Henny Ray Abrams | July 5, 2010
Nicky Hayden was happy for the end of the three-race stretch after finishing eighth in the Catalunyan Grand Prix to put an end to his three race tally of fourth, seventh and eighth.”The weekend, nothing really went smooth,” Hayden said. “We practiced on one bike to save a fresh engine for qualifying. Right before qualifying, we went to that bike and actually had to do the warm-up on the back-up bike and switch for the race. We just never got it together; it was one of those things where I was always on the back foot. We’re fourth in the championship, but we’ve got to step our game up big-time, or that ain’t going to last long.”Some of the problems were specific to Catalunya.”I think some of it, sure,” he said. “I’ve struggled all year – edge grip has been my biggest problem, from winter testing. This track, everything just exaggerates it – a lot of long corners, hot, and you’re on the edge so long. Turn three and four, it’s just edge, edge, edge. I would say this week was a bit special. Braking was not a big problem. It was like I could have grip, or I could have a bike that turns. It’s clearly not easy to find the balance.”
Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor
Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.
