The 2006 World Champion’s third-place result at the fastest track of the year was his second podium in three races, following a brave ride to second in last month’s hurricane-hit Indianapolis Grand Prix. After qualifying third fastest yesterday, the American got a great start to go with race winner Casey Stoner, staying in touch with the Australian during the early stages. During the final few laps Hayden struggled with rear grip and came under pressure from newly crowned World Champion Valentino Rossi, the Italian snatching second place at the start of the very last lap. Hayden tried to counter attack at Honda hairpin but ran wide and had to settle for third. Fittingly for the fastest and greatest racetrack on the MotoGP calendar, the last three World Champions climbed the podium: Stoner, Rossi and Hayden.

Nicky Hayden, finished third, sixth in World Championship

“We got a really good start and I thought was going to lead. Things felt pretty good early on, I went a lot faster in the race than I went all weekend. The bike and everything was working pretty good, so I was able to stay with Casey for a while, I felt comfortable there. Then once he started to pull away I had some issues, I couldn’t keep the corner speed I had early on. I enjoyed the race, it was a lot of fun – riding this track for 27 laps is quite intense, you don’t realise how fast you’re going around here. It was a good battle at the end, Valentino started coming for me, I started to ride a little harder but I ended up going a little slower. I tried to stay wheels in line as best I could and hold him off. But I didn’t get off the last corner great going into the last lap. Coming down the start-finish I saw him on the big TV screen out of the corner of my eye, so I knew it was going to be tough, there wasn’t much I could do, I didn’t have much tyre left. Nonetheless it’s cool to be on the podium, I enjoyed the race. My Michelin guys wanted me to run a harder tyre. I did the sighting lap on that tyre, put back in my original choice for the race. The warm-up was really good, it was nice to get some heat in there. It got a little loose at the end but it was fun. A big thanks to my team and to all my fans for sticking with me.”

Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager

“Nicky did a great job today, congratulations to him and the team for the podium result. The race was pretty tough, with a very fast pace, but the rider, his machine and the Michelin tyres worked well at Phillip Island today. I would like to thank Nicky and the team for this result.”

DNF Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (B)
DNF Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini (B)

Hayden was in the fight for pole position throughout this afternoon’s qualifying session, run in cool, breezy conditions. He twice set the pace before ending up third quickest, just 0.091 seconds off the fastest time, and was one of four men to break his own 1m 29.020s outright track record, which he established in 2006, the last year of the 990s. And yet the American was somewhat disappointed to have missed out on pole at one of his favourite tracks, having been fastest in this morning’s final free practice session and in yesterday afternoon’s soaking-wet session. For tomorrow Hayden plans some further fine tuning of machine settings, working to find more traction round a racetrack which involves a lot of speed and a lot of throttle.

Nicky Hayden, 3rd fastest, 1′28.756

“The front row is always really important and I’m happy to there, but to be honest I’m a bit disappointed. I’ve had a couple of poles here before, and today another one certainly wasn’t out of the question, there was less than a tenth in it. I would really liked to have been on pole, the season’s on its way out, so it would be nice to have salvaged one of them. But we have been competitive all weekend, fastest this morning and in the rain yesterday, so we’re not too far away. I know the race isn’t going to be easy, we need to sweeten up the bike to see if we can get some more traction, also the rider’s going to have to get it together a little better. The team is doing a great job here, everyone at Repsol Honda is working hard and the Michelin tyres seem to be good. I’ll try to get in there tomorrow and not let these guys get away from me.”

Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager

“”Nicky did a very good job today, so he will be able to start from the front row tomorrow. His motivation is very high at the moment and this will give him an extra boost for the race. His race pace is quite good and he really likes this racetrack, so we hope he can have a great race and fight for the win.”

The American has been using his Michelin rain tyres to stunning effect recently, topping last weekend’s rain-hit opening session at Motegi and finishing second in the hurricane-hit Indianapolis GP two weeks earlier. The 2008 MotoGP season is proving to be the wettest in memory, with rain falling at the vast majority of events so far.

In this morning’s opening session, run in dry conditions, Hayden was 11th quickest, working hard to find more traction around this high-speed track.

Nicky Hayden. FP1 (dry): 11th fastest, 1′31.284. FP2 (wet): fastest, 1′38.820

“This morning it wasn’t great to be in eleventh, but this afternoon it was nice to be fastest in the wet and consistently really quick at the end, things were feeling really good. My best rain lap time was only seven seconds slower than my best this morning, and it was real wet, so that’s down to some good Michelin rain tyres. But honestly I could have done with some more dry track time to sort out some problems we had this morning. I was struggling with traction, and without traction here you’re not going anywhere. We have got some things to try with the bike set-up, which we couldn’t try so much in the wet, but hopefully we can use tomorrow. I need to be going faster in the dry, we’ve definitely got some work to do, so we’ll keep pushing and see what the weather does tomorrow. I love this track, I love racing at speed, it’s a great thrill, I just need to find some edge grip. If we can find that I can be fast in the dry too.”

Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager

“Nicky and his team did a good job today. They started working on settings this morning in the dry. The bike set-up and Michelin rain tyres worked well in the rain this afternoon, so Nicky could finish with the fastest time. Of course, our target is to be in the best possible shape for the race, so tomorrow we will continue working on the bike, hopefully with some good weather.”

1. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1′30.094
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 1′30.764
3. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1′31.043
4. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP (M) 1′31.051
5. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP (M) 1′31.070
6. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (B) 1′31.161
7. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1′31.221
8. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 1′31.235
9. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1′31.248
10. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1′31.277
11. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1′31.284
12. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1′31.368
13. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alice Team (B) 1′31.532
14. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1′31.719
15. Marco Melandri ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1′31.803
16. John Hopkins USA Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1′31.814
17. Anthony West AUS Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1′32.211
18. Toni Elias SPA Alice Team (B) 1′32.415

Results Free Practice 2 in the wet

1. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1′38.820
2. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP (M) 1′39.575
3. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1′39.824
4. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1′40.585
5. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 1′40.804
6. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 1′40.892
7. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alice Team (B) 1′40.948
8. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (B) 1′41.638
9. Toni Elias SPA Alice Team (B) 1′41.788
10. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1′41.834
11. Alex de Angelis RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1′42.408
12. Anthony West AUS Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1′42.905
13. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP (M) 1′43.006
14. John Hopkins USA Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1′43.221
15. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1′43.248
16. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1′43.937
17. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1′44.084
18. Marco Melandri ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1′44.509

The 2006 World Champion started from the front row of the grid after a storming performance in yesterday’s qualifying session. He completed the first lap in third place, but didn’t quite have the pace to go with the leaders. He spent most of the race in fifth place. In the closing laps he was chased hard by a group of four riders but he kept his head to maintain his position. On the grid Hayden wore a hachimaki (Japanese-style bandana), given to him yesterday by a fan. The race was run in cool, cloudy conditions and was watched by 58,000 fans.

Nicky Hayden, finished 5th, 8th in World Championship

“I got a pretty good start and was certainly in the mix there for a couple of laps but they just had a little bit more pace everywhere. I tried to make up for it a few times on the brakes, but I just didn’t have the pace. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I had high expectations, I thought maybe we could get in there and find something extra for the race. We rode about as hard as we could and it got harder as the tyres went away. That pack was coming for me, I just tried to not make any mistakes, keep my rhythm and hold them off. I knew there was a couple of guys chasing but I didn’t know there was that many coming for me. The bandana I wore on the grid, some fan gave it to me yesterday. I wore it for qualifying and got on the front row, so I figured, try it again. Congratulations to Valentino [Rossi, who won today’s race to claim his eighth world title]. I know what it takes to win one and it takes a bad dude to win eight of them. Much respect.”

Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager

“Nicky did a good job this weekend. He qualified on the front row yesterday, showing he is very motivated after his podium result at Indy two weeks ago. He rode hard today but didn’t quite have the pace to run with the leading group. Now we go to Phillip Island, a track that Nicky really loves. We know he will do his best to get back on the podium there.”

The American ended the qualifying session third fastest, just four tenths off pole position, despite having to ride two full-speed laps on his final set of Michelin qualifiers after he had been baulked by a group of slower riders at the start of his final run. A good grid position is vital at Motegi because the first corner is tight and close to the start.

This is Hayden’s third front-row start of the year, after Catalunya and Laguna Seca, Two weeks ago at Indianapolis he recorded his first podium finish of the year with a great ride to second.

Nicky Hayden, 3rd fastest, 1′45.971

“Honda’s home race, we’re on the front row which is nice, now we’ve got to try and get a result. Yesterday the bike didn’t feel good, balance and all. We made some pretty good changes overnight. A lot of the time when you make changes, in theory they should do this or that but a lot of the time it don’t work out like that, but today everything worked like we thought it would, so my guys did some good work. My race pace is decent but not great, we need to improve tomorrow morning if we want to turn it into a result, which is the plan. My first qualifier went good, my second I didn’t really improve, the third one I did improve, then the fourth felt really good. But going into turn three there was a pack of riders, so I just had to shut it down. I went hard enough for the rest of that lap to keep heat in the tyres and then tried to pull the trigger again. Luckily I was able to get two laps out of it, though the last little bit of the second lap the right side started to go. The Michelin qualifiers were really good today, so I just held on to squeeze on to the front row. That’s important here especially because in the past there’s been plenty of carnage at the first turn. We’ll try to improve the bike in morning, try to get away with them, then see what we got.”

Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager

“Nicky and his team have done a great job here. His machine and the Michelin tyres are working very well, so he could make the front row, and it is very important to start from the front here. His pace on race tyres is also good. After his podium at Indy he is very motivated to fight for the win here.”