Is this the end for Dani Pedrosa? Always the bridesmaid but never the bride, Dani Pedrosa must be the best MotoGP rider currently going around never to have won a MotoGP championship. Pedrosa has finished runner-up three times and sits eighth in the all time Grand Prix winners list but has never achieved the ultimate glory.
It came as a huge shock to me when a clearly emotional Pedrosa revealed the problems he was having onboard the Repsol Honda associated with ‘arm pump’ after last weekends MotoGP race from Qatar. He had managed to keep the issue a secret from all but HRC.
For now at least, it seems that Pedrosa may have run his last race and be forced to reluctantly retire.
Scott Jones posted a poignant pic over on his Photo.GP site before the season opener. It was shot taken after the mandatory rider group photo, showing a lonely Pedrosa ‘reflecting on the moment’. Scott had cropped the image with the caption ‘2015 FIM MotoGP World Champ’ that prediction however has turned into a nightmare for the 29 year old.
Initial reports suggested that further surgery to fix the arm pump problem wasn’t an option but despite the gloomy prediction, Pedrosa underwent a surgical procedure on Friday. All indications are that the procedure was successful however a return to racing won’t be confirmed until doctors are able to properly access the arm in the coming weeks. A recovery period of 4 to 6 weeks is expected.
I for one hope that Dani can make a full recovery and that he returns to racing this season. It would be a shame to see one of the toughest competitors on the grid having to bow out this way.
Hiro Aoyama has replaced the Factory Repsol Honda rider with immediate effect.
Photograph: ©2015 by Darren Marlowe | Octane Photography – All Rights Reserved
Photograph: ©2015 by Scott Jones / PHOTO.GP – All Rights Reserved