Just days after his shock title victory over
Valentino Rossi, and following his first ever test on an 800cc machine,
MotoGP world champion
Nicky Hayden has declared his intention to join an 'elite group' by taking a second title next season.
"Sunday almost feels old now and I know we've made Valentino mad by taking his title, so I'm looking forward to taking him on next season," stated Hayden. "I want to come back next year and win again on this (800cc) bike. To win one title is great but to win two of them takes you into another elite group - so I'm still hungry."
Wednesday at Valencia marked Hayden's debut on the 800cc Repsol Honda RC212V he will campaign, with the #1 plate replacing his traditional #69, next season. The American put in 87 laps of the tight and demanding circuit on his way to recording a best lap time of 1min 33.66secs - just six-tenths of a second slower than his fastest time aboard the 990cc RC211V he raced to third place on Sunday. Hayden's 800cc lap time was 0.56secs behind Rossi, the fastest 800cc rider on the opening day of testing.
"I enjoyed riding the new bike today and I'm quite excited because it's got some pretty trick parts and it looks really cool. I got down into the 1min 33secs lap-times pretty easily this morning which is a good sign," said the 25-year-old.
Hayden had to adjust his riding style slightly to get the best out of the V4 powered machine, which he naturally found more compact than its V5 powered predecessor, and felt the new bike had better traction and handling.
