From a press release issued by Honda Racing Information:

MotoGP test Sepang – Malaysia. February 13, 2004

Hayden sounds warning shot out to rivals as Honda’s Sepang test winds down

Factory Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden was in fine form on the final day of three at Sepang in Malaysia, improving his previous best lap of the circuit by nearly a second and instilling a good deal of confidence in himself and his team, as he and the other Honda riders move on to Australia for yet another three day test. Hayden was even able to finish early, as all of his Honda colleagues continued until around five o’clock on another scorching day at the equatorial track.

Temperatures were once again hovering between the 32º and 35ºC mark, whilst on the track surface it reached well into the 50ºs. Hayden set his time early morning amongst a clutch of fast laps, whilst his fellow riders improved steadily throughout the day. Max Biaggi, Sete Gibernau, Colin Edwards and Makoto Tamada all joined Hayden under the psychologically fast 2:03 bench-mark, whilst Alex Barros continued with his adaptation to the RC211V after a year’s absence and a shoulder operation, with surprisingly good results.

Nicky Hayden – 2:02.041 41 laps

“I’d be lyin’ if I said it didn’t feel good but I gotta’ remember this is still only practice! It really helps to be comfortable with the team and I think it shows. We’ve done a good job over the last few days and I’m happy. We’ve had a few problems but we are more experienced about fixin’ them now. I’ve never been that good in testin’ – I’m usually best on Sunday so we’re feelin’ positive. The bike feels good – Honda has made a great bike even better over the winter. The 16.5-inch front feels real good – just like I’m used to with a Superbike. I just feel I can be more focussed on ridin’ the bike this year than last. Last year I guess I had some excuses – I was learnin’. This year I wanna’ win races. I’m lookin’ forward to getting’ down to Phillip Island – a track I really like – and getting’ the bike to go fast there. Then back to Europe for more tests; then racin’. Can’t wait.”

Trevor Morris – Hayden Crew Chief

“Put simply, we achieved everything we set out to over the three days . . . and more. Day one was hard – getting back into it and getting used to a slightly different feel to the bike. Yesterday we found a really good base setting and managed to put in some fast laps. Today Nicky went straight out and rode fast and consistently. We now go down to Phillip Island and look to get a good base setting and go fast again – at a track Nicky likes. We’ll then come back to Europe and try to do the same again. We packed up early today because we had done our work early – and fast.”

Max Biaggi – 2:02.108 52 laps

“Another good day for me at this track, I showed I can go fast in these difficult conditions, and consistently too, so that is a good thing. The 16.5-inch front tyre from Michelin gives me a lot of confidence on the front end of the bike, which is so important from the rider’s point of view. I like it a lot! Now the important thing is to repeat this at Phillip Island, it will be good to change the scenery a little bit, and I look forward to testing down there.”

Sete Gibernau – 2:02.496 42 laps

“Every day we’ve been able to do exactly what we want, and also today I’m more than pleased with how things have gone. We wanted to go race distance, or as close as possible, and we actually did the 21 laps easily, and we were quite a bit quicker than in the race here. That’s alone, without the stress and pressure of a race too. That makes me happy, that’s what we wanted. We were putting 2:02s together, and that’s why I’m happy, we want to be there at the first race. I’m still deciding between two sizes of 16.5-inch front tyre, but I did that race simulation with my least favourite so, that’s good.”

Colin Edwards – 2:02.597 33 laps

“When you get with a new bike you start from scratch, and the key is to gather as much information as possible, so that when you get to the first race you know what to do, what to change, what setting you’re looking for. At the moment, I’m just getting that information together, the bank is not full, but it’s getting there. Fabrizio (Cecchini – Chief mechanic) listens to my comments and advises on where to go and it usually improves it so that’s a good thing we’ve got going there. We’re building up the database and we’re getting there.”

Makoto Tamada – 2:02.962 45 laps

“It was a very difficult day today, because I arrived here from Japan with the flu, and today I think was the worst day of the three. I had a little fever, and riding there’s no problem because you are concentrating, but then when you’re sitting around waiting for the bike to be fixed or whatever, it is tiring, and it starts to take its toll. In any case, from the bike’s point of view it’s been a good three days, we’ve worked a lot on the set-up of the 2004 bike, and have learned a lot about it. We can appreciate the different possibilities now, and seen the improvement you can get out of it. I would like to have gone faster if the conditions had suited it, but it wasn’t possible, we’ll see now in Australia.”

Luca Montiron – Team Manager Makoto Tamada, Camel Honda

“This year’s second series of tests has given some good results. Even though Tamada was considerably handicapped by his precarious physical condition, I could see he was really concentrating hard. After the three days investigating the ideal set-up for the bike, and after the forthcoming tests in Australia, I’m hoping that by the time we get to the Catalunya tests we’ll be able to bring our full potential to bear.”

Alex Barros – 2:03.588 53 laps

“For me that was a hard few days; great to be back on a bike after so long away. I’m now sore and tired. We use ice on my shoulder and it helps. My confidence is coming back again and it’s good to be back on the Honda again. Although I have to learn all the reference points again it is a relaxed bike to ride. I have much feeling on the Honda -the tyres, the suspension. I’ve only used the 16.5-inch front a little. Too early to say yet. The set-up is not right but I feel I’m improving with every day. My lap times are constant and they will improve with my fitness. Tendons have to heal naturally so it will take a time to regain 100% fitness and this is the goal for the start of the season.”

Ramon Forcada – Barros Crew Chief

“I am satisfied with the way the new team is working over the past few days. Alex is doing everything we want. Step at a time. The start of the season is still a way off and every day his condition improves. He hasn’t ridden for a long time and it takes time top adjust to a new bike anyway but it has been a useful three days. We move to Phillip Island with a good base foundation and something to build on.”


More, from a press release issued by Camel Honda Racing Information:

Makoto Tamada sixth quickest on last day of tests at Sepang

The third and last day of tests at Sepang ended with Makoto Tamada posting sixth best time in spite of a vexing flu that stretched his physical resistance to the limit. Technicians and rider completed the work of adjusting the settings on the bike, making the potential of the remarkable and significant new adjustment possibilities on the RC211V 2004 quite evident.

Makoto rode constantly in racing configuration on hard tyres and, in the afternoon, he waited until the over 50°C (122°F) ground temperature had gone down a bit before upping the ante. The brief wait towards the end of the afternoon also let Makoto recover some of his energy, for his terrible cold and flu-like state that struck him particularly today naturally had no little influence on his performance.

This second series of tests at the beginning of the year proved to be very positive, letting the technicians and rider appreciate all the excellent new features of this year’s RC211V. Three days of tests will start up again in Phillip Island, Australia, as from next Tuesday.

Makoto Tamada (# 6 – Camel Honda – Bridgestone Tyres)

“The cold that got me when I arrived here from Japan did indeed hit its peak today. It was really a struggle, especially this morning. When you’re riding it’s no problem because you’re concentrating so hard, but when I stopped it hit me hard. Even so, I gave it all I’d got. The more we go round on the bike, the better the feeling I get for it. I waited until the end of the afternoon before aiming for a good time and, considering I was on racing tyres, I must say that, all things considered, I’m pretty pleased.”

Luca Montiron (Team Manager Makoto Tamada – Camel Honda)

“This year’s second series of tests has given some good results. Even though Tamada was considerably handicapped by his precarious physical condition, I could see he was really concentrating hard. After the three days investigating the ideal set-up for the bike, and after the forthcoming tests in Australia, I’m hoping that by the time we get to the Catalunya tests we’ll be able to bring our full potential to bear.”

Times on third day of tests:

Makoto Tamada: 2:02.962
Max Biaggi: 2:02.108