Factory Yamaha's Ben Spies only did a morning's riding on the new 100cc Yamaha MotoGP bike but has proclaimed the extra power and torque are not only good for fifth-gear wheelies but will promote more passes and make MotoGP more exciting.

Spies went out before team-leader Jorge Lorenzo on the 2012 YZR-M1 and immediately went quicker than his qualifying time at Brno from Saturday. He indicated that even though this was its first run and only a shakedown, the amount of torque will suit his riding style a lot more than the corner-speed needs of an 800.

"It was kind of a shakedown but I was pretty surprised we were quicker than the 800 right off the bat. In a lot of ways, the bike is a lot easier to ride because of the way you attack and go through the corners, and you can sacrifice a little roll speed. This is the first day on it and we don't know which way the bike is going to go and my riding style could change a little bit. We hopped off and on it and we weren't too far off Casey in terms of times," said Spies, speaking to bikesportnews.com after lunch.

"It is going to change the ways you do stuff and the style of racing, which will suit some people better while others will have to change but on paper it shouldn't hurt us. The way I ride with less corner speed and more braking, and being a bigger guy and more horsepower, I shouldn't be at such a disadvantage.

"The biggest key for me right now is not so much jumping on a thousand but the current disadvantages of acceleration and being heavier and not coming from a 250cc background we won't have so much to face next year, so I'm looking forward to that.

"I jumped on the bike and thought it was going to be some crazy beast but all credit to Yamaha they have done some pretty good work on making the thing really rideable from day one. You can't really feel how fast the thing is until you're in fifth and it is still trying to wheelie - that's pretty fun.

"The biggest thing is having the torque available. You can mess up the corner a little and still have the grunt to get out of it with the same exit speed. It's a little safety thing.

"It won't make the racing a whole lot closer but with the 1000s power is not the problem, it's going to be grip and who can use it the best. You will pass in places where you couldn't pass with an 800. You will be able to stuff it in there, stop and still fire it out and not lose that drive. It will open up a few more passing opportunities."