Hayden assured no Engine Problem repeat
Nicky Hayden is not fearing a repeat of his Assen engine problem at Sachsenring, putting his faith in HRC´s electronic expertise.
Hayden has been using the pneumatic valve version of the RC212V engine over the past two races and, whilst the motor has experienced a couple of blips, an upturn in performance has convinced Hayden that it is a direction certainly worth pursuing.
Assen `s Slow Drag
His slow drag to the line at Assen may have been reminiscent of his Indianapolis inauguration lap - onboard the 1909 Indian in April of this year - but there was only one man smiling at his low-speed run towards the chequered flag in the Netherlands. Colin Edwards was the beneficiary of the Repsol Honda rider´s mechanical woe less than two weeks ago, but Hayden is confident that a repeat of such a scenario is not on the cards at Sachsenring.
He said,
The bike is working good, the engine is running plenty good, but we just had that little issue at the end of Assen which stopped me getting third.
I´m sure the guys at HRC will have the electronics all fixed for this race because I quite like the Sachsenring and I´ve always gone pretty well there.
Hayden is much more comfortable with the new engine in his armoury, something that he pinpoints as crucial to fast lap times at the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland.
It´s a short little lap and some people complain it´s too tight and twisty, but I like fast left-hand corners and it´s got a lot of them. I´m a dirt tracker so I like going left!
The first bit is quite technical, then you´ve got that fifth-gear drop-off round the back which is really good, definitely one of the best. The key for going down that hill is getting the bike so you´re confident in the front. The next right-hander (Turn 12) is a big one, it´s blind and it´s downhill, so you can´t go tip-toeing through there if you want a good lap, you’ve got to be committed and charge it,´ says last year´s podium finisher at the German round.
Moto GP
