Hayden gets latest Honda for Jerez

Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa was the only Honda rider to use the 2008-specification machine at Losail, but now Hayden has been told that he will get the new bike in Jerez - although it is not clear yet whether he will have all the latest developments on it.

"We got plenty of '08 stuff for this weekend," said Hayden at Jerez on Thursday. "We (have) tested here a lot.

"In November we had to ride both bikes (the 2007 and 2008 versions) as we didn't have enough 08 engines, and a few weeks ago we rode '08s all the time, so it is good."

Despite using the new chassis, Honda are still holding back on racing their pneumatic valve engine, with a decision set to be taken in the post-Estoril test next month.

Speaking about his title chances on the back of the chassis and engine issues, Hayden admitted the situation was not perfect - but still felt he had a good chance of success this weekend.

"Well, it is not ideal," he said. "The engine (that) we spent a lot of time in the off season testing we are not even using, even though we tested it at Phillip Island, Malaysia and here in November.

"We spent a lot of time (on it), and got a lot of data, fuel consumption mileage. It would be nice to be not going back and forth, but right now it is not ready and it is not reliable to give us the best position to win races.

"I am happy we are not out here testing the (new) engine tomorrow, as we have got an engine here that should be plenty good."

Looking back on the decision to race the 2007 machine in Qatar, Hayden said he was keen not to dwell on the circumstances.

"It was a team decision...and there are things in racing that I cannot talk about," he said. "Some things happen for whatever reason, and that is the choice we made.

"It probably wasn't a great decision but at the time it was what the team felt was best."