Nicky Hayden enjoyed a busy race during which he battled long and hard for a sixth-place finish. Hayden made a great start from the fourth row of the grid and spent the race fighting back and forth with a number of rivals including Marco Melandri, Andrea Dovizioso, Colin Edwards and Lorenzo. Down in eighth at one stage, he modified his lines and adjusted his traction control to fight back to take sixth during the final few laps.

Nicky Hayden:

“We knew starting tenth was never going to be easy. I crashed my number one bike in qualifying, then this morning I rode the other bike, so I started the race with the bike I’d crashed but it was fine. I got a really good start and a good first corner too, but I just couldn’t go with the lead group today.

We had a huge tailwind on the back straightaway, so I was running out of gear. It made it so hard to get it stopped for the corner at the end of the straight, so a lot of guys were running wide. Mid-race I had a few problems, felt a few drops of rain, and my corner speed in the long corners wasn’t so good. Towards the end I changed a few little things with my lines and the traction control settings. I started to move forward and at the end I was going pretty good.

1. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha 25 points
2. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda 20 points
3. Casey Stoner AUS Marlboro Ducati 16 points
4. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha 13 points
5. Marco Melandri ITA Marlboro Ducati 11 points
6. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda 10 points
7. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha 9 points
8. Toni Elias SPA Alice Ducati 8 points

Repsol Honda riderNicky Hayden fought hard in a tough qualifying session at Shanghai this afternoon, ending up tenth quickest. There were several fallers this afternoon, Hayden one of them. The American slid off with 18 minutes to go while on a red-hot qualifying lap that would have put him much closer to the front of the grid. The tumble also lost Hayden some momentum because it took him a crucial five minutes to get back to his pit and collect his number-two machine. He ended the session just a fraction off a third-row start. Latest race-day weather forecasts predict rain for the Shanghai area.

Nicky Hayden, 10th fastest, 1m 59.507

1. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1′58.139
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 1′58.494
3. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1′58.591
4. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 1′58.711
5. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1′58.855
6. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1′58.941
7. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1′59.254
8. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1′59.325

1. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 1′59.906  *
2. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 2′00.163
3. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 2′00.361
4. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 2′00.553
5. John Hopkins USA Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 2′00.591
6. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 2′00.607
7. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 2′0 0.931
8. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 2′00.964

Nicky Hayden tumbled out of fourth place today while sneaking up on the leading trio. The opening laps of the race were especially tricky for the Kentucky Kid because light rain showers had dampened several sections of the circuit.

2006 MotoGP world champion Hayden was charging hard, moving through the pack from seventh place on the first place, picking off rivals here and there until he found himself in fourth place just after half way. The American had been chipping away at the leading group, closing a few tenths every lap, until he lost the front and fell going into turn seven on lap 17. His pace had been impressive, good enough for the third fastest lap of the race.

Nicky Hayden; DNF, 10th in World Championship

“The first few laps were certainly not easy, some parts of the track were a little wetter than others and I had on a pretty hard tyre. I had been choosing between that tyre and another a little bit softer, but with the way the weather’s been this weekend we really hadn’t got to do a lot of endurance on the harder one.

1. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha 25 points
2. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda 20 points
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha 16 points
4. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha 13 points
5. John Hopkins USA Kawasaki Racing 11 points
6. Casey Stoner AUS Marlboro Ducati 10 points
7. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 9 points
8. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki 8 points