Wet day at Valencia for Hayden HRC and Michelin Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden spent a cold wet second, and final day of the HRC test at Valencia evaluating Michelin tyres for the Honda RC211V. American Hayden covered a total of 42 laps at the 4.005 km Spanish circuit trying a variety of full wet an intermediate tyres for the French manufacturer. Weather conditions ranged from a few brief showers to one hard downpour allowing the young American to gauge the performance of full wet rubber and a range of intermediate tyres under development at Michelin. The wet track temperature never rose above 14 degrees restricting the lap time to 1m 45.74s. With two successful and productive days of testing completed the team return to Japan to prepare the RCVs for the final MotoGP test of the year at Sepang, Malaysia, on November 28, 29, 30 next. The Fortuna Honda team of Marco Melandri and Toni Elias attended the opening day of the test only while the younger inexperienced RCV riders elected not to test in the harzardous half wet half dry track conditions. Lap time and quote: Nicky Hayden: 1m 45.74s 42 laps. “The weather is what it is, not ideal but we gained a little experience with the Michelin wet tyres and a couple of intermediates. It would have been nice to have hard rain today because I definitely didn’t set the world on fire in wet races this year. We tried a couple of suspension changes for damp conditions and a little different geometry on the bike. It feels fast when you are out there on your own but you don’t really have anybody to compare it with. We go to Malaysia next where the weather will be a bit warmer than its been here, that’s for sure.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: VALENCIA TESTING CALLED OFF DUE TO BAD WEATHER Bad weather conditions bring about the cancellation of the second day of scheduled testing for the Ducati Marlboro Team. Valencia (Spain), Thursday 10 November 2005 – Dreadful weather conditions forced the Ducati Marlboro Team to abandon the second and final day of testing scheduled at the Spanish circuit. Temperatures hovering around 10°C and intermittent rain meant that the track was totally unsuitable for normal testing. Loris Capirossi and his new team-mate Sete Gibernau therefore wrapped up their first winter testing session early. The Ducati Marlboro Team riders will next be seen on the track at the end of the month (November 28-30) at the Jerez circuit, where they will debut the Ducati Desmosedici GP6. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Weather ruins the day for Suzuki Team SUZUKI MotoGP had to abandon hopes of a full day’s testing at Valencia today due to bad weather. Both riders were forced to sit and wait as strong winds and frequent rain showers made track conditions inappropriate for the nature of testing that the team wanted to do. Even when the circuit did begin to dry out it was still too slippery for John Hopkins to continue with his Ohlins suspension test or to try out the latest tyre constructions from Bridgestone. Chris Vermeulen managed to briefly get out on the circuit and was able to do a short test on Bridgestone’s wet weather tyres to get himself acquainted with the feel of them. Team SUZUKI MotoGP has one final test in 2005, at Sepang in Malaysia later this month. Then the team and factory have a gruelling winter schedule of developing and designing more new parts for the prototype Suzuki GSV-R race bike, before Hopkins and Vermeulen return to track action again at a Sepang test in January. The provisional date for the start of the 2006 MotoGP World Championship is Sunday 26th March at Jerez in Spain.