Delighted Pedrosa praises team's efforts

The Spaniard had switched to a new set-up for the race having not been entirely happy with his bike on Saturday, and ended up winning the race by a comfortable margin.

"I think I've done a great race this time,"Pedrosa told Italia1 television.

"I'm happy, but I have to thank the team because things weren't that great yesterday.

"In the end this morning they did a setting for the race that we had not tried before, and it worked perfectly. Thanks to the team, because we had some problems after the warm-up, but they changed the frame set-up a bit for the race, and it went great.

"I'm extremely happy to win here in front of my home crowd. Let's hope we can carry on this way."

Pedrosa extended his advantage over the chasing Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner to almost eight seconds before backing off and crossing the line 2.8 seconds ahead, having led every lap of the race.

"They were going very quick at the end while fighting for second place, while I was more relaxed," said Pedrosa. "It was difficult to keep focused while alone for so many laps."

The victory put him seven points behind leader Rossi in the championship, but Pedrosa denied that the title battle was now a straight fight between him and the Italian.

"I think he's very strong at the moment, but Stoner is also doing well, so we can't forget about him," Pedrosa said.

Honda continued to use their standard engine in Spain, despite test rider Tady Okada having run the new pneumatic valve version in last week's Mugello race.

The new engine will be tested again in the coming week, but Pedrosa said he did not want Honda to hurry the engine's race debut if it was not fully ready.

"If it goes well yes, otherwise no," he replied when asked if he was eager to use the engine in a race.

"We'll test it a bit on Monday and Tuesday and we'll see if we can use it for the race or if it's too risky."