De Angelis dedicates victory to Tomizawa

De Angelis dedicates victory to Tomizawa

Enjoyable but ultimately frustrating race for Hayden

Monday, 18 October 2010

The Ducati rider had a “really good” feeling with his Desmosedici at Phillip Island but could not conceal his disappointment at losing out on a podium finish by the finest of margins.

Hayden disappointed to just miss podium

For the second time this season Nicky Hayden was beaten to a podium finish by the most minuscule of margins on Sunday. In the opening race of 2010 in Qatar the American missed out on third place by just 0.011s and it was a case of 'déjà vu' in Round 16 at Phillip Island over the weekend as he was beaten to the final rostrum place by just 0.038s.

With three laps to go Hayden made a superb overtake on Valentino Rossi to assume third position, but in the same spot of the track (Honda Corner) on the final lap the Italian passed the Ducati man and held Hayden's challenge off to the finish line.

The encounter was one of the highlights of the race but that was of little consolation to Hayden as he came within touching distance of a second podium of 2010.

“It's not very cool!” said Hayden after the race. “We had a really good bike today, and that's what's so frustrating. The team made a few changes and I kind of ruined warm up a bit by running off the track, and I didn't really get to feel how good it was. Then after some laps (in the race) I understood that it was really good in the places where I was struggling all weekend, and I was able to be fast.”

He continued: “I really enjoyed the race. It was a battle for third and normally when you battle with Rossi it's for the win! But I ended up fourth. I had a lot of fun but I'm not happy with fourth place. I had a really good opportunity to beat him but I didn't get it done, so I apologise to the team because I really feel that it should have been two Ducatis on the podium. I gave it everything but today it just didn't happen, so it's hard to try and put a positive spin on it.”

You can watch the decisive final-lap encounter between Hayden and Rossi once again by clicking here.

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