Bushiee46
16-02-2007, 17:35
http://www.gixerjunkies.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7599&stc=1&d=1171643712
While team-mate Dani Pedrosa left the Qatar test fastest of all, MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden saw a strong start turn into 'a tough couple of days' that ended with the Kentuckian just 14th on the timesheets.
Hayden, the top RC212V rider on day one in a solid fifth, suffered a pair of confidence denting falls - combined with technical troubles - on day two and simply wanted to regain some feel from the front of his Honda on the final day, at a venue which will host the first grand prix of 2007 on March 10.
Unfortunately, although the American put in a mammoth 97 Thursday laps - and claims he wasn't 'going for outright laptimes' - his best was 1.8secs behind Pedrosa's qualifying tyre pace.
The #1 now has just one more test session, at Jerez next week, to get to grips with the RC212V before the new season starts.
"After [day two] I just needed to come in and do some laps to try to get the feeling back, so today I got comfortable and didn't get too carried away chasing laptimes. I've been trying to get some more feeling from the front - that's what we're working towards. I'd have liked to have gone a bit faster today but we're still positive and we'll go back to work in Jerez and make some improvements," he said.
"Things started out so good on the first morning here - since then it's been a tough couple of days. Sometimes this is a hard a game and you've got to adjust to it - I go away from here healthy and hopefully we'll go to the next test and get some things sorted out with me and the bike. I want to thank my team because [day two] was pretty hard on those guys and they were really cool about it," he added.
While team-mate Dani Pedrosa left the Qatar test fastest of all, MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden saw a strong start turn into 'a tough couple of days' that ended with the Kentuckian just 14th on the timesheets.
Hayden, the top RC212V rider on day one in a solid fifth, suffered a pair of confidence denting falls - combined with technical troubles - on day two and simply wanted to regain some feel from the front of his Honda on the final day, at a venue which will host the first grand prix of 2007 on March 10.
Unfortunately, although the American put in a mammoth 97 Thursday laps - and claims he wasn't 'going for outright laptimes' - his best was 1.8secs behind Pedrosa's qualifying tyre pace.
The #1 now has just one more test session, at Jerez next week, to get to grips with the RC212V before the new season starts.
"After [day two] I just needed to come in and do some laps to try to get the feeling back, so today I got comfortable and didn't get too carried away chasing laptimes. I've been trying to get some more feeling from the front - that's what we're working towards. I'd have liked to have gone a bit faster today but we're still positive and we'll go back to work in Jerez and make some improvements," he said.
"Things started out so good on the first morning here - since then it's been a tough couple of days. Sometimes this is a hard a game and you've got to adjust to it - I go away from here healthy and hopefully we'll go to the next test and get some things sorted out with me and the bike. I want to thank my team because [day two] was pretty hard on those guys and they were really cool about it," he added.