Tough start for Hayden at Mugello

From motogp.com

Ducati Marlboro's Nicky Hayden was at a loss to explain events in the opening practice session for the Gran Premio d'Italia Alice, held at a track where he had expected to pick up his season.

The American has no intention, however, of throwing in the towel.

“This is a very different circuit to Le Mans and to be honest I was hoping that coming here, to the track where this bike was born, we would be on the pace," he admitted on Friday. "Unfortunately we’re not and the truth is we’re struggling again – it’s pretty demoralizing because every track we go to at the moment seems to cause us different kinds of problems.

"Here the worst thing is the bumpiness of the surface, which is unsettling a bike that can already be quite unstable. It is hard to change direction when the bike isn’t planted and that’s a big thing here.”