Hayden holds hands up for Portugal crash

Crashing out of the bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal may not have been quite as disappointing for Nicky Hayden as his 2006 DNF, but the result still left a big dent in the 2006 World Champion´s title chances.

`The Kentucky Kid´ was in fourth place at the time of his tumble and, although he made no excuses for the incident, there was no regret for his over exuberant attempts to chase the leading trio.

`On the entry to turn seven, going downhill, I pushed the front too much and crashed,´ lamented Hayden. They were certainly difficult conditions. I´d felt pretty good in the beginning –it had been raining when we did the warm up lap- so I probably should have gone with a little bit softer tyre.

`The crash was my fault -I was pushing too hard on the corner- but I can´t apologise for pushing hard and not just cruising around. Luckily I´m okay, so we´ll just try and put this one behind us and move on.

`Nicky was just pushing a bit too hard, but we´re encouraged by his times. He had to make up two seconds on the front guys, which is why he crashed, but his times were really encouraging,´ added the Repsol Honda man´s crew chief, Pete Benson.

`We´re definitely aiming for podiums. The bike is working really well, Nicky´s happy with it and, had he got a better start he would have probably been there.´