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Stoner Thrilled with Hayden's Move

Talking about Nicky Hayden's arrival at Ducati, Casey Stoner admitted that the American has the ability to help the team much more than his actual teammate Marco Melandri, the Italian rider who's joining Repsol Honda at the end of this season. In an interview for Motosprint magazine, Stoner said he's extremely pleased that his chiefs asked him for his opinion and admitted he's confident that Hayden will do a very good job for the new team.

"I was happy when I was told they were talking to Nicky, and I was also asked for my opinion. To make this decision they considered my opinion too, and this pleases me. I'm in agreement with his arrival. I'm happy Nicky will come to race with us, because we need a strong but also tough rider. We need someone who can help me develop the bike,” the 27-year-old rider was quoted by autosport.com as saying for the same magazine.

One of the main advantages of the 2009 Ducati line-up is that both riders speak the same language, Stoner said, which can help them collaborate and set up better motorcycle configurations. More importantly, the Australian rider thinks that Hayden can help him in the fight against other powerful teams such as Yamaha much more than Marco Melandri did.

"I know we'll work together and we won't be one against the other. This year there was an invisible wall in our garage, while with Hayden it won't be like that anymore. I think we need to be open and collaborative. I think it will be completely different with Hayden. I want to work with him, and he wants to work with me. We'll get along well and we'll do a good job,” Hayden concluded.

Casey Stoner has already secured the second position of the overall standings with 87 points behind the already-champion Valentino Rossi. Nicky Hayden is currently the sixth with a total of 131 points but has the chance to increase his ranking in the two last Grands Prix of the season.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
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Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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