Hayden: `We got spanked´

Straight talking as always following a disappointing home race, Nicky Hayden was frank in his assessment of his Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix performance. The Repsol Honda rider was one of the Michelin riders affected by tyre difficulties, as his fellow front row starters Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi left the Michelin men for dead onboard their Bridgestone-shod machines.

`This weekend we got spanked, so we need to work hard and raise our game,´ said the `Kentucky Kid´ after a fifth place finish, and revealed that victory was not on the minds of the team as they concentrate solely on some big improvements.

`We´re a long way off even thinking about a win,´ notes Hayden, who did, however, have a positive assessment of the pneumatic valve engine debuted by Honda this year.

`I feel like we are closer than we were. The engine is working good, but we need to work on the fuel consumption. Even today (raceday Sunday) we had to run it that little bit lean off the bottom, and that made it hard to control. It´s fast, but if we can improve it then it should help us out for the next fast tracks.´

Hayden is currently eighth in the World Championship standings, chasing his first podium of the 2008 season. Teammate Dani Pedrosa did not participate in the race at Laguna Seca, withdrawing through injury on Saturday morning and leaving Hayden as the lone Repsol Honda rider on-track.