MotoGP – Warm Up Assen – Hayden in the lead, Rossi 16th

Nicky Hayden achieved the best time in the warm up of the MotoGP class in the Dutch GP, the eighth round of the 2006 world championship. The Honda rider, leader of the world ranking, lapped in 1'37"001 and preceded his compatriots Colin Edwards and John Hopkins of 660 and 743 thousandths respectively.

Fourth time for a stoic Loris Capirossi with the Ducati Desmosedici GP6, who after yesterday's tests declared "Every little hole in the asphalt is a stab wound for me." The Ducati rider is the one who placed best among the "illustrious injured people"; Marco Melandri is in fact ninth while Valentino Rossi, who only completed a few laps yesterday, is sixteenth at 2. The Yamaha rider will decide right now whether or not to participate in the GP.

Returning to the warm up we point out the 5th time of Dani Pedrosa, the Spanish rider is followed by the Kr/Honda of Kenny Roberts Jr, the Kawasaki of Shinya Nakano and the Honda of the Australian Casey Stoner. Tenth time for Randy De Puniet, the Frenchman from Kawasaki precedes the Dunlop-shod Yamaha of Carlo Checa and the Suzuki of Chris Vermeulen. Sete Gibernau's replacement Alex Hofmann is 13th and precedes a Makoto Tamada who is still in crisis with his Michelin-tyred Honda.