Hayden 'happy' with test performance

Nicky Hayden says he can look forward to next season in 'really positive spirits' after making good strides during post-season testing at Valencia.

Although Hayden finished his first year with Ducati down in a lowly 13th position overall, the American maintains that bad luck - one which saw him eliminated on the opening lap on three occasions - prevented him from finishing higher.

Furthermore, Hayden enjoyed something of a flourish towards the end of the year as he regularly challenged well inside the top ten, culminating in five top six results during the second-half of the year.

Completing three days of testing in Spain, Hayden didn't stray outside the top five as he worked on a series of revisions made to the Desmosedici GP9. Happy with the progress made, Hayden is looking forward to a renewed effort in 2010.

"We worked on confirming a few things today and I think we found what we were looking for. I like the changes we've introduced to the bike, the power delivery is definitely more progressive although we still need to find the ideal setting for it. I got my lap times down by a couple of tenths today, thanks to the new Bridgestone tyres, which are great.

"I'm happy - I think we're on the right tracks and we have had three important days here that should help us make a lot of progress in the next test and close the gap to the front guys down even more. I want to thank the team because it is never easy after such a demanding season and a long weekend to go testing for three days.

"So thanks to all my mechanics and to my brother Tommy for being here with me, and everybody working back at Ducati. I think we can all be proud of the progress we have made this season and look ahead to next year in really positive spirits."