Lack of power hindering Hayden
Added on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
Lack of power hindering Hayden
Struggling Honda rider Nicky Hayden feels that his riding style is the reason behind his poor performances in this season’s championship.
The American, who won the 2006 championship before the drop down to 800cc engines the following year, believes that the lack of engine power in the new machines hampers his riding style.
Last season, Hayden could only manage a eighth place finish in the championship after just three podiums and no wins whilst this season has followed in similar fashion, with Hayden sitting 57 points behind teammate Dani Pedrosa in seventh position.
And whilst Hayden is not making any excuses for his poor form, he admits that he can’t wait for the new pneumatic valve engine to be introduced.
“I’m not looking for excuses, the problem is mine: I haven’t yet been able to adapt my riding style to the 800cc. I’m not happy, it’s a tough period for me,” Hayden told Motosprint magazine.
“At the end of last year I thought I had solved my problems, but I was wrong. In the second half of last season my results weren’t very good, but it was also down to some bad luck. I had managed to use the bike in the best way.
“This Honda doesn’t have enough power for my riding style: I come from dirt tracks, I need to make the bike skid by using the throttle. To do that you need a lot of horsepower and great acceleration.
“The decrease in power and the different power output have put me in great difficulty.”
Hayden, who last won a race in the 2006 US Grand Prix, reckons he is struggling because of his lack of experience in lesser categories.
“Pedrosa comes from the 125cc and 250cc classes, so he’s used to look for linearity in the trajectory and he knows how to keep a higher speed through corners,” he added. “So his riding style is very much suited to the 800cc.
“I don’t ride that way, for me you need to brake hard and then make the bike turn with the gas, by skidding, in order to get good turn exit speed under acceleration.
“I need engines with a lot of power and the new (pneumatic valves) one should have enough. But I agree with the HRC engineers, who say we should wait a bit longer: we at the factory team will get this bike only once it goes really well and it’s reliable.”
