hayden stays on in japan on tyre testing duty
24/09/07
News
Former MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden stayed on in Motegi to complete some tyre testing following the MotoGP race there on Sunday. He, Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards were among the Michelin runners while Chris Vermeulen was the only Bridgestone MotoGP regular.
Hayden took advantage of this extra chance to work to test and analyse some modifications on the suspension, and some new high-performance tyres provided by Michelin
The Kentucky Kid did 86 laps of the circuit in Japan and set the third best time of 1' 48.065s. Vermeulen was fastest with a 1'47.894s with Edwards second a tenth slower.
"This morning we made some changes and tested some modifications on the bike," said Hayden. "We also tested some Michelin tyres, seeking to improve the grip and the performance on the first few laps so that they can be faster.
"That occupied most of the day since at this moment in time tyres play a very important role. We were lucky concerning the weather since it looked like it was going to rain but today was not a day to go to the beach. At times my visor got steamed up but we managed to do quite a lot.”
Unofficial times:
1 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 47.894s
2 Colin Edwards Fiat Yamaha Team 1m 47.947s
3 Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Team 1m 48.065s 86
4 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m 48.213s
5 Kousuke Akiyoshi Rizla Suzuki Team 1m 49.090s
6 Akira Yanagawa Kawasaki Racing Team 1m 50.229s
7 Tadayuki Okada HRC Test Rider 1m 50.641s
8 Nobuatsu Aoki Suzuki Test Rider 1m 50.675s
