Observers were surprised to hear the word this morning that Nicky Hayden would ride the new 2002 RC51 yet again on the third and final day of the Daytona tire test. Originally team manager Chuck Miller said the bike would be Hayden's for a day and a half. Later that grew to two full days, and now, it appears, a third.

It's hard to argue with success, however. Hayden lapped yesterday in the 1:49 range and tire sources say the really sticky rubber is yet to come off the trucks.

The Honda, which sounds audibly different than the other American Honda machines, is said to click through a speed trap at 185 mph, even faster than 2000 and 2001 race winner Mat Mladin's Suzuki, according to a rival team. "It's running good, " Hayden said this morning while trying to suppress a grin. "But Hondas have always been fast.

Hayden says the chassis is improved as well. "It feels more forgiving, like you could push harder on it."

The bike, known in the pits as "the Honda Hot Rod", is being carefully watched by a slew of factory HRC engineers from Japan. The machine looks to use the in-house HRC data system -- written for the Macintosh -- as team data man Darren Marshall pours over the numbers with the aid of two Apple Powerbook computers instead of the normal Windows/Intel PC units.

This morning the bike also was wearing the high-speed aerodynamic "turbolator" strips for the first time this week.