Hayden completes dream weekend with debut win at Laguna Seca

Nicky Hayden joined a long list of American racing legends today as he became a
MotoGP winner for the first time in his career at the Red Bull US Grand Prix.
The 23 year old Honda rider led his home race from start to finish, bolting from
pole position and leaving the rest of the 21-rider field trailing in his wake.
With celebrities including Brad Pitt, Matt LeBlanc and Michael Jordan amongst
the 57,932 sell-out crowd cheering him throughout 32 intense laps, Hayden
established a two-second advantage over the chasing Valentino Rossi in the first
part of the race and then held strong under late pressure from compatriot Colin
Edwards to take a memorable first win.

"I can honestly say that this is a dream come true for me," said Hayden, who
admitted climbing over the Laguna Seca fences to witness the last Grand Prix
here as a 12-year-old in 1994. "You spend your whole life rehearsing the speech
for a day like this but now it has happened I can't find the words to describe
how I feel. It hasn't been easy for me in MotoGP over the past two seasons but
every dog has its day and this was mine. Hopefully it can be the start of bigger
things from now on."

With Edwards having snatched second place from Rossi with a daring move in the
Corkscrew corner at the halfway stage of the race, the American fans were able
to celebrate a memorable home one-two in the first MotoGP race here for over a
decade. With Edwards also celebrating consecutive podium finishes for the first
time in his Grand Prix career, Rossi was equally delighted with a tenth straight
rostrum in third place, which extended his series lead to a massive 79 points
over Marco Melandri, who crashed out with Alex Barros at the end of a combative
first lap.

As well as losing ground on Rossi in the championship Melandri is also coming
under pressure for second place from Max Biaggi, who took fourth place today to
close the gap to just seven points. Sete Gibernau is also looming a further five
points behind Biaggi after a spirited ride today, when he charged from
thirteenth on the grid to take fifth place in his first visit to the Californian
circuit.

After initially fighting with Rossi for second place on the opening lap, Troy
Bayliss progressively lost ground until becoming involved in an intense battle
in the second half of the race for sixth place. The Australian eventually got
the better of Makoto Tamada to record his best result of the season, with the
Japanese rider taking an impressive seventh just ten days after undergoing
surgery on an arm problem.

John Hopkins, Shinya Nakano and Loris Capirossi also joined in the skirmish with
Bayliss and Tamada before eventually crossing the line in eighth, ninth and
tenth respectively, whilst Ruben Xaus came home in a lonely eleventh. Further
back, Toni Elias produced a determined performance on his return from a
three-race absence through injury but eventually conceded twelfth place to Alex
Hofmann on the line. Kenny Roberts Jr. and Shane Bynre completed the top
fifteen, with Byrne picking up an historic first point for the KTM-powered
Proton KR machine.

INFO 2005/98. 10-07-2005
DORNA COMMUNICATIONS
www.motogp.com