MotoGP News
Date: 18/July/2011
Dani Pedrosa, still seething over his collarbone-breaking clash with Marco Simoncelli at Le Mans, has rejected comparisons between the Italian's error and his own 2006 collision with team-mate Nicky Hayden.
Pedrosa, then in his first premier-class season, stunned the motorsport world when he lost control of his Repsol Honda and wiped Hayden out of both the Estoril race and the world championship lead - with only one round remaining.
"The difference is that I did one thing, maybe ten or eleven years and he [Simoncelli] - I don't have enough figures to count what he has done wrong," said Pedrosa.
"In my case I couldn’t stop the bike, lost control and I crashed into Nicky. I did nothing on purpose.
"With Simoncelli he was next to me and he could brake and let me go in, and instead he decided to turn in tight to the corner. He's done it I don’t know how many times."
Pedrosa's huge Portuguese error went unpunished by race direction - as it was seen as simply as racing incident - and had a relatively happy ending when Hayden won the title from Valentino Rossi at the following final round.
However the personal relationship between Hayden and Pedrosa never fully recovered.
Frequent-faller Simoncelli received a ride-through penalty for his collision with Pedrosa, which sidelined the Spaniard for three races and looks to have cost him any chance of the 2011 title.
Pedrosa won his first race since the injury on Sunday in Germany, but is 74 points behind team-mate and title leader Casey Stoner.
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