"I don't feel like celebrating right now"

Nicky Hayden is one of the hottest contenders for the MotoGP World Championship title. Not least thanks to his consistency: in six of the seven races so far, the 24-year-old American has placed in the top three. In the first part of this interview, the Honda rider talks about his second place in the Catalan Grand Prix, the background of his successful run and bad moments at work.

Runner-up in Barcelona last weekend: are you satisfied with your performance?
Naturally. But to be honest: I had to fight hard all through the weekend.

With what?
With the bike’s set-up. The whole team did a fantastic job to enable me to line up at the start with a competitive motorbike. And in fact, as one could see, that’s exactly what happened.

Gibernau, Capirossi, Melandri, Hopkins, Perdrosa and de Puniet fell just after the start – how did you experience the crash?
I only saw it in my rear-view mirrow. My starts this season have rarely been perfect, but on Sunday I went into the race really well. And that was my good luck: I escaped the mass crash, because I had already left all those riders behind.

The race was re-started after the crash. What goes on in a rider’s mind before the race starts again?
One knows that something bad must have happened. And it’s a very unpleasant feeling to see fellow riders being stretchered off the track. It’s not easy to maintain one’s concentration.

How do you manage it?
In situations like this one has to remember that we’re here to do a job. That the new start is only a few minutes away, and that one needs to banish all distracting thoughts from one’s mind.

Back to more positive matters, specifically your consistency this season: how do you explain finishing on the podium six times in seven races?
The main reason is definitely my fantastic team. I am very proud of my boys, we work very well together. And I also have a very strong motorbike. In a nutshell: we have a complete package where everything fits.

Currently you’re at the top of the leaderboard. Is the Word Championship title a realistic goal?
At the moment my greatest strength is my consistency. But if I want to win the title I need to win races again. That’s my next goal.

How do you celebrate your places on the podium?
The only reason to celebrate is if I win a race. But I don’t feel at all like celebrating right now, because I still have ten races ahead of me. I hope we’ll be able to celebrate a really big party at the end of the season.