Wet, cold and windy and this was the weather this morning at the Ricardo Tormo circuit at Valencia for MotoGP’s warm-up practice and the surprise of the morning was that AMA Superbike champion Josh Hayes who is riding for injured Colin Edwards, topped the timesheets with a best lap of 1.40.469 taking the lead after mounting slick tires in the finale of the session.

Hiroshi Aoyama was second and he grabbed his spot also on slick tires. Casey Stoner lead most of the session ended up third and more than 3 seconds off pace, but he did the entire practice as most of the riders did on rain tires and on the damp track he hammered out fast laps, taking off almost a second every time he went around the track and leaving the rest of the field playing catch-up, but unable to get even close to him.

Andrea Dovizioso who suffered a dislocated left thumb in yesterday’s qualifying session was fourth, followed by Nicky Hayden and Loris Capirossi with his new leathers and career tribute helmet were fifth and sixth.

Ben Spies finished ahead of Valentino Rossi with Randy de Puniet in ninth and struggling slightly and Cal Crutchlow closed out the top ten.

Continue reading: Josh Hayes leads in warm-up practice at Valencia

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With Colin Edwards set to undergo surgery next week and unable to take part in the final MotoGP race of the season at Valencia, Yamaha Tech3 has decided to replace him with Josh Hayes.

Hayes was already set to be at Valencia to test theYamaha M1 during the official post season test, a gift by Yamaha USA after his winning the 2011 AMA Superbike Championship, but now he’ll get his debut ride in the actual race weekend.

Source | asphaltandrubber.com

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Two time AMA Superbike Champion Josh Hayes will be getting a gift from Yamaha America and Monster Energy as he will be allowed to test ride Yamaha’s Tech3 MotoGP bike during the first MotoGP post season test that takes place at Valencia.

“It’s just an opportunity to go ride the machine, no pressure, have some fun. And see what it’s all about, see what I can learn from it and I’m excited for that opportunity,” said Hayes.

Yamaha Tech3’s Herve Poncharal has yet to confirm who will replace Colin Edwards in his 2012 line-up. The latest rumors say that negotiations are still ongoing with Andrea Dovizioso (who is reluctant to lose his Red Bull sponsor), Eugene Laverty, as well as Alvaro Bautista.

Source | cyclenews.com

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