Nicky missing Ducati?

[Paul_E_D]

So, will Nicky be longing for his 6-9th place finishes this year??? The customer Honda hasn't shown much potential yet...

[Pittenger5]

Least he'll be racing people other than dovi and getting into battles hopefully.

[Paul_E_D]

?? He had some great battles with Dovi. It actually got pretty crazy there for a bit.

[a13x]

He probably misses his Ducati paycheque the most, along with all the perks of being a factory rider. Lugging a shitty bike around to 8th isn't much different than lugging it around to 14th for these guys from a competitive standpoint.

[odduc]

It's very early. I suspect that the team will improve the bike. After all, it is a Honda motor. I would expect to see him in the top 5 a couple of times.

[gixxer72]

It's very early. I suspect that the team will improve the bike. After all, it is a Honda motor. I would expect to see him in the top 5 a couple of times.

Sure. When 9 guys in front of him crash out.

I'm a fan, but just don't see him in the top 5 unless there are crazy circumstances. Same for Crutchlow.

[odduc]

I agree with you on Crutchlow. The Ducati is so far behind in terms of development.

However, Nicky is a patient racer. He will take his time in getting comfortable on the new bike and, I believe, he will eventually make top 5. IMHO

[CBR929RE]

I think he's gonna be in a battle with the Tech 3 guys and finish just behind them and probably just in front of the NGM guys.

[odduc]

Nicky finished the Sepang test at 13th overall. He managed to shave over 2 seconds off of his opening times. However, most of the rest of the field did also.

As he begins to get better aquainted with the bike and is able to communicate what he needs for improvement to his new team, he will get faster.

I still think he will break the top 5 this year.

[SVRACER01]

ducati will be competing in the open class. maybe by the end of the year they will have most of their shit in one sock.

[Paul_E_D]

Ironically, it looks like Ducati is actually showing a glimmer of hope!

[catahoulabuldog]

Nicky was saying hes lacking power... " For 2014, the 2006 World Champion switches from Ducati Team to Drive M7 Aspar, riding the all-new Honda RCV1000R motorcycle. However, the American admitted to feeling rather dissatisfied on Thursday.

“Well, with the power there is not really a whole lot we can do here (at Sepang), but we know we are lacking in that area so we know we have to try and improve something because at the moment it is a bit demoralising, when you try to follow another rider and the gap is so big,” Hayden began.

“There are some areas in which I also need to improve; this bike is obviously a little bit different to what I’ve been riding and I need to understand a few things, especially in braking and corner entry. I did make some progress as the days went on but, truthfully, didn’t expect the gap to be so big, so it is a bit frustrating.”

Hayden was the quickest of the Honda RCV1000R riders, 1.9 seconds down on Repsol Honda Team pace-setter Marc Marquez and almost three tenths up on his new team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama.
"I wonder if the electronics are neutering the motor.... running as an "open" bike means using the standard ECU and PROGRAMMING... dont look at Crutchlow and Dovi they are running the custom programming....look to Hernandez in 18th roughly a full second off Nicky...that is the ONLY Ducati running the "open" configuration..

I think its clear Ducati is using the testing to decide what they want to do. Dovi, and Crazy Joe are the true test riders they rode the GP13 and now the GP14 with upgrades, If they can get close to Honda, Yamaha they may stay if not Ill bet the go OPEN with the hopes of getting ahead on the ECU programming.