MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa may be out ‘indefinitely’ as he chases solution for arm pump problem

DANI Pedrosa may step down from racing in MotoGP indefinitely as he chases a solution for a potentially career-ending injury.

DOHA, QATAR - MARCH 28: Dani Pedrosa of Spain and Repsol Honda Team looks on in box during the MotoGp of Qatar - Qualifying at Losail Circuit on March 28, 2015 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images)

DANI Pedrosa has stunned the MotoGP world by firmly hinting that he may step down from racing indefinitely as he chases a solution for a potentially career-ending injury.

The 29-year-old has been suffering from a syndrome known as ‘arm-pump’, a common ailment among motorcycle racers where blood builds up in the muscles of a rider’ss forearms and compresses nerves, causing them to lose feeling in their arms, wrists and hands.

The Repsol Honda rider has been troubled by arm pump for several seasons, and underwent surgery halfway through last year to try and rectify the complaint.

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After struggling to sixth place in the Grand Prix of Qatar, a downbeat Pedrosa revealed the true extent of his plight.

“Well, it is kind of a long story, trying to be quick, basically in this race I had an arm pump issue, which has been there for a whole year,” he told motogp.com.

“I started to have lots of problems here. Last year I struggled in every race, I couldn’t really perform well and my results haven’t been that good due to this fact. I have been trying all of this time to fix it and improve, but it wasn’t easy I couldn’t really get any good answers. I went through one surgery but it wasn’t successful.

“I tried not to talk about it in public, obviously this wasn’t easy, but Honda always knew about it. This winter I was travelling all around the world trying to get different opinions from several doctors. Trying to know if I could have a new surgery in an effort to be ready for the Championship.

Pedrosa would be passed by a recovering Marquez mid-race.

“All of the doctors recommended not having surgery due to the risk, and I tried to follow this advice, and work a lot in a non aggressive way.

“This brings me back to today, where we had a bad situation, as I knew I wasn’t feeling very well, but there was no other option for me.

“Now that the race is over and I can see that I cannot perform as I would like, I have to find a way to solve this problem. I cannot continue racing and performing this way, so my plan now is to try to fix my arm.

“I don’t know exactly how I will do that, as I said the doctors are unsure, but I will try to get rid of this problem, and the team knows about it. I don’t have too many answers at this moment, everything is quite uncertain, but I hope to have news soon.”

In the Repsol Honda team’s official post-race statement, Pedrosa is quoted as saying: “It is probably the most difficult moment of my career. I will do my best to find a solution but in this moment it is difficult to imagine what it could be.”

Pedrosa did not take questions from the gathered press, nor did he say outright that he would not race at the next round of the world championship in four weeks’ time at the Circuit of The Americas.

There has also been no official confirmation from the Repsol Honda squad that Pedrosa is stepping aside, but speculation has been rampant as to who his replacement could potentially be.

The upcoming Austin and Argentina MotoGP rounds clash with World Superbike events at Aragon and Assen, potentially ruling out both Honda factory riders Sylvain Guintoli and Michael van der Mark.

Of course, Honda also has former MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner on its books as a test and development rider, but whether the Australian would be even remotely interested in making a return with relatively minimal chance to prepare remains to be seen.

Originally published as MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa may be out ‘indefinitely’ as he chases solution for arm pump problem