Hayden fired up for title defence

The world champion, who won the title last year to break Valentino Rossi's winning streak after five crowns in a row, has struggled to fit on the new Honda, although the Japanese squad have worked hard to improve the bike for him ahead of the start of the season.

Despite his problems, Hayden wants to start his title defence strongly, putting on a good performance in Qatar this weekend.

"Well the waiting's over and I'm fired up to go racing again," said the American. "It's going to be a proud moment lining up with that number one plate on the front of my bike - it's something I've dreamed of since I was a kid.

"But really that's last year's story and we've got to come out of the gate fast and fight to defend this title right from the first session because the competition in MotoGP is so intense. There's no time to take the glory and relax.

"We were quick in some of the tests over the winter and made some good progress with this new bike, though the test here at Qatar didn't go too smoothly. So I'm going to have to raise my game starting this weekend.

"Nevertheless, it's actually a track I quite like and I had a pretty good race here last season."

Hayden says he is feeling ready for the first race following the shoulder injury he sustained at the end of last year.

The American has been sleeping in an oxygen tent to speed up the healing process.

"The shoulder's pretty much fixed up now and, though I haven't got all the movement back, it's plenty strong enough to ride the bike - we've put in a lot of miles since the operation and it's felt stronger every time," he added.

"I'm feeling ready for the lights to go out and looking forward to going toe to toe with the boys again."

Spanish teammate Dani Pedrosa is also upbeat ahead of the Qatar race following a positive test there last month.

"It seems like the start of the season has come round very quickly and I'm really looking forward to racing again after all the tests we've done over the winter," said Pedrosa. "It will be interesting to finally see how the new 800s feel during a race.

"We had a positive test here in February and found a good setting for the bike so I hope that the conditions will be similar this weekend. I feel like I'm ready for the season but there have been many teams going fast during testing through the winter so I expect the racing to be very close."