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Hayden: Bringing up the rear is not fun

Nicky Hayden is hoping to keep up the good work achieved at Laguna Seca two weekends ago as the Ducati rider was able to achieve his best result for the team to date. Like many of his predecessors, the newcomer to the squad is struggling to get to grips with the Italian machine but was delighted with a top five result in the States.

Hayden is yet to beat team-mate Casey Stoner in 2009

A huge 97 points behind team-mate Casey Stoner after the first eight races of the season, 2006 World Champion Hayden has endured a tough and frustrating start to his Ducati career after moving from the Repsol Honda team at the end of last year. With fifth place coming in the USA, Nicky hopes to carry the momentum forward to Germany this weekend.

"We have made some real progress in the last few weeks and I hope we can keep it going because bringing up the rear of the pack is not fun," he said. "We still have a big gap to the front guys so we have a lot of work to do to close that down and we must stay very focused."

There was a season-best result for Nicky at Laguna Seca

A fan of the Sachsenring track, Hayden stresses that he will be giving as good as he gets on what is likely to be another weekend of damage limitation. "Germany is another small, twisty track with lap times almost exactly the same as Laguna," he explained. "Infact, they are the two shortest tracks on the tour but it's a track I like and where I have gone well at in the past.

"The first section is super tight - and is the part I think will be the hardest for me on our bike - but I hope to be strong in the second half, which includes the 'waterfall' corner, which is about as good as it gets if you like fast, blind corners that take your breath away! Normally in Germany on race day it's a completely full house with fans stacked everywhere so that makes for a great atmosphere!"

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