Positive end of the three testing days in Jerez for Hayden and his team
Despite crashing on Thursday, the North American rider made a total of 250 laps setting a fastest time of 1’41.37
On the first of three testing days Honda had planned on the Jerez circuit and under clear sky, with temperatures around 22ºC, Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden made a total of 91 laps setting a fastest time of 1’41.377. The North American rider, who finished seventh of the Grand Prix staged on that circuit in May, improved the time set then (1’41.911) by more than half a second. The 23-year-old rider started the intense preseason test on the 4.423km-long circuit of Jerez on Wednesday and will be finishing on Monday and Tuesday in Valencia before starting the compulsory Christmas break. Hayden made the tests with his new technical team under surveillance of New Zealander Pete Benson, and made almost 100 laps trying to find a good base for the Michelin tyre tests that were going to take place on Thursday.The second testing day of the North American was interrupted after a spectacular crash that fortunately had no physical consequences for Hayden. Less luck however for his RC211V that was seriously damaged after hitting against the gravel between turn 8 and 9 of the circuit. The reason for the accident is yet unknown but it’s being investigated by HRC technicians. Finally, the intense Michelin tyre test planned for Thursday had to be moved to the last day at the circuit of Jerez.After a bittersweet Thanksgiving Day, Nicky Hayden recovered on Friday making a total of 97 laps on another sunny day in Jerez. The North American rider had several details to check during the three testing days and had to work hard on Friday, together with his new team in order to find a good base for the set-up with the new parts of his Honda RC211V.The Repsol Honda Team will travel this weekend to Valencia to carry out two further testing days on Monday and Tuesday on the twisty circuit Ricardo Tormo in Cheste.Wednesday: 91 laps, fastest time 1’41.37Thursday: 62 laps, fastest time 1’42.0Friday: 97 laps, fastest time 1’41.5Nicky Hayden: ‘It’s been a few weeks since we’ve been on a bike and it’s nice to get back. The weather has been great, which has been positive. Almost every time I’ve been here in the past it seems to have rained. After the race last year was the first real time I have ridden here in the dry. We got a lot of things to get through in these days here. Friday was a quite solid testing day. We’ve been working on a bunch of things; some things we liked and some others we didn’t. The thing in testing is not to get too mixed up. We have to look at what’s going on and figure out what is working well and what is not working so well.Things didn’t work out well on Thursday. I had a pretty big crash in the morning that really messed the whole day up. HRC are looking into the causes but it was third gear and the bike went straight up and down. We’ve only got one machine here and the crash really did a number on the bike and the boys had to change nearly everything! Physically I was okay in the crash but it shook me up quite a bit. We managed to get out there again towards the end of the day and put in quite a few laps but I never got back in the times that I know I should be doing. I’ve had better thanksgiving days in my life before but that’s what you get in the sport. Some days are better than others and Thursday wasn’t one of the good ones.Friday was a hard working day. I haven’t been able to set the times I expected but we’ve learned a lot and we’ve got a lot of information which will be very useful for the tests in Valencia next week. After loosing so much time yesterday without being able to test while the mechanics were repairing the bike, we’ve had to make the most of the day. We’ve been working on the new things brought by Michelin and testing different things on the frame and the electronics. Some worked out well and some others didn’t. The new team seems to be getting along just fine. There’s good team spirit and that’s very important. It’s early days yet but a change was definitely needed
