Hayden ready to “step up” in race

Nicky Hayden was not entirely pleased with his qualification position of seventh at Laguna Seca, but the Ducati Team rider took the positives from the progress made by his team and is aiming to harness them in Sunday’s race.

“To qualify seventh with such a big gap to Jorge isn’t good enough here at my home race so I’m obviously disappointed but we’re not going home yet,” said Hayden, who was 0.942s off pole holder Lorenzo.

“We’ll be back tomorrow ready to step our game up and get in there. The team did a good job from the morning to the afternoon today, which was the first real step we’ve made this weekend, and really we’re only three tenths from the front row so it’s not too bad in that regard.”

The 2005 and 2006 race winner added: “It’s my home race so I want to get amongst them, have some fun and put on a good show.”

Hayden currently sits fifth in the Championship standings on 78 points, five behind team-mate Casey Stoner in fourth.