Nicky Hayden overcame rain showers during the second and final day of the Catalunya test to put the latest version of Honda's troubled pneumatic-valve engine through a race simulation.

Hayden and Repsol Honda team-mate Pedrosa had planned to spend the two-day test doing thorough back-to-back runs between the existing spring-valve engine and the new pneumatic-valve powerplant, to determine if the new engine is ready for them to use at the forthcoming British Grand Prix.

But Pedrosa bruised his back during a nasty Monday highside, while riding with the standard engine, leaving Hayden - who did the majority of Repsol Honda's winter testing after Pedrosa fractured a hand at Sepang - to ride alone on the second and final day.


The American continued back-to-back tests between the two engines on Tuesday, when he experienced 'a few little problems' with the pneumatic - but also delivered a promising race simulation, averaging high 1mun 42secs and low 1min 43secs laps, one second faster than he had managed on his way to eighth in Sunday's Catalan Grand Prix.

Speaking afterwards, the 2006 world champion confirmed that he has a 'better feeling' when using the pneumatic engine - for which the 2008 chassis was originally designed - and wants to race the new engine as soon as possible.

"The weather definitely was not cooperative today. A few showers would come over every hour, make things just wet enough so we couldn't get all the work done that we wanted to, but that's how the weather goes," began Nicky.

"Nonetheless we rode the new engine a lot of the day, tried to get it dialled in, but we had a few little problems with it, which was frustrating. We also worked on trying to make the engine better over a long run.

"I did a run of over 20 laps and was able to stay very consistent which was good. We would've liked to have got more time with it, but I've seen enough that I like. I've got a better feeling with the pneumatic-valve engine, so I look forward to racing it as soon as the guys say it's ready," he added.

But Repsol Honda team manager Kazuhiko Yamano believes the pneumatic-valve engine is still not ready for the factory riders to race.

"Nicky was impressed with the pneumatic-valve engine this afternoon but we think that further fine-tuning of its electronics is required to improve overall race-distance performance," he explained. "If we are able to complete this work before the British Grand Prix, then Nicky would like to use the engine at Donington. Otherwise we hope to use the engine at the Dutch TT the following weekend."

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MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner, quickest on Monday, was once again fastest on the more thinly attended second day of testing. Rookie Andrea Dovizioso was second quickest, with Hayden third (+0.375secs from Stoner).

Pedrosa should be fully fit to ride at Donington Park on June 22, but having completed just 10 Monday laps with the pneumatic engine, the Spaniard has little information on which to make an informed decision about the new machine.

After injuring his hand in January, Pedrosa stated that he was "a little worried" at leaving RCV development solely to Hayden and is therefore unlikely to seek the American's opinion.

Tady Okada, who gave the pneumatic-valve engine its MotoGP debut as a wild-card at Mugello, claimed the pneumatic has 1000 more rpm compared with the spring valve engine although power delivery and edge grip - particularly over a fill race distance - remained a concern.

Pedrosa's victory in Sunday's Catalan Grand Prix marked his second win of the season and sixth podium from seven starts. The Spaniard is now just seven points behind world championship leader Valentino Rossi.

To bad for him. Coz he's a cool guy... But I think he would go faster on a bicycle... no???