If Dani Pedrosa has serious intentions of catching Repsol Honda team-mate and MotoGP World Championship leader Nicky Hayden in the remaining six rounds, he's hiding them well.

From his first eleven events as a MotoGP rider, the 20-year-old Spaniard has taken four pole positions and two wins to sit 34 points adrift of Hayden heading to Brno this weekend. With 25 points for a win, Pedrosa is far from striking distance at present - but is also 10 points clear of third place Marco Melandri and 17 points ahead of world champion Valentino Rossi.

"My position in the championship is not so bad, but my goal is to try to keep my rhythm and my speed and finish the remaining six races at a good level - if I do that I will be happy at the end of the year," claimed Dani.

Nevertheless, a retirement for Hayden and a win for Pedrosa would throw the former 125 and 250cc world champion straight into premier-class title contention. The #26 also has an impressive record at Brno, having won the 250cc race last year (lower picture) and taken victory in 2003 on his way to the 125cc title.

"This track has been good for me in the past, so I'll be hoping it's the same situation on the MotoGP bike," he confirmed. "A lot will depend on how the other riders go here because after the break everybody has more energy inside them, so for sure the other riders will be trying really hard. Brno is a fast track which will make it physically demanding on this bike, and also tough for the Michelin tyres. Normally the weather isn't stable here so this could interfere with the practice time as we try to get a good set-up."