If you managed to see Dani Pedrosa’s on board crash during free pratice at Motegi, you could almost feel that it wasn’t due to the usual cold tire syndrome that has affected so many riders this year, but something mechanical had happened to his Honda RC212Vwhen he braked into turn nine.
Honda infact in a press release has revealed that a problem was due to a faulty fly-by-wire throttle that instead of shutting off the gas as the Spaniard braked, remained open causing the crash that left Pedrosa with a three fragment fractured collarbone and and bruising to his left ankle when his leg remained trapped under the bike as it slid into the gravel trap.
Pedrosa is now heading home to Spain to undergo surgery at the famed Dexeus Institute in Barcelona which will effectively also put him out of the Sepang GP (October 10th) with Dr.
Michele Macchiagodena, MotoGP’s Medical Director, expecting that Pedrosa could be back for Phillip Island that takes place October 17th.
Here’s what Pedrosa had to say about the crash that stopped his title challenge: “Obviously this has been a really bad day for us.
It was a strange crash in only my second full lap, in a slow section of the track.
I tried to stop the bike as usual but I knew something was wrong and couldn’t avoid going down.
After the crash I knew immediately that I was injured because it was very painful.
I had a big impact in my left ankle and also my collarbone was broken as I hit the track – so obviously it feels very unlucky because recently we have had really good results.
I’ve been very healthy through the pre-season and through the year and we had been working a lot to get to and stay at the maximum level.
Another injury to contend with is really not what I needed – I don’t feel as though I deserve it.
Anyway, once the doctors had checked everything here, we decided it was best to go back to Spain for the operation.
I hope it goes as well as possible and t hat I can return to racing soon.
”