Dani Pedrosa has come back following his ninth placing end at the British Grand Prix to claim a second in Brno on Sunday and up his opportunties of challenging for the runner-up position in this seasons World Championship.

Having meet the criteria of third, Pedrosa endured his trademark beginning and was able to stay in a top three role during the event, even if it seemed he would be unable to challenge for the victory when the competition commenced.

Pedrosa states, “At the start of the race I pushed really hard to stay with the leaders and for the first few laps I was with them. Then they kept getting faster on every lap and, though I was pushing to the maximum, I couldn’t maintain that sort of pace today. So for the rest of the race I just had to concentrate on not making a mistake because there was a big gap in front of me and also behind me. Second place is a good result for me and the team, though obviously we would have wanted to be closer to front-running pace.”

He continues, “It’s great to finish a race on the podium and feel in good physical condition after the problems I had in the first part of the season - especially because it was very hot out there today and this is a demanding track.”

Meanwhile with another curse looming for Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda colleague Andrea Dovizioso, who repeatedly skipped the stage again by a minimal margin.

“I was riding really hard out there and I had a tough battle for third place in the last few laps,” Dovizioso says. “From the start I tried to stay with Dani and the leaders but it wasn’t possible. The gap to Toni Elias was always small and my pace was very similar to his which made it very difficult to overtake him. I tried really hard in the middle of the race without any success and then in the last few laps the grip dropped off a little and to overtake Toni I had to take some risks.”

“I really wanted that podium finish so I was pushing very hard, and also I had Loris Capirossi behind who was putting a lot of pressure on too. Fourth is not a bad result but I can’t say that I’m satisfied with the result.”