Dani Pedrosa: the crash kid of MotoGP
Dani Pedrosa's journey in premier class so far has been hit by more than 15 bone fracturing crashes, preventing him from showing his full potential as a MotoGP rider.
Dani Pedrosa made his MotoGP debut in 2006, riding for Repsol Honda. When he signed the deal, critics made some harsh comments by saying that Spaniard is not good enough to ride the heavy bikes of MotoGP, due to his short stature, as he is only 1.58m in height compared to 1.82m Valentino Rossi.
However, Pedrosa at that time proved the critics wrong that season by winning in his 4th premier class race and finishing 5th overall in 2006s MotoGP championship, he also won the Rookie of the year award that year.
But as his career progressed, his ride through premier class proved to be bumpy and full of crashes. Undisputedly, he tops the list of riders with injuries due to crashes on a premier class bike. It all started, as early as, in Friday's second free practice session at Sepang-13th round of his debut session, but the little worrier managed to finish the race on podium that weekend.
His podium after suffering a fracture of the small left toe and 5 stiches on left knee cut in Sepang 2006, proved how strong of a rider he is and how much endurance he has. In his MotoGP career there is hardly a season which hadn’t saw him breaking bone by falling of the bike. Left alone he has suffered clavicle fracture twice in his career.
The biggest question mark remains, if not for his injuries would Dani Pedrosa have won a premier class championship? Since his debut he has been with team Repsol Honda where he saw his teammates winning championships, dominating seasons but somehow Pedrosa always finds himself either, recovering from injuries or missing races due to them. In 2012 he had an injury free season and finished runner up behind Lorenzo, scoring the highest points ever for a runner up in a MotoGP season.
Time after time Pedrosa has shown his physical and mental strength and his fighter attitude. In so many after so many injuries in his career, he has always recovered to his fullest of strength and scored victories and important points for his team. It’s not long that ago at Argentine GP this year, where he suffered a fracture of right wrist, requiring surgery to repair. But once again he proved how mentally and physically strong he is by finishing seventh in COTA and scoring a front row in Jerez but his race was eventually compromised by him becoming the victim of Lorenzo-Dovizioso collision.