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New Ducati Marlboro rider Nicky Hayden finished the second and final day of the Valencia test on top of the timesheets, albeit amid wet weather that saw just seven riders take to the track.

With a dry Monday under their belts, the majority of MotoGP riders abandoned their Tuesday schedule completely due to the wet conditions - among them Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

However, with the amount of winter testing having been heavily reduced ahead of the 2009 season, six of the eight riders changing teams and machines - including those making their debut in the premier class - tried to salvage something during the final two hours of the day.

Hayden (pictured in Monday's dry test) kept the GP9's perfect Valencia test form intact - after team-mate Casey Stoner's pace setting performance in the dry - with a best lap time of 1:48.287 during his 20 wet laps.

That was enough to place the 2006 world champion just 0.009s ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, who has taken Hayden's seat at Repsol Honda for 2009. Both Hayden and Dovizioso, who completed 18 laps, were using Bridgestone's wet weather tyres for the very first time.

Marco Melandri may have used the Japanese rubber since the start of 2007, but the new Kawasaki rider produced another encouraging performance on the ZX-RR to sit 0.5s from Hayden, in third overall, after 26 laps.

A one-second gap then separated Melandri from Alice's all-rookie line-up of Niccolo Canepa (25 laps) and Mika Kallio (26 laps), who lapped 1.6s and 2.0s from Hayden with their satellite spec GP8s, while Toni Elias (16 laps) was a cautious 5.8s from the top on his Gresini Honda wet weather return.

Completing the field a distant nine seconds per lap behind Hayden was Rizla Suzuki's Loris Capirossi - the only rider out on track to be staying with the same team next year. Capirossi only completed seven laps.

The next MotoGP tests will be held at Jerez and Phillip Island at the end of November, although Stoner will not be present. The 2007 world champion will have bone graft surgery on his injury wrist on Thursday, requiring at least two months recovery.

The Australian will thus return during the first test of 2009, to be held at Sepang in Malaysia in early February.

Testing day 2 times:

1. Nicky Hayden USA (Ducati Marlboro) 1:48.287*

2. Andrea Dovizioso ITA (Repsol Honda) 1:48.296*

3. Marco Melandri ITA (Kawasaki Racing) 1:48.786*

4. Niccolo Canepa ITA (Alice) 1:49.917*

5. Mika Kallio FIN (Alice) 1:50.275*

6. Toni Elias SPA (Honda Gresini) 1:54.057*

7. Loris Capirossi ITA (Rizla Suzuki) 1:57.322

*debut test with 2009 team

Crash.Net / Eurosport