Sepang winner Nicky Hayden and multiple podium-finisher Michael van der Mark head home from Donington Park in the UK having taken sixth and eighth respectively in Race 2, earning another good amount of points each but as always, looking to move back up the grid in the next Round.

Hayden didn’t enjoy the best of starts from seventh on the grid but was able to make up places using the outside line at turn one. The American then took Davide Giugliano and Lorenzo Savadori to make up ground and get into the top four, before suffering with grip issues and being unable to hold on until the end of the race, despite a great defensive ride.

Van der Mark’s race was slightly affected by his twelfth-place grid position and the Dutchman found himself battling for eighth place with Joshua Brookes and Cameron Beaubier, eventually getting the better of both opponents and crossing the line well ahead. In the final stages of the race, van der Mark’s pace was not too far from the front-runners, although with limited laps remaining he wasn’t able to close on Giugliano for seventh.

“Of course, I can’t be happy with sixth place but I have no excuses; the team did a great job with the bike and we switched to a harder front tyre, which gave me better stability under braking in the downhill corners,” explained Hayden. “I did my fastest lap of the weekend, including qualifying, in the Race. My pace was much quicker than Saturday but I simply wasn’t fast enough, especially after halfway when I started experiencing a little technical problem that hurt our performance a bit. I also struggled in changing direction, especially when lifting the bike and I had a couple of big moments at the Esses. Too bad, because for a while I thought I could close the gap to Chaz Davies and fight for the podium.”

“It has been another difficult race for me, in all ways similar to the one I had yesterday,” lamented Van der Mark. “I was able to make a couple of places at the start but I got stuck again in the battle for eighth with Josh Brookes and Cameron Beaubier. I was eventually able to pass them and stay ahead, but it definitely wasn’t easy. Our starting position surely didn’t help, but we wouldn’t have had the pace anyway to battle for the top 5. There’s still a lot of work to do and we will start with Misano. Hopefully next week’s test there will help us find the solution to the problems I have been experiencing lately.”

The duo are back on track for a test day on 1^st June ahead of Round 8, to be held at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on the Riviera di Rimini in Italy. The track is one that Hayden knows very well; something sure to prove useful in the search for some more pace for Honda World Superbike Team.