IN
THE
WIND
P26
NICKY HAYDEN GETS READY FOR RACING
W
ith his full-season debut
shortly to come in the
WorldSBK paddock, Honda
World Superbike rider Nicky
Hayden tested at his third different
circuit on his CBR1000RR since
he had his first rides at Motorland
Aragon and Jerez last year.
And Phillip Island, as he said,
is not similar to either of those.
"It is very different here, being
so much faster," said the former
MotoGP Champion. "Especially
here, where we have to get
used to the bike moving, as it is
really moving a lot in the faster
corners. I think it is both bike
and tire moving, the bike moving
more and I need to understand
the tires here. We have third-,
fourth- and fifth-gear corners,
but in Jerez or Aragon there is
none of that."
Tires play more of a role in
final race day results at PI than
most circuits, and Hayden is
well aware of this. "PI is a spe-
cial track on tires. The first exit
they said that the temperature
and pressure of the tires looked
fine but the second exit it was
spitting rain so I came back in
slow. The grip is fine, it is just a
bit of moving."
No new parts of any signifi-
cance came along to Phillip Island
for Hayden to test, but for the
first time he used all the best test
items that he had selected at pre-
vious tests, all on one machine.
"We do not have anything
really new," he affirmed. "We
have, kind of, what our best
from Jerez was, because we
never really had time to put all
our best stuff all together."
Hayden is ready to get his points
scoring game on now, as he em-
barks on a new career challenge.
"I am getting more excited
but we need to take advantage
of these two days of testing, for
sure," he said. "I need some
more time to understand more
things with me, with the bike,
with the team. I am excited, but
trying to stay calm." CN
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
Nicky's not getting ahead
of himself, but the speed
is clearly there on the
aging CBR1000RR.
