Dani Pedrosa #3 (formerly #2 and #27)
Personal Opinion: If he can recover from his injury in the test in Qatar he could be a definite contender for the championship. he does come out as a very nice guy in the press, rumor has it that it s mostly due to his manager Alberto Puig that manages all his activities on track and off the track.
(if you are a fan of Dani- see this clip without sound)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dani Pedrosa | |
|---|---|
 Dani Pedrosa | |
| Nationality |  Spanish |
| Date of birth | September 29, 1985 |
| Place of birth | Sabadell, Spain |
| Website | danipedrosa.com |
| MotoGP Record | |
| Current team | Repsol Honda Team |
| Bike number | 3 |
| World Championships | 3 125cc: 2003 250cc: 2004, 2005 |
| Race starts | 130 |
| Race Wins | 29 |
| Podium finishes | 68 |
| Pole positions | 29 |
| Fastest laps | 29 |
| Championship Points | 1898 |
| 2008 Championship position | 3rd (249 pts) |
Daniel "Dani" Pedrosa (born September 29, 1985 in Sabadell, Spain) is a Grand Prix motorcycle racer . Pedrosa grew up in a village near Sabadell called Castellar del Vallès. He is the youngest world champion in 125cc and 250cc Grands Prix. Pedrosa is 1.58m (5ft, 2in) tall and weighs 51 kg (112.4lbs).
Career
Early days
Dani Pedrosa started riding bikes at the early age of four, when he got his first motorcycle, an Italjet 50, which had side-wheels. His first racing bike was a minibike replica of Kawasaki, which he got at the age of six and which he used to race with his friends. Pedrosa experienced real racing at the age of 11, when he entered the Spanish Minibike Championship and ended his debut season in second place, scoring his first podium finish in the second race of the season. The next year, Pedrosa entered the same championship, but health problems prevented him from improving his results and he ended that season in 3rd position.
125cc
In 2001, Pedrosa made his World Championship debut in the 125cc class after being selected from the Movistar Activa Cup, a series designed to promote fresh racing talent in Spain, back in 1999. Under the guidance of Alberto Puig, Pedrosa scored two podium finishes in the first season and won his first race the following year, when he finished third in the championship. In 2003, he won five races and won the championship with two rounds remaining, scoring 223 points. In his first championship winning year, Pedrosa scored five victories and six podium finishes. A week after winning the championship, eighteen year old Pedrosa broke both of his ankles in a crash during practice at Phillip Island (Australia), ending his season.
250cc
After winning the 125cc Championship, Pedrosa moved up to the 250cc class in 2004 without a proper test on the new bike because his ankles were healing during the off-season. Going into the season unprepared, Pedrosa won the first race in South Africa and went on to clinch the 250cc World Championship title, including rookie of the year honours. In his first season in 250cc class, Pedrosa scored 7 victories and 13 podium finishes. Pedrosa decided to stay for one more season in 250cc class, and he won another title, once again with two races remaining in championship. In 2005, Pedrosa won 8 races and scored 14 podium finishes, despite a shoulder injury he sustained in practice session for Japanese Grand Prix.
MotoGP
Dani Pedrosa on board the Repsol Honda RC211V.
Pedrosa made the move to 990cc MotoGP bikes in 2006, still riding for Honda. Critics said that Pedrosa's tiny stature wasn't strong enough to handle a big, heavy MotoGP bike and successfully race in the premier class. Proving them wrong, he finished second in the opening round at Jerez on March 26, 2006. At his fourth ever MotoGP appearance, on May 14, 2006, during the Chinese Grand Prix race weekend held in Shanghai, he won his first MotoGP race. This win made him the exact equal 2nd youngest winner (tied with the late Norick Abe) in the Premier Class behind Freddie Spencer. He won his second MotoGP race at Donington Park and became a strong candidate for the MotoGP Championship. It was a memorable victory for Dani, who shared the podium first time with Valentino Rossi in 2nd place. He also took 2 pole positions in the first half of the season.
In the race in Estoril - Portugal 2006 he crashed in to Nicky Hayden a very controversy crash that almost cost Nicky the championship.
Pedrosa's own manager admitted the pass attempt and justified it, saying Pedrosa had a mathematical chance of winning the championship. Never mind that Hayden was leading the championship at the time. Watch the race again and tell me that wasn't a pass attempt.
Until the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, Pedrosa was 2nd in the Championship only behind his more experienced team-mate Nicky Hayden. However, he fell heavily during Free Practice and suffered a severe gash to the knee; which practically rendered him immobile. Pedrosa qualified 5th on the grid in that race due to the cancellation of the qualifying session proper due to heavy rainfall. He miraculously managed to finish 3rd in that race, only behind Rossi and Ducati rider Loris Capirossi. However, in the next races, his form dropped and he struggled with the bike; moving him down to 5th place in the MotoGP standings.
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