Bridgestone MotoGP tyre boss Tohru Ubukata reckons he is surprised by the amount of positive feedback he has received from riders after the Jerez and Phillip Island tests.

Bridgestone brought the softest compounds proposed for the 2009 season, with two compounds available for each rider. It was the second opportunity for riders to evaluate the 2009 specification tyres, following the post race test in Valencia at the end of October.

In particular, Bridgestone was assessing the tyre working range, with Spain providing weather at the cooler end of the spectrum and Australia conditions at the hotter end. Overnight rain meant that no running took place in Jerez on Thursday morning, although significant amounts of running took place during the rest of the test.

Valentino Rossi said of the Jerez test: "I think these first tests with the one-tyre rule have been quite positive and Bridgestone have done a good job so far, although for sure they will have a difficult job to decide which tyre for which track. Anyway, I hope that we will have some exciting battles next year with everyone at the same level with their tyres."

Ubukata said: "“This has been very good and over the course of next year we will have an enormous amount of rider feedback from all of the bikes on the grid. This is very useful for us as a company when we look to future tyre developments.

"The surprising thing from these two tests has been how positive all the riders have been about our tyres, and how quickly teams and riders have been able to adapt their bikes and riding styles to suit the Bridgestone tyres, even if they were not using them previously.”

He went on to add that the tyres would now not be the subject of much development but would receive minor adjustments based on data acquired from the tests.