Nicky Hayden was livid after a mid-race engine failure robbed him of a
certain podium finish in the Australian Grand Prix.
The 2006 world champion had made a terrific start from the second
row to run second in the early stages of the race and was shadowing
eventual winner Casey Stoner.
But the 26-year-old American's charge was blunted on lap 11 when his
Repsol Honda began to misfire, and then it was ended two laps later
when it seized coming into Lukey Heights.
"It's a tough one to swallow," said Hayden, who has not added to his
three Grand Prix wins this season.
"That hurts because we were having a really good race and the bike
was feeling by far the best it has all season without a doubt.
"Stoner was setting a hot pace - he was a little bit quicker in some
places and I was quicker than him in a few places.
"I was trying to hang in there and rider smoothly and try not to
preserve the tyres and not get too crazy too quickly. It's easy to
speculate on what would have happened at the end of the race&hellip
Hayden's failure continued his frustrating season, one which has seen
him score no wins, just three podium finishes and only 112 points to
leave him down in ninth in the championship.
By contrast, this time last year he was leading the championship with
236 points, having won twice and taken nine podiums.
But the latest disaster was not without warning.
"After a few laps I was still right on him but all
of a sudden the engine started to get tight and
started slowing down," Hayden added.
"I was nervous but it kept running and I
wasn't going to pull over so I kept one hand
on the clutch. Eventually she tied up and that
was it - another 'goose egg' in the points
column.
"It's really frustrating - it seems like the deck's
stacked against us at the moment, but we'll
hang in there and hopefully get a bit of luck
going our way soon. We've got two more tries
[this season]." uk.eurosport.yahoo.com
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