[Porkchop]

VALENCIA, SPAIN, NOV 9 - Nicky Hayden and new teammate Valentino Rossi spent the first of two days of testing trying to pick an engine. The choice for 2011 is the big bang or screamer firing order and both were put into service. Hayden was faster on the big bang, but liked the screamer, and said there was more work to do before making a decision.

Hayden said that if he was "racing tomorrow we'd choose big bang, because obviously I've been riding it all year. I'm a bit more comfortable on it. Though the screamer I enjoyed riding a lot. Was, the sound was amazing. I mean, probably the best sounding bike I've ever ridden. And the feeling, when you open the throttle it had some drive and was really responsive. I enjoyed riding it a lot, but it was a bit aggressive.

Filippo Preziosi, the genius behind the Ducati race team, said the main goal of the test is to decide the firing order for next year. Ducati has prepared three bikes; one is a GP10 bike with the big bang engine, that is more or less the bike that raced on Sunday, one is a GP11 with a revised version of the Big Bang engine, and the other is the screamer. The plan is to start with the GP11 big bang engine, make minimal chassis changes, then jump on the other GP11 to start the direct comparison. Preziosi said that such a test should be undertaken in private, but that's not possible, so he asked Rossi for a favor. Rather than search for the day's best lap time, Rossi's brief is to concentrate on the two engines.

Sounds like they might be staying with the revised big bang...