Hayden's woes continue

Reigning world champion Nicky Hayden’s tough winter showed no signs of improvement today in Jerez as he finished way down the timesheets in 19th place.

The American was a massive 3.338s slower than Marco Melandri as nobody completed more laps than the Repsol Honda rider.

In Hayden’s 63-lap stint in mixed conditions on a cool day in Jerez, his best of 1.45.901 was even slower than Ducati test riders Vittoriano Guareschi and Shinichi Ito.

Following on from his tough test in Qatar where he crashed twice and finished well down the timesheets, the 25-year-old said: “I just didn’t feel comfortable and it was pretty crappy to be honest. I can’t make any excuses – the rider got to get better. I was just real sketchy out there and it doesn’t look pretty and its not a great way to start the last test.”

In contrast to Hayden’s on-going problems, team-mate Dani Pedrosa finished third fastest with a best of 1.42.706. The Spaniard was fastest in Jerez at the end of November. Carlos Checa was also impressive