Pedrosa nearing full fitness ahead of Motegi
Added on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Pedrosa nearing full fitness ahead of Motegi
Dani Pedrosa is confident that he will be close to full fitness this weekend as he prepares for Honda’s home Grand Prix in Japan.
The Spaniard heads to the Twin Ring in Motegi following a disastrous winter in which crashes and injuries have all but written off his chances of any practice time with the 2009 Honda.
A crash at Qatar in the official night test left him fighting to be fit for the opening race of the new season but the former 250 champion has been talking up his chances ahead of this weekend’s Japanese GP.
“I’m looking forward to this weekend in Japan,” said Pedrosa. “My leg is improving all the time and the knee is gaining a little bit more mobility every day.”
He added: “I don’t have full range of movement yet, but I think that by the time we get to Motegi I’ll have about 10 degrees more of movement than in Qatar, which should make quite a big difference.”
Pedrosa’s Qatar race progress was hampered by a collision with Alex De Angelis which left the Spaniard with an elbow injury.
“My elbow is getting better after the hit De Angelis gave me in Qatar – there’s still some pain and stiffness but I hope it won’t be a problem in Japan.
“My priority is still to reach full fitness so that I can ride at 100 per cent, and then we must focus on the machine because I missed out on quite a lot of winter testing and we’re still not at the level we’d like to be.”
