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

Nicky Hayden’s hard-fought result proved that the 2006 World Champion is really building momentum after a tough weekend at the season-opening Qatar GP. Just a tenth off the front row in qualifying, Hayden got a storming start that gave him the chance to run with the leaders. He did just that and was very much in the hunt for a podium finish, chasing Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, until he had a close call at turn one with five laps to go.

Nicky Hayden - 4th place

“It was fun to be competitive, to come into that stadium section the first lap with 130,000 people coming alive, bombs going off, it was cool, it was nice to be there in the mix. Obviously we’d like to have been having some bubbly afterwards, but the bike worked the best it’s worked all weekend and I was pushing hard.

After I dropped back a bit I made a run on them, I was trying to give those guys a fight. Then I stayed on the brake a bit too long into turn one and pretty much crashed. It was elbow down and I thought it was done, but the front tyre was good, so I picked it up on the knee and saved it. You can ride these bikes so hard now and the front tyres are so good, that’s the first time I’ve done that.

1. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda 25 points
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha 20 points
3. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha 16 points
4. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda 13 points
5. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki 11 points
6. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 10 points
7. John Hopkins USA Kawasaki Racing 9 points
8. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Team Scot 8 points

Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden delivered an impressive qualifying performance at sun-blessed Jerez today. Nicky Hayden was just a fraction of a second behind his team-mate in fourth. That session backed up similarly strong showings during free practice.

Nicky Hayden ended the day a tantalising 0.107 seconds off the front row. The American is now running both his RC212Vs with the latest chassis and will be working hard in warm-up to find that last bit of pace to allow him to battle up front.

Nicky Hayden, fourth fastest, 1m 39.061s

“We’ve made a bit of progress, but this afternoon a lot of guys went quicker and we didn’t quite have the feeling I was looking for to get the rhythm. I need to be dangerous tomorrow. Definitely need to try to step it up in warm-up; me, the bike, everything’s going to need more speed if we want to be up there. It’s mainly getting the front working better over the bumps, though the bike/tyre combination’s not so bad.