IN
THE
WIND
P36
REA FASTEST AS HAYDEN SETTLES IN
D
ay one of the Motorland
Aragon World Supebike test
promised nothing, but eventu-
ally most of the top riders got to
complete some worthwhile laps,
despite a persistent blanket of
fog that took hours to lift.
Sunshine even appeared at
one late stage, but with track
temperatures in the mid-teens
it took some time for the track
to improve enough for Jonathan
Rea (KRT) to set the best lap, a
1:51.5s on his 2016 machine. He
only set 18 laps, such was the
short time available to him and
his peer group.
Rea's teammate Tom Sykes
had opted not to ride at all, but
the new star in the World Super-
bike skies Nicky Hayden (Honda
World Superbike) managed to
ride his bike in dry conditions to
a respectable time behind the
more regular World Superbike
combatants. In setting a best of
1:53.2s or 1:53.3s (depending
on who pushed the stopwatch
button) Hayden ended his first
new era World Superbike day
making a positive impression all
around.
"We went out with a wet front
just to check the ride position,
basically," Hayden said. "Of
course the feeling is very differ-
ent, especially from what I am
used to with the rain front tire.
I just rode around but it feels
like there is quite a wide power
range, which I liked. Obviously
I need to understand more how
the front is moving; it's softer,
even on the straightaway."
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing
– Ducati WSB) was the second
fastest rider behind Rea, not
managing to get his full 2016
'test' bike to run properly and
going back to his regular ma-
chine in the end.
Three riders—official Ducati
stand-in Xavi Fores and both
new Pata Yamaha riders Syl-
vain Guintoli and Alex
Lowes—set a 1:52.5s
best, with Michael van
der Mark putting in a
1:52.7s.
All at Motorland hope
for an improvement in
the weather on day two,
with most having new
2016 material or entire
machines to work with.
Cycle News closed
for press before the
commencement of day
two at Aragon. We will
have a full interview
with Hayden himself in
the next issue of Cycle
News.
Gordon Ritchie
Nicky Hayden completed
his first tentative steps into
World Superbike at Aragon.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
