VOL. 51 ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 4, 2014 P31
the post Jeremy Burgess era for Valentino Rossi;
Dani Pedrosa testing without his long-time mentor
Alberto Puig; ex-Aprilia guru Gigi Dall'Igna in his
new role with Ducati; Nicky Hayden's 2014 debut
on his "Open" class Honda with the Spanish Aspar
team; and, of course, Marc Marquez in his new role
as World Champion and his rival Jorge Lorenzo in
his attempt to earn back the crown.
Among the rookies to take to the track this week
the two with the most pedigree will be Moto2 World
Champion Pol Espargaro, who will join Brit Bradley
Smith on the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha team's "fac-
tory" bikes, and championship runner-up Scott
Redding on the "Open" class Gresini Honda.
The test will also see all the bikes running the
Dorna-supplied electronic control unit (ECU) as
part of the continued initiative to lower running
costs in MotoGP, with the "Open" class bikes also
being mandated to use the spec software supplied
by Magneti Marelli. The "Factory" bikes can still
use their own programs.
Open riders will also get 12 engines per season,
while the factory riders get only five – which are
frozen in development and may not be modified
during the season. Also, the factory bikes can only
run 20 liters of fuel while the Open class bikes can
run 24 liters.
The test starts Tuesday and will run through
Thursday.
World Champion Marc Marquez leads the
way as the MotoGP testing season gets
started this week in Malaysia.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE/
RED
BULL
CONTENT
POOL
ROGER LEE TO YOSHIMURA!
I
t's official: Yoshimura Suzuki will
run three riders in the 2014 AMA
Superbike Series with the team
signing Roger Lee Hayden to
join incumbents Martin Cardenas
and Chris Clark on GSX-R1000s.
Hayden finished fourth in last
year's series with six podium
finishes on the now-defunct Mi-
chael Jordan Motorsports team.
Hayden also raced as a wild card
in the World Superbike round at
Laguna Seca last year, finishing
10th and eighth in the two races
on the Jordan Suzuki.
In 2012, Hayden earned his
first AMA Superbike win of his
career on Jordan's Suzuki at
Homestead-Miami Speedway in
Florida.
Hayden tested the Yoshimura
GSX-R1000 late last year af-
ter finding himself without a
ride when the Jordan team
opted out of the 2014 AMA
Superbike Series. He came
away impressed.
"To be on a factory team is
a great feeling," said Hayden.
"Especially a powerhouse
team like Yoshimura Suzuki
that's won so many champi-
onships. I got the chance to
ride the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-
R1000 last year and the test went
really good. I was fast on the bike
and worked well with the team.
I have to thank Suzuki and Yo-
shimura for making this happen.
I'm really looking forward to the
2014 season. Daytona can't
come soon enough."
Hayden will join Cardenas,
who returns to the team for a
second year after winning two
races for them in 2013 en route
to finishing third in the champion-
ship, and Clark, who completed
his second season with the team
last year.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
ANDREA
WILSON
Roger Lee Hayden will ride a
Yoshimura Suzuki in 2014.
