Hayden laments set-up problems

The 2006 champion, whose best result this year has been a fourth, qualified third yesterday but immediately lost three positions within the first lap today. The American ended the race over 22 seconds behind his Spanish teammate Dani Pedrosa, who dominated proceedings in Spain.

"We knew the race was going to be tough," explained Hayden. "Our bike has worked quite well when we had grip but something with the set-up right now we're not getting the tyre life we need. It was okay in the beginning but I couldn't maintain the pace.

"Something in the set-up is hurting the tyre life, it's quite frustrating. We were in there early and thought we might be on for a good result and then we lost touch and went backward. The rear brake went out towards the end which didn't help things."

Hayden, whose HRC team will stay at the Montmelo track tomorrow and Tuesday for post-race testing, hopes a solution can be found.

"Eighth place is not what we want," he concluded. "We've got a really important two days of testing which we need. I'm certainly looking forward to it, hopefully we can get a couple of things sorted out."