Hayden hopes the worst is over

The former world champion had an extremely tough first racing weekend with Ducati, suffering sensor problems on his race bike then clutch issues on both bikes on Friday, before an engine failure in final practice and then a massive high-side at the end of qualifying.

Despite back pain and a chest wound from that crash, he decided to race and came through from 16th on the grid to finish 12th, picking up pace considerably in the closing stages.

Hayden said his late-race speed gave him confidence that the worst was now behind him.

"It's been a tough weekend and we've had a lot of issues - obviously a 130mph high-side doesn't help things but nothing really went smooth," he said.

"In the beginning of the race I was quite slow, I didn't get a great start but actually as the fuel load changed and I got a better feeling I got faster and faster and the last five or six laps were my fastest of the whole weekend.

"It would have been nice to nick Dani (Pedrosa) at the end there but I think the team have showed that even though a lot of stuff has gone against us this weekend we're not going to give up.

"Hopefully the bad stuff is behind us now."

He added that team-mate Casey Stoner's victory had shown him what is possible once he has fully acclimatised to the Desmosedici GP9.

"Casey has shown the potential of the bike, so crazy as it sounds I'm leaving here in a really positive mood and looking forward to Motegi," Hayden said.