2006 Australian Superbike Championship (YMF Loan) - Round Four - Queensland Raceway

Pedrosa coming on strong as MotoGP season enters second half - By, Trevor Hedge

Diminutive Spanish superstar Dani Pedrosa may only tip the scales at a featherweight 50 kilograms, but already he is becoming a heavyweight contender in MotoGP.

It took Pedrosa three years to take the 125cc World Championship, before then moving onto the 250cc ranks where he took the title in his rookie year. Pedrosa then backed it up the next year with another 250cc title.

His move to the top category of MotoGP this year was called by some as a little premature. Many experts, including five times World Champion Mick Doohan, commented that Pedrosa’s small size could prove a handicap on the 990cc four-stroke.

Clearly all the doubters are now eating their words.

Pedrosa has three pole positions to his credit so far this year, while no other rider has earned more than one.

Despite a failure to finish at Catalunya, the 20 year old now holds down second place in the championship, 26 points adrift of Repsol Honda team-mate Nicky Hayden.

Often this season Pedrosa has started the race slowly and then worked his way through the field as the race wore on, as he slowly became more and more comfortable.

At Donington however Pedrosa dominated proceedings like never before.

Italian Marco Melandri held Pedrosa off in the opening laps, and forced the Spaniard into some small mistakes But Pedrosa recovered each time to again sit on the tail of Melandri, before finally making a pass stick on lap 12 of the 30 lap race. From thereon in Pedrosa was never challenged.

Reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi was riding with injury, but clawed his way forward from as far back as 12th place before entering a hectic last lap duel with countryman Marco Melandri, who was also riding while injured.

Rossi narrowly got the better of Melandri. The Italian pair provided the most excitement in the closing stages of the race.

Casey Stoner looked threatening early on and finished strongly in fourth position, just ahead of Kenny Roberts.

Pedrosa won by less than four seconds but that gap doesn’t do his dominance of the race justice.

Over the latter half of the race he maintained a 6-7 second advantage over his pursuers, before then backing right off towards the end. Dare I say, it was a Rossi-esque style performance that showed just how much speed the young Spaniard has, the fact that this was only his ninth ever race on the big four-stroke certainly suggests that we can expect much more to come from the Repsol man.

Many will also forget that Pedrosa has already proved he is mentally and physically tough. Who can forget that sickening crash a few years ago that left him with two broken ankles. Only a couple of months later he was back on the bike and turning fast laps. Remember two broken ankles puts you in a wheelchair for quite a while, thus the road back to recovery is much longer than breaking just one. I've been there and done that, and I was just graduating to a walking frame in the same time that Pedrosa was already going quick again on the racetrack.

Obviously there is also a very deep and determined intelligence hard at work behind those dark and brooding Spanish eyes. He may not have the public flair of Rossi; the way he comes across could perhaps be reminiscent of another multiple 250cc Championship winner, Max Biaggi. But while Biaggi failed to fulfill his potential in the premier class, the early signs are that Pedrosa operates perhaps a little smarter. But only time will tell. I for one am looking forward to watching the young Spaniard develop further throughout the remainder of this season, and the seasons yet to come.

Pedrosa left Donington after completing the fastest ever motorcycle lap of the 4km British circuit in qualifying, a 1m27.67. He also lowered the race lap record by a massive 1.2 seconds. Will Pedrosa be able to repeat that sort of domination at Sachsenring? A circuit where riders from the 250cc ranks have historically done very well in previous season.

Despite his injury and mechanical failures this year Valentino Rossi still has a great shot at the title, as does Marco Melandri.

Early championship leader Loris Capirossi is carrying significant injuries. While the Ducati-Bridgestone combination was looking very strong early in the series, the partnership seems to lack the consistency needed to fight for the #1 plate. Of course Capirossi is still riding with significant injury. Perhaps that observation could be seen by some as a little unfair. I hope Loris can prove me wrong.

Nicky Hayden will arrive next weekend in Sachsenring with a 26 point advantage over Pedrosa, who in turn has a nine point buffer over Rossi.

The 3.67km German circuit is one of the slower circuits on the calendar with many tight turns helping to produce close racing. Long radius turns are a feature of the layout with an engine that provides smooth grunt off the turns a major asset to the rider.

Tyre manufacturers are likely to offer tyres with different compounds on each half of the tyre, as the left side of the tyre really cops a hammering at Sachsenring.

Plenty of bumps means that the machines will be set up a little softer in the rear suspension than normal, but with lots of hard braking points also a feature of Sachsenring the front end can’t be set up too soft.

Valentino Rossi has two wins to his credit at Sachsenring. Sete Gibernau and Kenny Roberts are the only other current riders to have taken victory at the German circuit.

Foxtel subscribers can watch the German GP live from 6:45pm (EST) Sunday on Fox Sports One.