Next two races not crucial for Nicky Hayden’s future

Nicky Hayden has denied that the next two races in Assen and Laguna Seca will be crucial for his Ducati future in MotoGP.

All three of Hayden’s premier class victories have come in Holland or at his home track in California and the Kentucky rider came close to a podium in Assen last year until his Repsol Honda RC212V cruelly ran out of fuel less than 50 metres from the finish.

Hayden has so far struggled to make any impression on Ducati’s factory GP9 machine in 2009 and goes to Assen this weekend with only one top ten finish in opening six races.

But he told MCN that failure to be competitive in Assen or Laguna Seca would not be a massive dent in his hopes to conquer the Ducati.

“These next two are my favourites for sure, but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to find two seconds just because I like them. I don’t think the results in the next two will have a big bearing on the future. As soon as we figure it out the better, “said Hayden, who last won a MotoGP race since he triumphed in Laguna in 2006 – the year he pipped Valentino Rossi to the world title in a dramatic last round in Valencia.