After yesterday’s rainfall, today’s conditions were perfect: sunny with ambient temperature at 19 to 22 degrees and track temperature at 35 degrees.

Hayden and his hard-working crew dedicated the day to fine-tuning chassis set-up and evaluating Michelin race tyres, though like most other riders he did his best lap on qualifying tyres.

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The Australian had refused to make a definitive decision on the matter when quizzed over the course of the final three races, only stating that he was leaning more towards the traditional title holder’s badge of honour.

The 22 year-old’s previous number, 27, was given to him by early mentor Alberto Puig and, like those given to fellow premier class riders Dani Pedrosa and Toni Elias, holds great sentimental value to Stoner.

Only two riders in the history of the World Championship have elected against the use of the number one plate as they defend the title. The first to break with tradition was MotoGP Legend Barry Sheene, who used his distinctive ‘crossed seven’ even after winning the 500cc world title in 1976 and 1977. His association with the number continues in 2008 courtesy of protégé Chris Vermeulen, who readopts the figure freed up by the departure of Carlos Checa.

The second rider to pass over the single figure opportunity was five-time World Champion Valentino Rossi. The superstitious Italian waived his number one entitlement in favour of keeping with the 46 used by both himself and father Graziano during their racing careers.

Nicky Hayden reverted to the established procedure when defending his 2006 MotoGP World Championship, although the number 69 to which he returns in 2008 was still present on his Honda RC212V during the season.

sorce : moto-live.com

Speaking at the annual event’s traditional press conference, organised by Italian newspaper ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’, Capirossi said of his 2007 campaign: “I struggled a lot with the switch from 990cc to 800cc. With the 990cc, there was so much torque and power, it was easy to make it slide and use the rear to turn on corners.”

“With the 800cc, there’s virtually no slide and throughout the year I couldn’t find a way to corner as efficiently as I wanted. I was often running wide and it was easy for my rivals to overtake me.”

“I was finding things difficult while my team-mate Casey Stoner was on top form, winning race after race, so it was logical that the team focussed their efforts on him, or to put it another way, tried to adapt the bike more to his style than to mine.”

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