Pedrosa apologises for crash

The Spaniard had qualified sixth but his team believed he would be competitive enough to fight for victory in the race. He duly jumped up to third at the start, only to run wide and fall at the next corner, ending his weekend.

"I got a good start and was entering the second corner in third position when the rear tyre started sliding," said Pedrosa.

"I tried to correct the bike but I ran off the track. On the grass I tried to correct the bike again but I crashed.

"I am very disappointed because we knew we had a good race pace and I was very confident that I could score another podium, just like at Motegi last weekend.

"It was another bad race. I made a mistake and I am sorry for the team, they worked hard throughout the weekend."

Although Pedrosa escaped serious injury, he said the accident had left him in a lot of discomfort.

"I hurt my left knee in the fall," he said. "Fortunately I've not broken any bones or damaged any ligaments, but I've got a lot of pain and the knee is swollen.

"Tonight I will fly back to Spain and rest the injury while looking forward to the Malaysia GP."

He admitted that his target of second place in the championship was now "looking difficult" as Casey Stoner's Phillip Island victory put the Ducati rider 36 points ahead with only two events remaining.

Team manager Kazuhiko Yamano accepted Pedrosa's apology and backed him to return to form at Sepang.

"Sometimes racing is like this, but I'm sorry for Dani because he had a good race pace," said Yamano.

"Dani understands what happened, so I'm sure that he will be back even stronger in Malaysia and fight for a good result."