A great performance today by Nicky Hayden at the timed training sessions of the Portugese Grand Prix. Nicky Hayden will start off tomorrow heading the second row, after he finished today in fourth place, keeping up a good pace throughout the day.

Nicky Hayden today gave another fine perfromance on his Repsol Honda RC212V 2008, confirming the visible improvements he made a fortnight ago in Jerez. The Repsol rider was third in the free training session, finally falling to fourth – second row on the starting grid – in the timed sessions.

Nicky Hayden - 1′36.266 secs, 55 laps, 230 Km.

“We’re right there, but just missing that last little bit. Everything went relatively smooth today, though I definitely thought we were capable of being on the front row – bike, tyres, even the rider – but we just didn’t get it done. Race pace I don’t think we’re a long way off but definitely we could do with a bit more.

1. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 1′35.715
2. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1′35.948
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 1′36.199
4. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1′36.266
5. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1′36.289
6. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1′36.790
7. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP (M) 1′36.998
8. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP (M) 1′37.223

2006 MotoGP World Champion Hayden was happy with his first day’s work at the GP of Portugal, making only minor changes to his RC212V’s setup, and is looking forward to further progress tomorrow. Last year Nicky Hayden got pole position and the lap record here.

Nicky Hayden - 4th fastest - 1′38.688

“Everything went pretty well, it’s been quite a positive day, I think we had a pretty good start to things. Sure we’re gonna have to improve a little bit, but seems like in the wet and dry we got a bike working relatively well, so if we can sweeten up a few things tomorrow, hopefully we can really be up there come Sunday. More or less the bike was working okay without a lot of big changes, so we’re running a pretty similar setup to what I ran at Jerez, just a few little clickers here and there. Conditions were not easy, the morning was wet, then half and half and the afternoon was a little bit patchy and windy, so sure it was quite challenging, but the team’s done a good job and we’ve got a pretty decent setup, so we’ll see tomorrow.”

1. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1′38.507
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 1′38.547
3. Colin Edwards USA Yamaha Tech 3 (M) 1′38.632
4. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1′38.688
5. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 1′38.868
6. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Scot Team (M) 1′39.171
7. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1′39.202
8. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1′39.309

2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden today began the build-up to the first-ever Indianapolis MotoGP event by riding a vintage Indian motorcycle around the legendary Brick Yard racetrack, which now features a new layout for motorcycles.

The Repsol Honda rider, one of seven Americans to have worn motorcycling’s biggest crown, got fully into the part, wearing authentic vintage helmet and leathers. The Indian machine, which took part in the first Indy bike race in 1909, certainly impressed the Kentucky Kid.

“When the bike first fired up I wondered what I’d got myself into!” said Hayden, one of those riders who has a lot of respect for racing history. “Then when I was doing about 40mph down the straight it felt like a hundred. I really enjoyed the ride though, especially my old school helmet, that was my favourite part.

“It is a real honour to be the first rider to lap the new Indy track and I can’t wait to get out there on a MotoGP bike in September. I expect most of my hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky, to be there. They may have to close the town down that day.”

Repsol Honda RC212V rider Nicky Hayden heads into the Portuguese Grand Prix aiming to keep improving following the  Spanish GP. Nicky Hayden took an excellent fourth-place finish after running with the leaders.

The Kentucky Kid spent two further days at Jerez testing components, tyres and setup options that should put him in even better shape at Estoril.Nicky Hayden set the fastest lap of the tests while evaluating Michelin rear tyres and some new clutch parts for smoother corner entries.

Estoril is a complex and tricky circuit with some dramatic contrasts – the chicane is MotoGP’s slowest corner and the kink onto the back straight is one of the fastest. Riders need a well-balanced machine that is manageable in slower turns and stable in the fast sweepers, with good top speed for the 320km/h-199mph main straight and excellent braking stability.

Nicky Hayden is the current Estoril lap record holder and also took pole position at last year’s event. Honda has won five of the eight premier-class GPs staged at the track since 2002.

Nicky Hayden

Nicky Hayden went back to work at Jerez on Monday following the Spanish GP which his team mate Pedrosa won in brilliant style, Hayden building momentum with a fine ride to fourth. Nicky Hayden evaluated new parts and new settings, working hard to continue the impressive progress he made over the Spanish GP weekend, during which he raced a new chassis for the first time.

Nicky Hayden, 9th, 1m 40. 389s, 80 laps

“We learned some stuff today, we were able to run pretty decent and consistent laps using reference tyres and we got some good data, so quite a positive day all in all. We had nothing major to test, just some different clutch options to get into the corners a little bit better and some general setup options, looking for a bit of edge traction to help save the tyre over race distance. We’ll come back again tomorrow, get another full day and just work our way through some more options.”

MotoGP Test Results Jerez