The final race of the World Motorcycling Championship started today at the Circuito Ricardo Tormo, the first day of practice for the Grand Prix Comunitat Valenciana. In the top category the Repsol Honda Team riders are especially motivated to have a good end to their complicated season at a circuit that holds good memories for both of them. Hayden won the world title here last year and Pedrosa has won three times in Valencia.
Today Dani started strongly setting the third best time in the two MotoGP free practice sessions. For the time being he is satisfied with his position, the Repsol rider spent the day above all testing tyres with his mind on Sunday`s race. His teammate Nicky Hayden did not have a very good day, setting the 7th best time in the morning and 9th in the afternoon.But the first day was positive for the Repsol Honda Team 250. Shuhei Aoyama has a provisional place on the first row of the grid after practice, setting the 3rd best time.
The Repsol rider rapidly settled down at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, finishing 11th in free practice, and was able to improve on this time in the afternoon session by one second. His teammate Julián Simón was 8th at the end of the day, setting the best time on his final lap when he had to overtake another slower rider, this made him lose a few tenths. The Repsol rider is not satisfied with this result, although he is positive about tomorrow`s sessions, as he knows what he must change on his Honda to get better times. In the smaller categories the Repsol riders Esteve Rabat and Bradley Smith were 10th and 15th respectively in a timed session dominated by the Spaniard Héctor Faubel.
Dirt on the track stopped the riders going as fast as they could in the first session, and the riders sought the best tyre selection for the track in Valencia, Rabat was 11th and Smith 12th. In the afternoon the Spanish rider had some engine problems on his bike and these made him feel disappointed with his result, he must take advantage of tomorrow`s session to finally get the right set up on his bike. His team mate Smith, pleased with the set up he got, will try to improve his lap times tomorrow and so get a good position on the grid.
