World champion Nicky Hayden was thrilled to qualify second on
the grid for the Czech Grand Prix and grab his best grid spot of
2007. The 26-year-old American, who saw his run of two straight
podium finishes ruined by a first-corner knock at Laguna Seca,
looked right back on form at Brno and was delighted with his
performance, his first front-row start of the season. "Laguna was
tough, after that race I really had to check things," said the
Repsol Honda rider. "It was really unfortunate how that all went
down. "I came back fresh, looking for a new start, and this
afternoon the team did some really good work and made some
really good changes. The bike was a lot better straightaway. "We
didn't put as much endurance on the tyres as we would've liked,
but the bike's working a little bit better and it's the best I've
qualified all year." Hayden said there was no shame in missing
out on pole position to championship leader Casey Stoner. The
Kentucky Kid was a shade under three tenths of a second shy of
Stoner's pole time but admitted that on his Michelin tyres it was
all he could do against the Ducati rider's Bridgestones. "Casey's
n fire right now so I knew he was going to put one down, but
nonetheless I'm happy to be... click on ozzy go to the full story