Both factory Ducati riders left the British MotoGP feeling that much more could have been achieved in the race.

Nicky Hayden rode well and was battling for 3rd place for most of the race. Hayden came under pressure from Ben Spies towards the end of the race and rode a defensive final couple of laps in an effort to hold off his fellow American – however, Nicky went slightly wide in the final few turns of the final lap, and Spies didn’t need a second invite to dive through to snatch 3rd place.

Casey Stoner had a terrible start and immediately sank to the back of the grid after experiencing clutch problems on the grid. Stoner eventually regained his rhythm after a few laps and produced a stunning charge that saw him make up 10 positions to claim 5th place.

NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati MotoGP Team) 4th
“It’s a pretty frustrating result because the team did a great job with the bike after the warm-up and it was a lot of fun to ride. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good start – we’ve been having some little clutch problems and didn’t get away well. The race was really fun, everybody was going back and forth, I was able to make some moves in the corners but just didn’t really have the top speed in the straights. It’s hard for me to dress this result up because I’m not happy to finish fourth again but the good thing is we were in the hunt again. We did something good with the bike today so hopefully it will work at Assen, a circuit I love.”

CASEY STONER (Ducati MotoGP Team) 5th
“I’m not happy with fifth place because we were capable of more today. I don’t know if we could have challenged Jorge for the win but we definitely found something in warm-up and made more improvements in the race, but we paid the price for a terrible start. As I let the clutch out the bike started jumping and hopping around and I had to pull the clutch in and go again, by which time everybody was past. The tyres were fresh on before the warm-up lap so in the early laps I had to be really careful before being able to start overtaking and I lost a lot of seconds. The race then was fun, we were able to find a good rhythm and to make our way forward but the time lost at the beginning prevented us by fighting for the podium.”

VITTORIANO GUARESCHI Team Manager
“Even though we didn’t make the podium I think both Nicky and Casey had a good race today. Casey paid the price for a very bad start when the bike jumped as he let the clutch out but he put together a great fight back and only missed out on the podium because he ran out of time. Still, he made ten overtakes in a very determined performance. Nicky also paid a heavy price for the only small mistake he made at the end, missing the podium as a result, but he was up there again at a new circuit, working well with the team to find a good set-up.”

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