P22
IN
THE
WIND
HAYDEN TO ASPAR APRILIA?
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
N
icky Hayden's future was still
in the balance at Misano this
weekend, but all bets are on an
imminent announcement that he
will join the Aspar Power Electronics team on the upgraded
new Aprilia.
He would only say: "I will have
to decide soon. I know I've been
saying that for a few weeks, but
it's getting very close. With some
of the options we don't know
about the complete package,
which means it's hard to make a
decision."
Asked directly about the Aspar
contact, he said: "It's not a done
deal yet, but I went to Aprilia
in the break and was very impressed by what I saw, and with
their professionalism."
Aprilia have promised a major
upgrade to its already dominant
CRT bike, including pneumatic
It is now
looking likely
that Nicky
Hayden will
race an Aprilia
in the 2014
MotoGP World
Championship.
valve springs, a seamless-shift
gearbox and an all-new chassis
for next year.
Another option, which is fading fast, was to stay with Ducati
in the World Superbike team, an
outcome favored by new World
Superbike owners Dorna to
boost the appeal of the secondtier championship.
Hayden tested the Ducati Panigale Superbike in the break after
Silverstone, alongside tests of
the MotoGP machine at Misano.
On Pirelli tires for the first time
and with no other Superbikes
present, it was difficult to assess the machine, he said, but
"it turned better than my MotoGP
bike, which was interesting."
World Superbikes were not,
however, "a priority." He would
prefer to stay in MotoGP.
The likelihood of a production
Honda RCV1000R with the LCR
team is receding, with American
Honda struggling to find the necessary financial backing. There
was also the chance he might
join the NGM Forward team, with
the new lease Yamaha M1.
Michael Scott
YAMAHA MOTOGP:
SEAMLESS – AT LAST!
S
eamless shifting came at last
for the two factory Yamaha
riders at Misano, after a long wait
and much pressure from the riders. How much difference did it
make? Quite a lot, according to
Jorge Lorenzo is happy with Yamaha's new seamless transmission
and he put it to good use on Sunday at Misano.
