The 2005 and 2006 Laguna racewinner Nicky Hayden needs to get on the pace at round eight having started the weekend in 14th place on Friday.

The biggest event of the year thus far for Nicky Hayden commenced in modest fashion on Friday with the Kentucky rider lapping down in 14th on the FP1 timesheet at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.

Ducati have a significant fanbase in the United States and with Hayden this weekend making his first American appearance for the Italian factory the pressure is on for the former World Champion to at least try and match his top five result from last year’s race.

Although Hayden also has Indianapolis to look forward to late in August the visit to Laguna is a key moment in his first season with Ducati as he looks to kickstart his campaign, at the track where he took home victories in ’05 & ’06, having only twice featured in the top ten so far this year.

On the first day of action at Laguna, Hayden said, “It’s a new bike and new tyres for me here but I have been riding it all year and it shouldn’t have taken this long to get used to. This is not what I wanted from the first practice and I certainly hoped to be a lot closer to the pace.”

“Change of direction was quite slow and I didn’t feel that the acceleration was good. Coming out of the corners it felt very flat and not enough power, so hopefully we can find something with electronics or fuel mapping and make a big step on Saturday.”

On whether the data gathered by his team-mate Casey Stoner on the Ducati in the Australian’s successful 2007 and 2008 appearances at the track would be helpful over the weekend, Hayden commented, “As far as base set-up and base transmission are concerned sure his data is important and we have our electronic mapping in place from that so it is useful.”

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Hayden on Laguna

Hayden on Laguna: ‘We’ll go full gas’

Wednesday, 01 July 2009 motogp.com

Nicky Hayden is looking forward to another special weekend at Laguna Seca, the scene of his superb wins in 2005 and 2006.

Although Indianapolis has now become Nicky Hayden’s true home event, the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca is always a special weekend on the calendar for the Kentuckian rider.

Hayden made history when he won the first race at the Californian track after it’s re-emergence on the MotoGP schedule in 2005 - after a ten year absence - and then repeated the victory in 2006 en route to the World title, writing his name into Laguna folklore.

This year, after a DNF in 2007 and fifth place last year, Hayden is appearing on American soil for the first time as a Ducati rider and is determined to put on a good show for the fans, despite his modest start to the season.

“This year we’re racing in America on the 4th of July weekend and it’s perfect,” he enthused. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holiday than at the US GP! Also the fact my brothers will be racing on the same weekend in the AMA championship helps make it special for me. This will be the first time my American fans get to see me on a Ducati so that will be cool because there are a lot of Ducati fans in the states. No predictions or anything but we’ll go full gas and see what happens.”

Looking to make progress from 15th in the championship, with just 26 points gained thus far in 2009, Hayden has his a good opportunity this weekend at his best track. “We still have a lot of work to do but it has been nice to see a little progress over the last few weeks and at Laguna I really need to take another big step,” the former Honda man continued.

“I don’t have any big plan or anything, it’s not that easy! All I know to do is keep trying and working at it and hope it will come. Laguna is a great track and very challenging. There are a few points that stick out but in general it is different to most tracks, which usually have a few different sections, whereas Laguna is basically just one section and you have to put it all together to make a good lap.”