No improvement for Pedrosa as he cuts Czech test short

Dani Pedrosa undertook a bare minimum of laps on the opening day of post-race testing in Brno - after just eleven turns the Spaniard was ready to write off the entire weekend and leave the Czech Republic. His last lap came at 12.30pm, and there will be no more activity from the Repsol Honda rider on Tuesday.

Initially scheduled to use the pneumatic valve RC212V engine with which he is still yet to perform an extensive test, Pedrosa - who sensationally slammed tyre manufacturer Michelin after an `embarrassing´ Cardion ab Grand Prix Ceske republiky - decided that the rubber at his disposal would not have permitted any useful assessment of the motor.

`We tried some different front tyres that Michelin brought here for this test, but we finished after a few laps because we couldn´t find any improvement,´ said the 2007 MotoGP World Championship runner-up.

`We tested the tyres with my current race bike; there was no point using the machine with the pneumatic-valve engine because the tyres weren't working well enough. We have rescheduled this test for Misano, on the Monday after the San Marino GP.´

Pneumatic valve engine work was instead continued by Tadayuki Okada, Repsol Honda´s test rider standing in for the injured Nicky Hayden. With the backing of the 2006 World Champion´s crew, Okada rode 67 laps of the Brno circuit as he looked to further develop Hayden´s preferred version of the RC212V.

`Today we tested some new steps in development concerning both engine and electronics. In Japan we are working on the development of both the spring valve engine and the pneumatic valve engine,´ explained Okada, the first Repsol Honda rider to score World Championship points with the pneumatic valve version in a wildcard appearance at Mugello.

`Since my last appearance at the Italian race I can say that the bike with the new engine has improved a lot. I think that the bike has reached a satisfactory level of development, I hope that Dani will be able to test it soon.´