Ben Spies: We have a very competitive bike

Even the ever cautions Ben Spies has admitted that the new 1000cc Yamaha MotoGP machine is 'very competitive'.

The Texan concluded 2012 MotoGP pre-season testing in fourth place at Jerez on Sunday and was ranked second out of the four M1 riders in the top seven.

Although 0.7sec from the fastest time of Honda's reigning champion Casey Stoner, and 0.5sec from his own team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, Spies clearly feels ready to go racing.

"I'm happy with how the test went. Both Jorge and I worked really methodically on getting through a number of different things, I think we're quite happy with the bike going to Qatar, it's been good here and good in Sepang," said the former WSBK champion, who took his first MotoGP win last season.

"A couple of the areas where we had problems last year seem to be a lot better. We can't say if they are completely fixed until we go to more tracks but we are happy with the balance of the bike and I think we have a very competitive bike for 2012," he concluded.

The season-opening Qatar night race will be held on the evening of April 8.