DANI PEDROSA

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).
1990
First motorcycle experience, on a 50cc Italjet motocross bike with stabilisers
1992
Pocket bike racing début on a Kawasaki
1996
2nd in Spanish Minibike championship - 6th in first race, podium in second race
1997
3rd in Spanish Minibike championship - slow start to the season due to illness
1998
Spanish Minibike Champion
1999
8th in MoviStar Activa Joven Honda Cup (Spanish Honda 125cc Youth Cup) - picked for future 125 competition by Alberto Puig, along with Joan Olivé and Raúl Jara
2000
4th in Spanish Open 125cc championship, with MoviStar Junior Team Honda - 2nd in Jérez, 3rd in Cheste, four pole positions
2001 Telefónica MoviStar jnr Team, number 26 Honda
15-year-old Dani was the youngest in the team as Puig brought Pedrosa, Olivé and Toní Elías into the 125cc Grands Prix. Elías was the first to make an impact, but Pedrosa was hot on his heels with seventh in round six, and a strong second half of the season. This included some second row qualifications, then the front row twice, plus top five results including third in Valencia and Motegi. 100 points meant eighth overall
2002 Telefónica MoviStar jnr Team, number 26 Honda
Year two saw Dani as a full 125cc title contender, with podium results from round two onwards. His first win, still aged only sixteen, came at Assen, and two more followed. A crash in Brazil didn’t help, but 243 points put him third in the championship, behind only Arnaud Vincent and Manuel Poggiali. The Spaniard started from pole six times, and recorded two fastest laps
2003 Telefónica MoviStar Junior, number 3 Honda
By 2003, Pedrosa was ready to take the 125cc title. Three wins from the first six rounds got him well on course, and no other rider could seem to mount a consistent challenge after Lucio Cecchinello lost his early momentum. After Malaysia’s thirteenth round, the points lead was an impressive 64 over Stefano Perugini. With the crown therefore secured, Dani promptly crashed in practice for the following Australian round, with a technical problem leading to a pair of broken ankles and two missed races. The year’s score was 223, with five wins, three poles, and three fastest laps
• First Grand Prix: 2001 JAP 125cc
• First Pole Position 2002 JAP 125cc
• First Race Fastest Lap 2002 MOT 125cc
• First Podium 2001 VAL 125cc
• First GP Victory 2002 NED 125cc
• Grand Prix Starts 46
• 125cc Starts 46
• Grand Prix Victories 8
• 125cc Victories 8
• 2nd Placements 4
• 3rd placements 5
• Podium 17
• Pole Positions 8
• Race Fastest Lap 5
• World Championship Wins 1 - 2003 125cc
• Total Points 566
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 9, 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, riding for Repsol 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[1] 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.
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.


His poor performance continued at Estoril. After a promising start, he briefly ran 2nd before being passed by Colin Edwards and then championship leader and teammate Nicky Hayden. On lap 5, he and Hayden were involved in a crash. Pedrosa made a mistake whilst trying to overtake Hayden, slid and crashed out of the race, taking out Hayden on the way. This crash ended his slim chances of winning the championship and also caused Hayden to lose his lead in the championship standings, as Rossi managed to finish 2nd.
However, two weeks later, Hayden recovered to win the championship while Pedrosa managed to finish in 4th place. This result clinched his 5th place in overall standings in his debut season, thus taking the title as Rookie of the Year in MotoGP category, beating fellow rookie and former rival in 250 cc Casey Stoner. At the final (post 2006 season) three day test of 2006 at Jerez Spain, Dani put his 800 cc RC212V at the top of the timesheets (on qualifying tyres) edging out Valentino Rossi by 0.214 seconds. Rossi had been fastest for the first two days of the test. Dani set a time of 1min 39.910 sec around the circuit.
Pedrosa continued to race with Honda in 2007 on their Honda RC212V, the new 800 cc bike. The machine had problems[2], and Pedrosa was taken out of races by Olivier Jacque and by Randy de Puniet, but he finished the season in second place behind Stoner and ahead of Rossi. He signed a 2-year contract with Repsol Honda for 2008 and 2009.[3]
In 2008 Pedrosa's problems with the RC212V continued when he was injured in the pre-season and missed developmental testing, but started the season well by scoring a podium at the first round. While leading the race and the standings in the German round, he crashed and was injured, keeping him from racing in the following two rounds. Michelin's performance in MotoGP deteriorated, resulting in Pedrosa switching to Bridgestone at the Indianapolis round. He finished third in the standings in 2008.
As in 2008, Pedrosa crashed in the 2009 pre-season and injured himself, keeping him from testing the machine before the start of the season. He placed 11th in the first round, but recovered his fitness in the following rounds. At the fifth round he injured himself again in practice and then fell during the race, putting him 33 points behind the leader.
Injuries
• 2003 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix (125cc) Double fracture in the talus bone of the left foot and a fracture of the right ankle.
• 2005 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix (250cc) Fracture of the left humeral head that affected the supraspinal tendon.
• 2006 Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Small fracture of the small left toe and loss of cutaneous matter on the right knee. 5 stitches in that vertical cut.
• 2007 Turkish motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Thoracic trauma, blow to the left gluteus and neck trauma.
• 2007 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Post-traumatic arthritis with inflammation to the small toe of the left foot.
• 2008 Sepang test 2008 (MotoGP) Fracture of the second metacarpal in the right hand, with three diaphyseal fragments, which are the bones that are found in the middle part of the metacarpus.
• 2008 German motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) General inflammation of the left hand with hematomas in the veins of the extensor tendons. Displaced fracture of the distal phalanx of the left index finger. A sprain of the interphalangeal articulation next to the left middle finger. Fracture of the large bone of the left wrist. Sprain of the lateral external ligament of the right ankle.
• 2008 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Capsular hematoma on the left knee that had to be treated two months after.
• 2009 Qatar test (MotoGP) Fracture of the radius of the left arm and contusion on the left knee that required a skin graft, because the scar re-opened from an operation before Christmas.
• 2009 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Incomplete fracture of the greater trochanter of the right femur. A fracture without displacement, an injury that requires absolute rest and treatment with painkillers