Ducati believe Nicky Hayden will stay

Ducati is confident Nicky Hayden will commit to a new deal to stay with the Bologna factory for the 2010 MotoGP world championship.

Ducati has an option on the Kentucky rider that must be exercised on or before September 1, and after a nightmare start to his career on the GP9, it is looking increasingly likely that the 2006 world champion will stay.

Ducati’s factory team boss Livio Suppo told MCN: “It makes sense for us to wait with Nicky until Brno. If the results are going on I’m sure Nicky would be happy to stay and we would be happy to keep him. I think if you had asked him in Mugello whether he would have stayed he’d have probably have said ‘not sure.’ You can’t force a rider to stay if he doesn’t want to, and it would be stupid to stay with a rider if the results don’t come. But my feeling is that Nicky wants to stay.”