective than the transcript. the guy is nearly in tears.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6-TMnllGjc

74 Carrera

I'm rooting for Rossi as well.. I completely agree that it was a dumb move but personally i think any form of racing that imposes team orders like F1 and some of the GP guys do is just gay. Kudos to Honda for letting them race, even if it dicked them over in the end

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Kishan

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BlackVenom96

i yelled when i saw it on TV and my parents didnt know what the **** i was yelling about.

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Paul

Rossi has just had a way lucky season. He's bypassed numerous rules (the qualifying based off practice times, passing under a yellow flag and not getting penalized, etc)
nicky said about5035003 times during the interview "well thats just racing, I cant say I blame the guy"

Chad072

This is also Nicky's first DNF, yet Rossi had 3 I think, and was only 12 points back going into this race. I don't see how Rossi's season could be seen as lucky, since this was Nicky's first hard break of the season.

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