Saturday, July 19, 2008
A rider challenging for the World Championship, in fifteenth place on the opening day of practice. The timesheets alone show that Dani Pedrosa is far from 100% at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.
The finger, wrist and ankle injuries picked up in Sachsenring are undoubtedly proving problematic for the Repsol Honda rider, and mentor Alberto Puig has revealed that the title contender could yet withdraw from the Sunday race.
`The truth is that Dani is in a lot of pain and is having a lot of problems with his hand. He had an operation on Monday and it´s praiseworthy for him to have come here at all,´ said Puig of his protégé.
`It´s his -and only his- decision as to whether he rides or not, and I really don´t know what he is will choose to do,´ he continued.
`The track is demanding, and the amount of left corners further complicates matters; Dani received injections before the afternoon session and managed to improve his time by two seconds, and the doctors are treating him as best they can to reduce the inflammation.´
The matter is further complicated by the strong position of Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi –Pedrosa´s title rivals- after the opening day of practice, meaning that there is added pressure on the young Spaniard to pick up points for the World Championship hunt.