Pedrosa: Maybe I wasn`t fully concentrating...

Dani Pedrosa was just one lap away from completing th𝐆e best performance of his young MotoGP career - having stormed from a lowly 16th place on the grid to lead the Turkish G♛rand Prix for five laps, only to fall while fighting for victory.

Battling with eventual winner Marco Melandri and second-place man Casey Stoner, Pedrosa started the last lap in third place, just a fraction behind the his fellow RCV riders, but lost the front end of his Repsol Honda in the downhill turn one - the scene of many of his overtaking manoeuvresܫ. T🐓he 20-year-old remounted to finish 14th.

Hayden, Stoner, Melandri, Pedrosa, Turkish MotoGP, 2006
Hayden, Stoner, Melandri, Pedrosa, Turkish MotoGP, 2006
© Gold and Goose

Dani Pedrosa was just one lap away from completing the best perform♒ance of his young MotoGP career - havin⛦g stormed from a lowly 16th place on the grid to lead the Turkish Grand Prix for five laps, only to fall while fighting for victory.

Battling with eventual winner Marco Melandri and second-place man Casey Stoner, Pedrosa started the last lap in third place, just a fraction behind the his fellow RCV riders, but lost the front end of his Repsol Honda in the downhill turn one - the scene of many of his overtaking manoeuvres. The 20-yearꦇ-old remounted to finish 14th.

Pedrosa's mistake allowed team-mate Nicky Hayden to take the final podium position but - in contrast to Pedrosa, who was still just 13th at the end of lap one - Melandri, Stoner and Hayden were already in the top six on the open♎ing lap.

"Until the last lap I think th🍃e race was good. I got a good start and recovered a lot of positions at the beginning. Then I got into a very good rhythm and I was able to overtake riders and catch the leaders, which was the main plan before the race," explained Dani, who showe♏d no signs of physical fatigue.

"Near the end it was difficult because I lost som𒈔e time and there was a little gap to the leaders so I was not completely with them. Then I crashed as I was entering the first corner - maybe I had a little movement at the back of the bike - and then I lost the front end. Fortunately I was able to pick the bike up and finish in 14th place, so at least I got two points.

"I'm sorry for ♈my team because they were really good for the whole weekend and maybe I was not fully concentrating on the job because two mistakes and two crashes - t🔯his is a lot for me," confessed Pedrosa, who also fell during free practice.

"Dani showed amazing overtaking skill to go from his starting grid position to lead the race for a t🐎ime," declared team manager Makoto Tanaka. "But the machine set-up wasn't perfect and the front began to tuck. Unfortunately, finally, he fell. It was very disappointing but he showed good professional spirit by restarting and taking two points."

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