Hayden gets pneumatic for Donington.

By Mike Nicks

Repsol Honda's 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden will ride the factory's new pneumatic-valve RC212V all through practice, qualifying and racing during the three days of the British MotoGP at Donington Park, mahbx.com has learned.

The 26-year-old American will have two of the new high-revving bikes at hi🔴s disposal, and will not alternate between the pneumatic-valve machine and the existing valve-spring factory bike.

Hayden, French MotoGP 2008
Hayden, French MotoGP 2008
© Gold and Goose

By Mike Nicks

Repsol Honda's 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden will ride the factory's new pneumatic-valve RC212V all through practice, qualifying and racing during the three days of the British MotoGP at Donington Park, mahbx.com has learned.

The 26-year-old American will have two of the new high-rev🅷ving bikes at his disposal, and will not alternate between the pneumatic-valve machine and the existing v🔯alve-spring factory bike.

"Nicky had a good feeling with the bike when he tested it for two days after the last grand prix at Barcelona," a Repsol Honda spokesp🍃erson said.

Hayden also has nothing to lose by trying what must still be regarded within HRC as an experimental design, as he holds only ninth p💜lace in the MotoGP championship and is out of contention for this year's world title.

His team-mate Dani Pe🌼drosa, however, will use the valve𝓡-spring RC212V throughout the weekend.

The HRC crew has h💃oned his 800cc V4 into a highly competitive bike, even though it is the only one of the four Japanese designs on the grid that still relies on valve-spring technol💜ogy.

Pedrosa has already won two races on the bike this year, and is only seven points behind leader Valentino Rossiꦦ, on the Fiat Yamaha, in the title chase.

Also, Pedrosa was able to sample the pneumatic engine for only 10 laps at the Barcelona session before his testing was ha⛎lted when he crashed, although this happened after he had switched to the valve-spring bike for tyre tests.

HRC test rider Tady Okada, who gave the pneumatic machine its grandܫ prix debut at Mugello two races ago, said that the engine revs 1,000rpm higher than the existing machine, and that the bike a significant🐼 top speed advantage on tracks with long straights.

Hayden, who carried out the majority of winter testing with the pneumatic and is known to prefer the RCV's handling characteristics when using the new engine, will become the first Repsol Honda f♒actory rider to run the bike in a MotoGP race.

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