Hayden looks forward to the next race

The Repsol Honda rider, who started the race from ninth position, ended up 23 seconds off winner Casey Stoner's Ducati, while teammate Dani Pedrosa took third place 15 seconds up the road.

"You put youself in a hole by starting ninth, definitely it's been a tough weekend," the Kentucky rider told Italia 1 TV channel. "The positive thing is that I got faster as the race went on. I thought I was gonna get (Chris) Vermuelen on the last lap, when I did my best lap of the race.

"It's only round 1, it's fustrating, we've got a lot of work to do but we're just gonna try not to take it too badly. There's a lot of racing left to go this season, and I look forward to coming back.

"It's not easy, you know. Eighth place probably looks like riding around, but the guys out there are still racing."

Hayden reiterated the main problem for him, which he has faced all the way through winter testing, is a lack of grip with the new 16-inch front Michelin tyre.

He explained: "The biggest problem for me is the front: pushing the front a lot, there's no front feeling, I wanna push harder without ending up off the line or crashing, so it's not ideal. But we can't just lay down now.

"Thanks to my team: it ain't been easy on them either but they've been real cool about it all, trying everything."