Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden fought to seventh place in an incident packed Grand Prix of Turkey which saw his team-mate, Dani Pedrosa, the victim of a first lap crash. Hayden made a good start from sixth on the grid and initially lay fourth, before being forced back to sixth again at the end of lap one. In the early stages of the race the World Champion dropped to eight but came back strongly, overtaking Valentino Rossi and John Hopkins to lie sixth going into the last lap. With the podium in sight, the 25-year-old American tried all he could to get closer to the riders in front but was
unfortunate to run wide into the final slow corners, which allowed Hopkins to creep by.
Dani Pedrosa's bad luck at the 5.340km (3.316 miles) Istanbul Park circuit continued as the three-time World Champion in the smaller Grand Prix classes was the innocent victim of a crash on the first lap. Having started from third on the grid, the 21-year-old Spaniard was braking for the final complex when Olivier Jacque arrived too fast on the inside and lost control, taking the unfortunate Pedrosa down with him. Pedrosa initially walked away from the accident before experiencing some pain in his chest and neck and so was taken to the circuit medical centre as a precaution.
"My start was pretty decent and I made a couple of passes in turn four on the first lap," said Hayden. "For a while I was enjoying the battle, dicing with a few guys and having a bit of fun. At the end of the race, with four or five laps to go I was thinking 'you know what, I'm going to be able to steal a podium here'. Except that after about half race distance I was having real trouble getting through the fast right hander at turn 14. Early in the race it was my best corner, but at other parts of the track I was braking so deep to make up time that I used up the front tyre a little bit. At the end, and I know it's a pretty weak excuse, but I just couldn't get through that right hander. That affected my acceleration up that hill and I started losing positions."
"On the last lap I gave it one last go through there to try to be close on the brakes to let me try to do something down at the hairpin, but when I got in there I just pushed the front to the edge of the track and had a big moment - I barely stayed on," he added. "It's another seventh place and I know people will still be on my case about it, but the truth is the team worked really hard this weekend and I rode as hard as I could for 22 laps. I don't want to play the 'first Michelin rider' card because my tyres were pretty good. The rear was really consistent, though I had some issues with the front. I really would have loved to give the team a better result this weekend but we've got a test here tomorrow and we'll look to get a few things straightened out."
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