Good results for Dani Pedrosa
The Repsol Honda Team today commenced the final three-day test session in Jerez, Spain, before the MotoGP season begins here in two weeks time.
Having been frustrated by poor conditions at the previous two tests in Sepang and Barcelona, the team has a demanding test schedule planned to claw back time in the development of the 2006 RC211V.

American rider Nicky Hayden, who`s leading the machine development, began to work through a menu of tests to rapidly bring his new-for- 2006 Repsol Honda up to race pace. Again the 24-year-old completed the most laps of any of the MotoGP stars, today clocking up 108 circuits of the 4.423km track as he tested Michelin tyres and refined bike settings.

Dani Pedrosa, who enters his first season of MotoGP racing this year, again impressed onlookers. The 20-year-old reigning 250cc World Champion posted the 4th quickest time of the day and ended the quickest of the riders on Michelin tyres. He spent the morning working on bike settings, including alterations to his riding position, and focussed on tyre testing in the afternoon.

The test continues here for another two days before the team packs up in preparation for the season opener on March 26, also at Jerez.

Nicky Hayden (1m 41.984s, 108 laps completed) : “We came out today and got on the pace pretty quick which I was happy about. We`ve got the front of the bike working a bit better but it`s still spinning a bit at the back so we didn`t quite get down to the lap time we`d hoped for. We got into to the low 1m 42s but we just couldn`t jump down to the 1m 41s which is where I really wanted to be to take a big step. We`re just searching for a bit of traction. Tonight we`ll put our heads together and see if we can make a bigger step tomorrow.”

Dani Pedrosa (1m 41.499s, 96 laps completed) : “This is another new track for me on this bike so we started little-by-little in the morning. Until noon we were just playing with the bike – the seating position, handlebars and footpegs. Then in the afternoon we started tyre testing for Michelin. The results were good today, though we haven`t finished and we have to do more laps and further improve the set-up of the bike.”

Makoto Tanaka – Repsol Honda Team Manager : “It`s perfect weather for testing today and we got along very well with today`s test menu. We had tested a lot of things in the past few tests so we analysed a lot of data and narrowed the set-up menu down to one direction for the up-coming race here. Both Nicky and Dani worked hard today. Nicky did a lot of laps and I know we need more work tomorrow to get the right set-up. Dani showed good progress here with the quickest time of the Michelin runners. We`re getting closer to the top time but still have much work to meet our target.”

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