Dani Pedrosa Out for Silverstone - And Then Some?

Dani Pedrosa on his blog today announced that he would not compete in the British GP at Silverstone next weekend, instead opting to heal his collarbone further, which he broke a the French GP several weeks ago. Though Pedrosa was on the fence about competing in the Catalan GP, it comes as no surprise that the Spanish rider will sit out Silverstone, now having missed his home race in Barcelona.

What does come as surprising though is the very credible rumors that Pedrosa has re-injured his shoulder while doing some Supermoto training, and because of this incident, may sit out the rest of the season (which may have prompted the blog post itself). Boom goes the dynamite.

Leading the rumors about Pedrosa is Spanish website Motocuatro, which says that Pedrosa crashed while training on his Supermoto bike, landing on his right shoulder, and thus aggravating his injury further.

Also according to the rumors, Pedrosa is apparently so distraught over the re-injury, that his morale has been shattered (no pun intended), and he is contemplating taking the entire season off to fully recover his body (perhaps taking a page out of Casey Stoner’s book).

Pedrosa has a two-year contract with Repsol Honda, and his marching orders from Day One have been to win a Championship for Spanish sponsor Repsol. With that goal now an almost certainty not to occur, there is at least some material to back this rumor up.

According to earlier statements by HRC, Pedrosa will be replaced at Silverstone by Hiroshi Aoyama from the San Carlo Gresini Honda squad, who will in-turn be replaced by test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi, who replaced Aoyama last year at Interwetten Honda when the Japanese GP rider broke his back.