Sitting in 14th position in the standings following 13 events with Ducati, the final which concluded with a blameless first lap smash at Misano, things have not been going well for Nicky Hayden and the Italian factory squad, but the loyal and hardworking American is confident about his year so far.

His results have proven an upward trend from earlier in the year when he swapped Crew Chiefs and Juan Martinez came back to Ducati to unite with him, Hayden has already confirmed a contract next season with the Bologna-based squad, plus a home stage showing at Indianapolis to account for his efforts this season.

The Kentuckian competitor provided his views on Ducati’s Desmoblog (http://blog.ducati.com) following of the final stage of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship:

“Well it has been almost exactly one year to the day that I signed my first Ducati contract, and wow, what an experience! I always wondered what it would be like to be a Ducati rider and now I know very well. It’s everything I ever hoped it would be and more. This truly is a special brand with many special people. It has not always been the smoothest transition if I am truthful with everybody and the results haven’t been great, but this has allowed me to see both sides of the people and I can say that they have been right on point with their treatment of me, on the good days and the bad days.”

“People always talk about how it’s important to never give up, work hard , stay together and results will come, but I’m not sure they always believe this is the case. If anybody doubts this theory take a look at my season - we started off bad and I was not competitive, but with the right attitude and all the hard work from every single person involved with me and that team, we have proved it’s true. There was one stretch in the season where my results looked like 15th, 12th, 12th, 10th, 8th, 5th. That progression is not just a question of luck. It’s a matter of everybody pulling together and working towards the goal, and this is what we believe.”

“Even though most people would say the highlight of my season would have to be Indy, where I stood on the podium of my home GP after a real dog fight of a race, I would say my proudest moment came when the team boss, Livio Suppo, called to tell me Ducati wanted to bring me back for a second year. No contract negotiation between managers and no games, just that Ducati would pick up the option on my second year, and give me another shot. I really do feel it’s where I belong and I couldn’t be happier.

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Davide Brivio is certain that Valentino Rossi has incurred one of the most challenging rivals of his career this season in Jorge Lorenzo, along with Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner being further threats in the Italian’s events, this has been a massive challenge on Rossi.

Rossi is in a leading position with only four events left, however he has shown cause for concern with crashes at Le Mans and Indianapolis this year, Brivio believes the challenging competition will be massive again during the ending stages of the championship, particulary as Stoner is due to come back from sick leave in Portugal at the next event.

Commenting on Rossi’s work form so far this year, Brivio says, “This season has been very hard, because it’s a tough fight at every race. We’re leading by 30 points at the moment after 13 races, so it’s been a positive season but very difficult as this year four riders really stand out from the rest. Valentino, who is a multiple World Champion, had to start again from scratch to fight against younger guys. We saw at Misano that he is able to come up on top, is very strong and is very motivated when he really wants to win.”

Choosing the highlight for Rossi through the year Brivio adds, “Catalunya was a great moment, one of the biggest, it was the beginning of the big duel with Jorge Lorenzo. After that most races were really a tough battle. Catalunya was a great race and Valentino stood out with a great move on the final corner of the last lap. It was the most emotional win, but there were many other great moments.”

On the remainder of the season, he adds, “Now we only have four races to go, so we’re getting near to the end of the season. It is going to be difficult because we have a 30 point gap which we need to maintain, so it will be a case of being clever.

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A year that began with a Casey Stoner win from pole at Qatar for Ducati, but has however ensued with health issues for the Aussie, has been frustrating for the Italian factory’s executive staff although some highlights and advantages have also been accepted graciously by Livio Suppo.

On the health concerns with Stoner, he is due for a comeback to action at the bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal from skpping three rounds, this has been a challenge in itself for Ducati as part of improving the Desmosedici GP9 for the other competitors, however Stoner’s victory of Ducati’s initial premier class at home in Mugello in May was a special moment.

Commenting on the year so far, Suppo states, “It’s been an up and down season. We led the Championship at one stage, but we have struggled with Casey’s physical problem. We had issues with the bike at the beginning which only worked for Casey and was difficult for the others, but I think we showed a ‘never give up’ attitude, we did a good job technically and the bike is improving race by race.”

Following the choice to bring Mika Kallio in from the Pramac Racing Ducati satellite squad to substitute for Stoner and the work being done to try and improve Nicky Hayden’s challenges from the beginning of the season, which entailed the re-introduction of Juan Martinez to the side in replacement of Cristhian Pupulin as Hayden’s crew chief, Suppo adds,  “I think we’ve been able to manage a very difficult situation with Casey missing three races, but still with Mika Kallio we did something reasonable and Nicky got a good podium in Indianapolis so I'm positive about the season so far.

From Barcelona onwards, we went through a very critical period as Casey was leading the Championship when we got to Barcelona and after that he started to lose points because of his condition, so it was the most difficult point of the season.”

As for the remainder of the season and the preceding aspirations, Suppo acknowledges the contributions from Aleix Espargaró as a Pramac replacement competitor, adding, “For the final part of the season, I hope to see Casey fight again at the top like he’s done in the past and I think Nicky is improving very quickly - he could have had a top four result in Misano, for example.

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Yamaha has released a special edition MT-01 SP “Torque Sports” motorbike to its Aussie line, supplying extra improved suspension hardware and stickier wheels.

A mixture a massive cruiser type 1670cc V-Twin motor and a lithe sports frame, the base MT-01 ensures a good amount of low down power along with a sporty ride.

The limited-edition MT-01 SP excels in performance with Ohlins suspension and Pirelli wheels an added bonus.

The Ohlins elements comprise a set of 43mm front forks and a rear shock absorber with remote oil tank. Spring and damper ratios have been enhancely tuned, and Yamaha states that the Ohlins suspension advances handling and stability.

Pirelli Diablo Rosso wheels improve the amount of mechanical grip, and are sized 120/70R17 to the front and 190/50R17 to the rear.

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Being a World Championship squad boss for over 20 years, Herve Poncharal has a large amount of experience in arranging successful Grand Prix programs and will be expected to claim a very competitive rim in the fresh Moto2 session next year.

The Frenchman has announced plans to run two motorbikes in the all new 600cc 4-stroke session, with current 250cc racer Jules Cluzel who is a colleague of Poncharal, already confirmed to unite with the team.

“We will have two riders in Moto2,” Poncharal states at Misano. “We are very excited about the Moto2 project as this is something that we have been pushing in order to see from 2010 and I’m quite sure that this class is going to be fantastic.”

He adds, “We are building our own chassis and although the sponsors are not clear at the moment we have taken the decision to proceed with the project. It is not completely finalised but I would say it is 95% done.”

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