Hayden rues costly warm-up crash

Nicky Hayden brought his Honda career to an end with a fighting fifth place in the Valencia Grand Prix, but felt his result could have been better had a morning accident not forced him to use his spare bike.

The 27-year-old American, had a mixed weekend in Spain, qualifying brilliantly on the front row for the Repsol team, but then crashing in warm-up and losing out on precious dry running as he tried to find a good race set-up.

"We started out the weekend like a bit of a fairytale - fastest in the first three sessions, so we were off to a good start, I think the conditions were better for us then," said Hayden.

"Yesterday afternoon we were third and on the front row, then this morning we had a big off which probably didn't help things. I just lost the front at turn nine, maybe conditions were a bit too cool for that front tyre.

"I had to swap bikes for the race and my crew had to change a lot of stuff: calipers, swingarm and so on. My other bike didn't feel so smooth. It wasn't too bad but I definitely liked my first bike better, but that was my fault."

Without his number one bike, fifth place was all the Ducati-bound former world champion could manage, Hayden proving powerless to resist the advances of Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso during the race.

"In the race I didn't quite get the start I wanted and those guys were just quicker in the beginning, my rhythm wasn't quick enough. It obviously would've been better to finish my last race with Honda a bit stronger," he added.

"I rode hard this weekend, now I'm looking forward to doing something different. I have to finish off by saying thanks to my team, to Honda, to Michelin and to everybody here. They made me a world champ, I'm grateful to them all."

Repsol Honda team manager Kazuhiko Yamano thanked Hayden for his efforts over the past six years and 99 races with the squad, which included three grand prix wins and the 2006 world title.

"Nicky did a good job this weekend," said Yamano. "He had quite a heavy crash this morning, but in the race he pushed as hard as he could.

"He was fastest in three practice sessions, qualified on the front row of the grid and I know he very much wanted to finish on the podium. My thanks to Nicky for a wonderful six seasons with Repsol Honda, my thanks also to the team and to Michelin."

Hayden: Tyre issues a learning experience