PEDROSA BACK!

By MICHAEL ESDAILE



JUST two weeks after breaking his left collarbone in three places in practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi on October 1, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa was back in action in the rain-delayed first practice session at Phillip Island in Australia on October 15.



Early in the session Pedrosa was eighth fastest steadily working his way back into action on the wet track.



His Ohlins suspension man, Dunedin's Paul Trevathon, says that Pedrosa goes about every practice and qualifying session in a very methodical manner, always working to get heat into the tyres before starting to push for lap times.



Pedrosa was injured in Japan when the throttle on his Repsol Honda stuck open. While the Honda runs an electronic throttle control system, unlike many such bikes that use an electronic controller directly on the end of the throttle twist-grip, the Honda has a push-pull cable system running from the throttle to the control box.



But after seven laps in the cold and wet first session at Phillip Island, Pedrosa came into the pit and decided to sit the rest of the session out.



“The plan today was simply to check my condition on the bike – in these conditions I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks. What I can say is that I had some strength to move on the bike and put pressure on the handelbars, which is good. However, I didn’t feel very comfortable with the leathers because they were tight and there was pressure.”