Alex de Angelis pleads for Honda help

Mugello MotoGP sensation Alex de Angelis has begged Honda to give him extra help when factory pair Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa begin to campaign the new pneumatic valve engine.

De Angelis caused one of the big shocks of the season in Italy last weekend when he surged through from 14th to claim fourth, which was easily his best MotoGP result.

But the San Marino rider believes he can become a regular top six contender, and wants Honda to help him prove it.

At present, de Angelis and the likes of Andrea Dovizioso and team-mate Shinya Nakano are using 2007 spec factory RC212 engines which Hayden and Pedrosa finished last season on.

With Honda getting close to handing the new pneumatic valve engine over to Hayden and Pedrosa, de Angelis wants their current spring valve motor to be handed down.

“Mugello was a fantastic result for me but the big problem compared to the other riders is that my engine was quite slow,” de Angelis told MCN.

“Now I hope when the factory team get the new engine that we can have the engine they have been using in the start of this season. It is a better engine than what we have now so I’d like to get it to try and improve my results.

He also believes he will be able prove that his Mugello result was no flash in the pan in this weekend’s Catalunya MotoGP.

“The style of Catalunya is quite similar to Mugello with a lot of fast corners, so I’m looking at another top six,” he added.

See what de Angelis had to say about his career best MotoGP result in tomorrow’s MCN, out Wednesday, June 4, 2008.