Nicky Hayden - Chasin' a Dream » GP of China

Nicky Hayden: It was never going to be easy!

Sandra — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:24:05 +0000

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.

There was a lot of good battling going on but it would’ve been better to have been battling for a better position. I didn’t give up, kept pushing and picked off a few guys near the end.”

MotoGP Race Results – GP of China

Sandra — Sun, 04 May 2008 07:55:35 +0000

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
9. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki 7 points
10. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 6 points
11. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Scot Honda 5 points
12. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 4 points
13, Randy De Puniet FRA Honda LCR 3 points
14. John Hopkins USA Kawasaki Racing 2 points
15. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alice Ducati 1 point
16. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini -
17. Anthony West AUS Kawasaki Racing -

Nicky Hayden: Qualifying didn’t go to plan!

Sandra — Sat, 03 May 2008 13:04:33 +0000

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

“Qualifying didn’t go to plan, really. It was okay in the beginning, we were quite up front on race tyres. With my first qualifier I went to first place for a second, then with my second qualifier I just had an easy front push in turn 11 and down I went. I had a pretty good lap going but just didn’t get it down. The track is so long and so big it took me forever to get back to the pits, a little bit walking, a little bit scooter. Then I just got out on the other bike and did one run and didn’t get the chance to improve my time. It was a pity because things were looking quite good on race tyres – this morning I did over race distance and was quite happy. This afternoon the track felt a bit greasy, there were a lot of guys crashing. I’ve put myself in a nice hole starting tenth, I haven’t qualified off the front two rows in the dry since Barcelona last year. I’m going to need an awesome start, try to pick a few guys off and move forward.”

Results Qualifying Session – GP of China

Sandra — Sat, 03 May 2008 13:01:49 +0000

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
9. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP (M) 1’59.357
10. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1’59.507
11. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP (M) 1’59.559
12. Marco Melandri ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1’59.678
13. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1’59.716
14. John Hopkins USA Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1’59.740
15. Toni Elias SPA Alice Team (B) 1’59.933
16. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 2’00.316
17. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alice Team (B) 2’0 0.760
18. Anthony West AUS Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 2’0 0.838

Free Practice Results Day 1 – GP of China

Sandra — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:48:29 +0000

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
9. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP (M) 2’00.974 *
10. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 2’01.064
11. Toni Elias SPA Alice Team (B) 2’01.326
12. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 2’01.504
13. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 2’01.798
14. Marco Melandri ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 2’01.913
15. Anthony West AUS Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 2’01.984 *
16. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP (M) 2’02.026 *
17. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alice Team (B) 2’02.348
18. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 2’02.480 *

* time set in FP1