Positive Laguna experience for Roger Lee Hayden

Roger Lee Hayden’s weekend at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix was an all-round success for the American, who achieved 11th place on the RC212V of the LCR Honda team as he stood in for the injured Randy de Puniet at Laguna Seca.

The younger of the Hayden brothers improved throughout the round nine weekend, shaving just over 1.6s off his lap times from the first practice to qualifying. Finding the difference in the carbon front brakes used in MotoGP to the metal ones he is accustomed to in World SBK and the Bridgestone tyres two of the main challenges, the 27 year-old rose from 17th on the starting grid to take five Championship points in his second premier class race.

“This was a very good race for me! After the start I got boxed in at the first corner and after that it took me a few laps to find my pace. The rest of the guys had taken a few seconds on me but I started to pull them back in and I did my fastest lap of the whole weekend in doing so. I charged hard and caught De Angelis and with two laps to go I passed him and took 11th place,” said Hayden.

“At the start of the week I really did not think I could have taken 11th place. I really want to thank the LCR Team for this fantastic opportunity. Everybody in the team has bent over backwards to help me in every way. The guys worked really hard on the bike and made it very comfortable for me to ride. They put absolutely no pressure on me this weekend for a result but this is the American GP and all my friends, family and fans are here so I wanted to give them all a good result. I would love a chance to ride for this Team again as they are a fantastic bunch of guys and the machine they gave me was perfect.”

Team owner Lucio Cecchinello stated: “First I want to wish Randy a very quick recovery and want to thank the team for their great work this weekend. Despite the bad luck we have decided to come here and do our best as always. We are pleased with Roger’s result because he improved his feeling on the bike session by session and during the race he was focused and tough especially when he passed De Angelis with two laps to go. Now we aim to have Randy back in Brno but we must wait for the response of the Medical Commission first.”