Hayden: "5th Place is Like Winning at Laguna Seca"

Nicky Hayden might have scored only a 5th place at Laguna Seca the other day, but his performance in his home grand prix sure looked like a race win for the Ducati rider. Having been used to qualify poorly and finish outside of the Top 10 constantly this season, the fact that he finally managed to take his GP9 to 5th place at the chequered flag can only be regarded as a great deal of progress.

The former MotoGP champion is the first to admit it, as he found it very difficult to adjust to his new bike over the course of the 2009 season. During the Laguna Seca weekend, Hayden scored the 8th best time of the qualifying session and stayed in touch with the leading pack on Sunday – in the first part of the race – to eventually finish behind teammate Casey Stoner.

“I have won here twice and to say that fifth place feels just as good might sound strange but man, so much hard work has gone into getting us to this point and I want to savour this feeling. To be racing at home, to score a solid result and to have had fun out there is nice,” said Hayden after the race.

Hayden's 5th place in California moved him to 12th place in the overall classification, only one point behind Tech 3 Yamaha's James Toseland. The Kentucky Kid insisted, however, that his performance at Laguna Seca is only the first step towards redemption. Having progressed so much in the last few weeks, Hayden will soon begin thinking podiums in 2009.

“We have made progress over the last two races, we have kept the faith and it has paid off with this fifth place. Hopefully we can keep it going and score even better results as the season progresses,” added the North American.

The next race on schedule is the German Grand Prix, at Sachsenring, where Hayden had scored three podiums in a row (all 3rd places) between 2005 and 2007. Last year, in his final season with Honda, the 2006 MotoGP champion scored only a 13th place in Germany, while troubled by injuries.