The Frenchman endured a successful two hour operation to place a titanium rod in his left leg on the Sunday evening of the German GP on July 18th, he then began an intensive rehabilitation program to ensure full fitness in time for the Cardion ab Grand Prix Czech Republic on August 15th.

Randy de Puniet states, "watching the first GP on TV since I made my debut was a bit hard for me but in the meantime it was good for me to take some rest. A couple of days after the surgery I left the German hospital to begin the Hyperbaric Chamber sessions at the Saint Marguerite Hospital in Marseilles under the supervision of Dr. Mathieu Coulange and his team. This machine increases both the pressure and oxygen levels to help repair the tissues of the body at a faster rate. Then I moved to Cannes to pursue my rehabilitation. I underwent ultrasound sessions to strengthen my bones a little more. Last Monday I went back home to Andorra to continue the ultrasound sessions with a domestic machine and I finally started to do some sport. Every day I go to the gym to cycle and I am training my upper body with rubber bands and special exercises. The doctors are continually surprised with the speed with which I am recovering, and I have to admit that I am as surprised as they are! I am using my crutches less and less.

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Dani Pedrosa’s consistent progress this year now sees the Spaniard in second place in the Championship rankings, at 138 points he currently arrives 72 points behind leader Jorge Lorenzo. The first nine events have gained some excellent results for the Repsol Honda competitor who has been on the stage five times with 2 victories in hand.

The session began indifferently for Pedrosa with a seventh place in Qatar, where he challenged with set-up problems that carried over from pre-season. However he stayed positive and the next round at Jerez arrived with a solid reward, as he claimed pole position and battled with Lorenzo for the win prior to ending second.

The inconsistency which proved to be Pedrosa’s main issue in the early area of the year, meant he would arrive fifth at Le Mans as he missed out on a stage appearance in the final lap. Then came another strong comeback for a victory from pole position at Mugello, as the hard work paid off.

A tough next round at Silverstone ensued where Pedrosa smashed in qualifying and came in at eighth, however a succession of regular results that showed the continuity he was aiming for then arrived. Second spot at Assen from seventh on the grid and second place at his home event at Catalunya, showed the way to a second victory of 2010 at Sachsenring, when Pedrosa won a battle with Lorenzo for the win.

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Mid-way through his second year with the Ducati squad, Nicky Hayden has assessed how the campaign and bike are going to date and the American is happy with the progress currently being made.

“We took a big step from last year to this year, and I would hope to be able to do the same next year,” says Hayden. “The bike has improved a lot from last year, and the engineers there are really committed to wanting to make it the best bike on the grid. I’ve seen a lot of improvements from last year in terms of rideability, reliability, and it’s a more consistent bike. I think the bike has a lot of potential that we haven’t even got to yet.”

On various aspects that require improvement on the GP10, Hayden adds, “We’ve been having big problems with our starts lately, both Casey and I, but we can work that out. I know Casey, he’s a good rider, so I’m sure if he thinks the bike needs to improve, I hope we can improve it. But I think we have a good enough package to be winning races. Casey proved that in Qatar, if he didn’t crash there, he would have won that race quite easily. But having said that, we still want to improve. We’ve seen a lot of the other teams making steps, especially Honda, who seem to have made a big one since the start of the season. So we need to do the same.”

Hayden is positive that the following test at the next round at Brno can be as productive as last season’s.

“That test is important, as limited as testing time is now in MotoGP you really have to take advantage of any extra time. The motors we get to test with don’t come out of our allocation,” he explained. “So you hope for good weather and hope to make a breakthrough.”

“Last year at that test on the Monday we changed something with the geometry and were able to take a little step from there, and my results basically improved from that test on.

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