Nicky Hayden flies low over Donington and sets his first provisional pole.
The rider of the Repsol Honda Team arrives in England filled with confidence after his third place in Germany. Sebastián Porto is fifth in 250 and Pablo Nieto second 125.
Without hardly any rest and only five days after the German Grand Prix, the World Championship has returned to activity today in England. The day has been quite positive for the interests of the Repsol riders under the sunny skies of the first practice day. In the premier class, Nicky Hayden seems to have taken a liking to the front row of the grid and after setting the second fastest time in the free practice, behind Valentino Rossi, he decided to swap places with the Italian in the afternoon and took the provisional pole. This is the first ever provisional pole of the North American Repsol Honda Team rider, who after his third place in Germany last weekend arrived in England with the clear intention to stay on the podium.
His teammate Alex Barros, had problems with the settings – his bike raises too much in the front when accelerating – and he will have to wait until tomorrow to get a place in the front row of the starting grid. Seventh fastest in the morning, the Brazilian rider finished tenth in the afternoon, meaning a provisional start from the fourth row of the grid. Rubén Xaus, on a circuit he knows perfectly well due to the many races as a Superbike rider, suffered a light crash in the morning that didn’t hinder him however from setting the fifteenth fastest time in the free practice and the eleventh in the afternoon’s timed practice.
In the 250cc, both Sebastián Porto and his teammate Fonsi Nieto will have to wait until tomorrow to try to get a place on the front row of the starting grid. Second and eleventh respectively in the morning’s free practice, Porto wasn’t able to do better than fifth in the afternoon due to technical problems that delayed all the setting works. Fonsi Nieto, with setting problems in his Aprilia, finished tenth in the afternoon.
In the 125cc, Pablo Nieto received some improvements for his Aprilia after the excellent performance in Germany and that was reflected in a substantial progression of the Repsol rider during the first practice day. Third fastest in the morning, Jorge Martínez Aspar’s pupil was second fastest in the first qualifying practice, thus getting a provisional place on the front row. His teammate Sergio Gadea, again on a track he didn’t know until this morning, was twenty-fifth fastest in the morning and twenty-eighth in the afternoon
