Nicky Hayden is a lot happier than he's been all year. Ducati have thrown a lot of changes at his Desmosedici and
while Nick wants you to remember that he's still not where he thinks he should be, he sure is in a more comfortable
place than he's been for a while. 'I'm no poker player, this is a lot more fun.'

What's changed? 'Everything but the grips.'

You can see a lot more padding on the seat, presumably to push Nicky's weight forward, and that seems to have helped
Nicky get the thing turned. There's also a new electronics package that helps with the pumping that's plagued his
efforts to get the bike back near upright and fired out of the bends. Nicky was keen to emphasize the role played by
test rider Vito Guareschi in many of the improvements--'we got a good test rider'--and team management was keen to
say how important it was to have a rider that doesn't give up. Both of them are looking forward to Monday's test
when Nicky can get some laps in.

As you'd expect, the Ducati is not a simple bike. Nicky told us that when he was three seconds of the pace, gaining
even a tenth just didn't seem possible. However, ?when you're near it feels possible.' Today he was just half-a-
second slower than Casey Stoner. Breakthrough? Possibly. But Nicky's not saying so yet, not in public anyway.

As expected - and predicted here - Gabor Talmaschi will ride Yuki Takahashi's second RC212V in MotoGP. Unexpectedly,
as off the next race Takahashi will be unemployed. The Hungarian is bringing sponsorship from the state petroleum
company Mol, but they'd only hand over the cash for a MotoGP ride.