Nicky Hayden looking for more top speed

Ducati’s GP9 might be consistently the fastest bike in MotoGP, but American Nicky Hayden is still looking for more top speed ahead of the first race in Qatar next month.

Pre-season testing so far has shown the 2006 world champion to be much slower than Aussie team-mate Casey Stoner on long straights in Sepang and Qatar.
Hayden’s deficit during the first test of 2009 was 10kph on Sepang’s two long straights.

And he tried a new bigger fairing to help make him more aerodynamic in Qatar earlier this month, only to marginally reduce the top speed gap to 2007 MotoGP world champion Stoner.

The Kentucky rider told MCN: “My top speed compared to Casey was a long way down in Sepang. We tried a fairing to help get me under the bubble in Qatar but it wasn’t any better.

“The speed was no better and it made the bike heavier to turn in the fast corners. There’s not a big weight difference between Casey and me, but he definitely gets behind the screen better than I do.

“On the start/finish line in Qatar he was 6kph faster, so its maybe more by the time we get to turn one. How he comes onto the straight is a lot to do with it but in Sepang coming on the front straight I was getting on the throttle in the same place as him. I got to figure something out because that speed is a lot.”