Repsol Honda GP rider Nick Hayden boarded a jumbo-jet yesterday and is on his way to the remote, mountain-top racetrack Twin Ring Motegi in Japan. Hayden sat out the most recent GP on the direction of Honda after his collar-bone-snapping dirt bike crash in Italy but is traveling to Japan intent on riding his RC211V.

A check-up on the broken bone last week showed the collarbone is healing quickly but that his knee, injured as well in the fall, is healing more slowly. He suffered deep bruising in the knee when he crashed.