Honda working hard for Hayden

Hayden has complained about his lack of confidence in the front end of his new RC212V bike, and he saw teammate Dani Pedrosa comfortably outpace him in the season opener at Qatar earlier this month.

Satoru Horiike, Honda HRC Managing Director, believes the problem is related to weight distribution on the bike - and he claims that engineers are working as hard as possible to find a solution.

"We are doing our best to help Nicky," Horiike told Motosprint magazine. "Every works rider has his requests for the set up and for the engine, so it's up to him to find a suitable solution to his needs. But I can assure we are helping him.

"We brought to Qatar a team of chassis engineers in order to understand what's going on with his bike. We think the problem is within the weight distribution."

Horiike insists that speculation the bike has been built around the smaller frame or Pedrosa is wide of the mark, and he feels that there is little reason to explain why Hayden should be struggling because it is so similar to the 2006 model.

"The RC212V isn't that small, and it wasn't built for Pedrosa. We've been trying to make it clear for months: this bike isn't smaller than the previous one. Well, it isn't much smaller, not like people say.

"The fundamental dimensions are more or less the same, compared to the 990cc from 2006.

"I'm surprised when Nicky says he doesn't feel okay with this bike, because this bike is strongly derived from the one he used last year. It hasn't changed much: the chassis is technically very similar, and so is the engine.

"Of course, last year it was a V5, but even though this year it has one less cylinder, it's very similar design-wise."