Honda riders on the pace

From Repsol Honda

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, SPAIN -- Repsol Honda riders Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa made a strong start to their Spanish GP weekend Friday, ending the first two practice sessions fourth and fifth fastest.

Both riders’ best lap times were around lap record pace and less than half a second off Friday’s fastest lap. Hayden, whose fastest lap was a 1:40.673, used a new spec chassis to achieve his best times of the day and prefers the new unit’s characteristics.

Pedrosa, who struggled with his recently broken right hand during his last visit to Jerez in February, made excellent progress, focusing on tires and suspension. His best time was 1:40.813.

Saturday both riders will concentrate on longer tire runs aboard their RC212Vs to prepare for Sunday’s race, round 2 of the 18-event 2008 MotoGP season.

“We’re certainly a lot closer than we were at Qatar, which makes it a lot more fun," Hayden said. "We were on top for part of the session, stayed up near the front a lot and we made a pretty big step between morning and afternoon, almost a half second.

"We had a pretty good set-up from when we here for the tests in February, so tire-wise, bike-wise, it’s not a lot different, though I did try a new chassis that definitely seemed to help, and I made my best lap times with it. We’re going to talk about running both bikes with the new chassis tomorrow."