MotoReview

For the Spanish GP star Dani Pedrosa Qatar was not such a success - a bad start and clutch problems meant the rookie missed out on the opportunity to fight at the front. Nonetheless a fight with Fortuna Honda rider Marco Melandri showed just how quick Dani is at the start of his MotoGP career.

Nicky Hayden

"Battling for the win is so much more fun than battling for fourth place! I pushed Valentino hard today and I pushed myself about as hard as I could too. We had the bike that could win today, but on the last lap in a left-hander I got into a nice little slide, Valentino gapped me pretty good and it was hard to recover."

"We gambled a bit with set up today, we rolled the dice, and it worked well for me in the race, helping a lot in the fast corners. So a big thanks to my crew. It's my second year with my crew chief and were working really well together. All the guys have been working hard and making some good improvements on the bike. We've still got some work to do and well be back here in the morning testing, but the new bike's definitely getting better and were heading in the right direction. Six podiums on the trot is cool, but it would be nice to get a few wins along the way!"

Dani Pedrosa

"It's easy to say this now, but I believe I could have finished further up, at least in 4th, if I'd made a better start. We had a problem with the clutch, like Nicky when he was practising his starts yesterday. At first I thought the wheel was spinning but actually it was the clutch. Then, when I was behind Elias and we were both overtaking Hopkins his bike put oil on our visors. Elias closed the throttle and we lost a lot of time on the leaders, at least 3 or 4 seconds."

"When I caught Melandri we had a big battle. My bike was really fast and I could overtake him, but he was braking so late! I'm not angry with the result, but I'm upset because today I lost a good opportunity to be battling at the front. In the race I learned a lot of things and I know I performed as well as I could have. Although I'm frustrated today, the two races so far have been really positive."

Makoto Tanaka - Team Manager 

"Ahhh! How disappointing today's result is! Nicky has worked hard to finalise his set-up since he came here and he did a really excellent job both in yesterdays qualifying and today's race. He's become really strong mentally since last year and I want sincerely to praise his work today. Dani lost many positions at the start because of an uncertain feeling from the clutch which caused him to wheelie. However, he did very well to finish sixth. He's a really professional rider who doesn't stop racing until he crosses the line. We didn't win, but Nicky took 2nd place and Dani is in 3rd place in the riders championship which bodes well for the rest of the season. We still have work to do to improve the bikes performance but I think we are close to our target. So, watch this space."