Repsol Honda back to full strength

From Repsol Honda

The Repsol Honda Team will be back to full strength for the San Marino Grand Prix next weekend, with Nicky Hayden coming back from injury to rejoin teammate Dani Pedrosa.

Hayden missed the recent Czech GP due to a foot injury sustained during an X Games Supermoto event in Los Angeles on Aug. 1. Doctors told the 2006 MotoGP World Champion that a hasty return to racing might complicate the right-heel injury, advising him to delay his comeback until Misano.

“I’m certainly excited to be getting back out there with the boys, because I hated missing Brno," Hayden said. "I’ve been doing all the old ‘voodoo’ stuff they tell you to do: bone stimulators, lasers, ultrasound, all that stuff, I’m doing everything possible to get back.

"I had hoped my progress would be quicker. I still need crutches at this stage, but unless something goes south I definitely plan on trying to ride. I’ve been seeing doctors, and I’m going to get something moulded to wear in my boot. I’ve been doing some training in the pool and a few things at the gym, nothing too crazy.”

Pedrosa and Hayden will race their usual RC212V machines at Italy’s second MotoGP event of the year, the Spaniard using his valve-spring engine, while the American rides the pneumatic-valve machine he first raced at June’s British GP.

Pedrosa is hoping that the grip issues that consigned him to a 15th place finish at Brno will have been resolved for the San Marino event. The team will stay on to test at Misano, when it’s likely that Pedrosa will try the pneumatic-valve engine.

“I am hoping that we can have a better weekend at Misano, though I had bad luck there last year, another rider knocked me off at the very first corner," Pedrosa said. "The Misano circuit is quite fast but it feels tight and narrow. The grip level is okay. The track was also very bumpy last year, which was probably its worst feature.

"From a set-up point of view the most important thing at Misano is having good braking power and good stability when accelerating out of the corners. It’s the kind of track that requires you to ride aggressively. My favourite section is the final part, though the most important section for good lap times is the first.”

Misano hosted its first Grand Prix event in 1980 and staged the Italian world round (then called the Grand Prix of Nations) on and off throughout the decade. Last year the circuit returned to the World Championship calendar after an absence of 14 years, having undergone major changes, most importantly a change of direction that transformed the circuit from anti-clockwise to clockwise.

Misano, situated just inland from Italy’s Adriatic holiday coast, is mostly dominated by tight, slow-speed turns that give MotoGP riders a tough time on their 220 horsepower machines.