GixerGaz
31-01-2007, 17:33
http://www.gixerjunkies.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7191&stc=1&d=1170261172
Tommy Hayden didn’t go all that fast on the first of two days of testing at California Speedway, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that he was back on a racing motorcycle two and a half months after the worst crash of his career.
Hayden suffered a vicious highside during his first test of the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 in Sepang, Malaysia on November 16. The original diagnosis was that he’d broken no bones, but that would later prove to be wrong. More than two weeks after the crash, doctors in his hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky discovered that he had, in fact, broken the both the tibia and fibula of his right leg just above the ankle, as well as his right navicular bone.
Instead of attending the December Dunlop Daytona tire test, Hayden flew to California where Dr. Arthur Ting operated on the wrist. Today the wrist was fine, Hayden said, but the leg, which was never operated on but put in a cast, continues to be a problem. Not enough of a problem, however, to keep him away from Fontana.
“I was really excited to get out and ride today. Feels good to get to a track I know,” he said after testing for three hours before rain ended the day at around noon. Hayden clocked a hand-timed best lap of 1:26.5, which didn’t approach the 1:25.416 he ran during the 2006 race on the Kawasaki.
“I haven’t really ridden the bike on a track we raced on yet,” he said. “That’s kind of good, because at least I can eliminate trying to find brake markers and lines and stuff, so that makes it a little bit easier, so that’s good. Just really going through the basics. Just trying to get comfortable again. Get a good feeling before I get too crazy with testing stuff.”
Hayden said he felt “really good, everywhere except my leg. My leg is nagging on. It’s not bad, but it’s not perfect. Got these fast chicanes here where you really have to use your feet. Through there I still feel a little bit of pain when I’m really trying to use my feet. Besides that it’s good. I mean, my hand’s really good, which is surprising. We kind of expected it to be the opposite. The bones on my leg are just heeling extremely slow. I was getting X-rays every three weeks. Kind of strange; it’s definitely heeling. It’s just taking forever for some reason. I fractured, basically, my tib-fib right where it goes in my ankle, so kind of, I guess bigger bones. It’s alright, I just get a little unconfident feeling in it every now and then when I really stand on it, but it should be alright by Daytona.”
Hayden’s unease was clear on the track. On his first several forays he was tentative and deliberate.
“I mean, it felt like I rolled out on the track on a bike I never rode before. So it was a little weird feeling,” he said.
Part of that was due to new leathers - he’s switched from Joe Rocket to Alpinestars - which he had to break in. Once he got more comfortable, you could see he could attack the corners. But his bike didn’t sound like the Suzukis of his teammates Mat Mladin and Ben Spies. The reason was that he hadn’t activated the traction control.
“I have a lot of work to do before that’s going to help me,” he said. “Now I’m getting down within decent lap times, so if we were going back out we’d probably start playing with that. But I mean, until you get going so fast, it’s not magic.”
First he’ll have to get used to the Suzuki chassis, which is much stiffer than last year’s Kawasaki.
“It was one of my big complaints with the Kawi, it was a really flimsy feeling almost,” he said. “We had problems with the chain jumping and the gearbox. A lot of it was the thing was just winding up a lot. And this is completely on the other end of the spectrum from that. You know, similar to when I was riding the GP bike last year some, but not quite that much, but same kind of thing.” And it’s amplified when not on pace, he said.
“I do think that once I get going a little faster it’s going to feel better, more natural,” he said. “Whereas like last year on the Kawi I would get to the point and the bike would not let you ride it any faster, because it was just all it would give. I do believe this is the right direction. I just have to get used to it and be able to take advantage of that feature, so we’ll see.”
Tommy Hayden didn’t go all that fast on the first of two days of testing at California Speedway, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that he was back on a racing motorcycle two and a half months after the worst crash of his career.
Hayden suffered a vicious highside during his first test of the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 in Sepang, Malaysia on November 16. The original diagnosis was that he’d broken no bones, but that would later prove to be wrong. More than two weeks after the crash, doctors in his hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky discovered that he had, in fact, broken the both the tibia and fibula of his right leg just above the ankle, as well as his right navicular bone.
Instead of attending the December Dunlop Daytona tire test, Hayden flew to California where Dr. Arthur Ting operated on the wrist. Today the wrist was fine, Hayden said, but the leg, which was never operated on but put in a cast, continues to be a problem. Not enough of a problem, however, to keep him away from Fontana.
“I was really excited to get out and ride today. Feels good to get to a track I know,” he said after testing for three hours before rain ended the day at around noon. Hayden clocked a hand-timed best lap of 1:26.5, which didn’t approach the 1:25.416 he ran during the 2006 race on the Kawasaki.
“I haven’t really ridden the bike on a track we raced on yet,” he said. “That’s kind of good, because at least I can eliminate trying to find brake markers and lines and stuff, so that makes it a little bit easier, so that’s good. Just really going through the basics. Just trying to get comfortable again. Get a good feeling before I get too crazy with testing stuff.”
Hayden said he felt “really good, everywhere except my leg. My leg is nagging on. It’s not bad, but it’s not perfect. Got these fast chicanes here where you really have to use your feet. Through there I still feel a little bit of pain when I’m really trying to use my feet. Besides that it’s good. I mean, my hand’s really good, which is surprising. We kind of expected it to be the opposite. The bones on my leg are just heeling extremely slow. I was getting X-rays every three weeks. Kind of strange; it’s definitely heeling. It’s just taking forever for some reason. I fractured, basically, my tib-fib right where it goes in my ankle, so kind of, I guess bigger bones. It’s alright, I just get a little unconfident feeling in it every now and then when I really stand on it, but it should be alright by Daytona.”
Hayden’s unease was clear on the track. On his first several forays he was tentative and deliberate.
“I mean, it felt like I rolled out on the track on a bike I never rode before. So it was a little weird feeling,” he said.
Part of that was due to new leathers - he’s switched from Joe Rocket to Alpinestars - which he had to break in. Once he got more comfortable, you could see he could attack the corners. But his bike didn’t sound like the Suzukis of his teammates Mat Mladin and Ben Spies. The reason was that he hadn’t activated the traction control.
“I have a lot of work to do before that’s going to help me,” he said. “Now I’m getting down within decent lap times, so if we were going back out we’d probably start playing with that. But I mean, until you get going so fast, it’s not magic.”
First he’ll have to get used to the Suzuki chassis, which is much stiffer than last year’s Kawasaki.
“It was one of my big complaints with the Kawi, it was a really flimsy feeling almost,” he said. “We had problems with the chain jumping and the gearbox. A lot of it was the thing was just winding up a lot. And this is completely on the other end of the spectrum from that. You know, similar to when I was riding the GP bike last year some, but not quite that much, but same kind of thing.” And it’s amplified when not on pace, he said.
“I do think that once I get going a little faster it’s going to feel better, more natural,” he said. “Whereas like last year on the Kawi I would get to the point and the bike would not let you ride it any faster, because it was just all it would give. I do believe this is the right direction. I just have to get used to it and be able to take advantage of that feature, so we’ll see.”