Repsol Honda RC212V rider Nicky Hayden ended an unusual first day of practice ninth fastest at Sepang today. Track conditions were tricky in both sessions, riders dealing with a dusty track surface this morning, when Hayden was sixth quickest, then light rain this afternoon.
At one point during the second session the rain was heavy enough to bring riders into the pits, but during most of the hour only a light drizzle fell, not enough to force riders to switch to treaded tyres but enough to prevent them from fully exploiting their slick tyres. Lap times hardly improved throughout the day, FP2 only a few hundredths faster than FP1 and Hayden just a tenth faster second time out. The MotoGP pack was impressively close today, considering this is MotoGP longest racetrack with a two minutes-plus lap time, Hayden just eight tenths off the best lap of the day.
Nicky Hayden, 9th fastest, 2’03.550 Click here to read more
1. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 2′ 02.667
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 2’02.838
3. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 2’02.970
4. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 2’03.050
5. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (B) 2’03.232
6. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 2’03.346
7. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP (M) 2’03.430
8. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP (M) 2’03.474 Click here to read more
Repsol Honda RC212V rider Nicky Hayden rode to a brilliant podium finish at cool and sunny Phillip Island today, the result moving him up two places in the World Championship points standings to sixth overall with two rounds remaining.
The 2006 World Champion’s third-place result at the fastest track of the year was his second podium in three races, following a brave ride to second in last month’s hurricane-hit Indianapolis Grand Prix. After qualifying third fastest yesterday, the American got a great start to go with race winner Casey Stoner, staying in touch with the Australian during the early stages. During the final few laps Hayden struggled with rear grip and came under pressure from newly crowned World Champion Valentino Rossi, the Italian snatching second place at the start of the very last lap. Hayden tried to counter attack at Honda hairpin but ran wide and had to settle for third. Fittingly for the fastest and greatest racetrack on the MotoGP calendar, the last three World Champions climbed the podium: Stoner, Rossi and Hayden.
Nicky Hayden, finished third, sixth in World Championship Click here to read more
1. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B)
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B)
3. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M)
4. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M)
5. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B)
6. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha (M)
7. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP (M)
8. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha (M) Click here to read more
Nicky Hayden today stormed to his second front-row start in as many weekends, the Repsol Honda rider showing dazzling speed aboard his RC212V around the hugely challenging Phillip Island racetrack.
Hayden was in the fight for pole position throughout this afternoon’s qualifying session, run in cool, breezy conditions. He twice set the pace before ending up third quickest, just 0.091 seconds off the fastest time, and was one of four men to break his own 1m 29.020s outright track record, which he established in 2006, the last year of the 990s. And yet the American was somewhat disappointed to have missed out on pole at one of his favourite tracks, having been fastest in this morning’s final free practice session and in yesterday afternoon’s soaking-wet session. For tomorrow Hayden plans some further fine tuning of machine settings, working to find more traction round a racetrack which involves a lot of speed and a lot of throttle.
Nicky Hayden, 3rd fastest, 1’28.756 Click here to read more
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