Pedrosa: Honda not fast enough

The Repsol Honda rider was unable to keep pace with the podium battle, and was 14 seconds adrift of winner Casey Stoner at the flag.

"My start was quite good and I could ride with the leaders for the first few laps," said Pedrosa.

"However the riders in front were very fast today and in the end the pace was just too quick for us.

"For the middle part of the race I had a battle with (Marco) Melandri and when I was able to get past him they had made a gap. Still, I don't think I could have stayed with them today.

"They were going even faster than the pace in the practice sessions which we were not really expecting. I tried very hard to the end of the race and the Michelin tyres worked quite well today but I just didn't have the speed to stick with them so I settled for fourth place.

"I'm sure the team will be putting in a lot of effort so we can have a good result in Le Mans."

Pedrosa's teammate Nicky Hayden could only finish 12th after being hit by Toni Elias at the first corner.

Team manager Makoto Tanaka conceded that Honda were being left behind by their rivals at present.
 
"Stoner, Rossi and Hopkins were very strong today and our package could not match their speed," he said.

"We must do all we can to improve this for the coming races."