MotoGP news

Hayden manages to turn weekend around

Nicky Hayden was today's biggest mover at the German Grand Prix after making it onto the podium from way down in 14th on the grid. The American entertained the crowd with his charging display and thanks Michelin for giving him the dominant tyre. Now the Repsol Honda rider will be counting down the days to his home Grand Prix next weekend at Laguna Seca where he will be hoping for a repeat race performance.

Last year's world champion said: "It's great to be on the podium after what started as a really tough weekend. The team did a great job overnight and made some big improvements to the machine. I came out in the warm-up and it was a lot quicker so even though I was starting from 14th I still had some confidence for the race. I made a decent start - not as good as the one at Assen - but I made up a few places into the first corner.

"Then I heard a strange noise from the bike and slowed for a couple of laps trying to figure out if it was a problem. It didn't seem to make any difference though so I just got my head down and started picking up places. The tyres worked really well today, so a big thanks to Michelin. It's a good result ahead of Laguna but I need to put the whole weekend together on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We lost almost all of Friday with problems and Saturday didn't go much better which cost us a lot.

"Dani rode really well to win the race and two riders on the podium is a really good result for the Repsol Honda Team. Now I'm just going to go home to the U.S. GP, enjoy the race and try to have some fun at Laguna."

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