It's hard to imagine that there could have been one more new factor thrown Nick Hayden's way today at the Valencia MotoGP test. He's on a new bike, the Ducati MotoGP racer, on new Bridgestone rubber, with a new team and working with a new to him crew. Listening to him, he sounds like the day might have been a bit of a blur.

A big red blur.

"Like I told my brother, I don't know what they pay Casey but it's not enough. They need to double it," Hayden said, "because this thing can be a monster." Hayden was twelfth-fastest out of eighteen riders today at Valencia. He rode both the GP8 and GP9 machines. Tomorrow he will concentrate on the GP9 Ducati with carbon fiber frame.

"It was about what I expected," Hayden said this afternoon. "I didn't think it would be easy and I also didn't think it was going to be a disaster. I can see the potential of the bike; but it's also going to take a lot to get it out of it too. I knew that I wasn't just going to twist the throttle and go fast."

Hayden rode nearly all day. He used two new tires all day, one of which went 35 laps and "still felt the same as new".

It was the American's first day on Bridgestone tires as well with an entire career spent on Dunlop and then Michelin rubber. "The front Bridgestone (tire) has a lot of hype and I can see why. You can trail brake so hard into the last corner here at Valencia and it'll take it. I need to find the limit, especially on the front."

Hayden repeatedly deflected the assembled press' attempts to get his to compare the Ducati and Honda machinery he'd ridden in the last 24 hours. "I'm still under contract to Honda so I can't compare them," he said. "Also, I don't want to fill out a list for Honda in alphabetical order on how they could improve their bike," Hayden joked.

One facet of the Marlboro Ducati team that will be different is the sharing of data between riders Casey Stoner and Hayden. "I've already talked to Casy and seen his data," Hayden said. "Yeah, it's definitely a different way of doing things (than what I am used to). Like I've said, the way that Rossi is riding now it's going to take a big effort on the part of a team and a manufacturer. These guys have the right idea: two guys working together, pushing each other, making it better."

Awake in his bed before the alarm went off this morning, Hayden was anticipating a busy and exciting day. "Usually if you test a day after a race you're dragging yourself around, but I was wide awake. It's a big deal. I want this to work so bad it's scary."

Hayden refused to throw more verbal rocks at Dani Pedrosa or his much-criticized manager, saying "That's a dead subject for me."

"I didn't feel alien on the bike," Hayden said. "It felt a little strange on the first few exits but it's not like I wanted to go over and tell the crew that I needed new handlebars and footpegs right away. I just rode. It's not like I can call my dad and tell him that we're good, he can let the dogs out. We have lots of work to do. But you won't find me climbing up a tall building either."

"I didn't want to get in too deep. We have time," he said. "I think that in three or four months we should have a good handle on it. If I don't learn it by the time we get to Qatar then I'm probably not going to have learned it by the time we get back here next year this time."