British MotoGP: Lack of grip costs Nicky Hayden

Nicky Hayden was proof that Valentino Rossi’s hard rear Bridgestone tyre choice wasn’t a massive blunder at Silverstone yesterday.

The American made a late switch to the soft Bridgestone rear tyre option and faded from early podium contention to a distant seventh.

Rossi was the only rider in the 20-lap race on the hard tyre and he finished in a lowly ninth and over 36 seconds behind race winner Jorge Lorenzo.

Hayden told MCN: “We were really worried to use the soft tyre because we knew I was going to be in trouble with it.

“On the sighting lap I went to the grid with the hard tyre on but we started getting some spots of rain and it was pretty dark and cloudy and decided to go with the more safe option.

“At the start I put in some really fast laps but just destroyed the tyre. And when the tyre went away nothing works. It was hard to get the bike stopped and I started to get a lot of chatter.

“The left side of the tyre was destroyed and it was impossible to keep the pace. The harder I tried the worse I made it.”

Hayden’s pace dropped so dramatically in the final laps that he couldn’t hold off Cal Crutchlow’s heroics after the British rider came from the back of the grid to take sixth off him on the last lap.

He added: “That’s embarrassing for him to start last and beat me.”

For 11 pages of coverage from the British MotoGP, see the June 20 issue of Motor Cycle News.