Nicky Hayden will start his home US Grand Prix from the front row of the grid following a stirring charge in the final stages of this afternoon's qualifying session at Laguna Seca.
"Qualifying was difficult, there were many guys crashing," said Hayden of the many fallers during the one hour session. "Qualifying is so important here because it's so hard to pass, so some guys are willing to pay a big price for a good grid position. Our race pace isn't exactly blazing but it's really nice to be on the front row in front of the home crowd, the support is awesome."
The American, winner of the US GP in both 2005 and 2006, is now aiming to convert his first front-row start since June's Catalan Grand Prix into his first podium of the 2008 season - and the first ever for the pneumatic-valve RC212V.
"I know tomorrow's going to be really tough, Casey [Stoner] is on fire right now and we're having a few little issues, but the team's done a good job and I feel like we deserve a good result," he said. "Hoping won't get it though, so we'll come in here tomorrow, ride hard and see if we can't pull something out."
Speaking further, the lone remaining Repsol Honda rider fears that his Michelin tyres will struggle to match the Bridgestones during the 32 lap race.
The majority of the Michelin rubber is aimed at much higher track temperatures than are present this weekend and Hayden was the only Michelin rider in the top seven throughout free practice, before the softer specification qualifying tyres helped bump him - and others - up the order.
"I'm a little bit nervous," he confessed. "Truth is, the tyres we've got in our allocation are a little out of the range, so the warmer the better for us. We changed the bike a little bit to make the tyres work more and the qualifying tyres were awesome. Actually I felt like I maybe left a couple of tenths in them but I was running about as hard as I could.
