Nicky Hayden picks up a point in Jerez
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It was another difficult day for Nicky Hayden, who has struggled all weekend to find a good set-up, hindered by his physical condition after heavy crashes in each of the opening two rounds. The American also battled bravely, however, to pick up a solitary point in 15th place.
NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 15th
“I was nervous that physically it would be a tough race but it turned out to be a lot worse than we expected. In the beginning I struggled a lot again with a full fuel load and I made a mistake on the first lap – I was trying to make some positions up and I actually lost some. I tried to recover but something was wrong with the set-up of the bike.
I can’t make the harder compound work well with my bike and I have to go with the softer one but today even those didn’t start to work well until I got a lot of heat into them. I did my best time on the seventeenth lap so there is something we have definitely to work on with the team. We need to look at the data and think up something different for the next one.”
Nicky Hayden is set to start from sixteenth on the grid after being unsettled by a dramatic change in the track conditions this afternoon. After a tentative first day yesterday, Hayden made improvements this morning and was tenth fastest in the final free practice session. However, with a 15ºC increase in track temperature and the arrival of high winds he was unable to maintain his progress in the afternoon, lapping almost half a second slower than he had in the morning.