Nicky Hayden could not match the fourth placing that he gained on five occasions at Sepang, but his top five place on Sunday in Malaysia was satisfactory as he closes in on the end of a frustrating initial year with Ducati.

The American hero has had some disappointment over the course of the season with unfortunate smashes and a bad tyre choices at Donington, however he is steadily improving in terms of his challenging abilities as he finds the way ahead on the factory Desmosedici GP9.

An excellent relationship with his squad, particularly with his recent team-mate Casey Stoner, will see Hayden make progress over the winter, he was in a pleasing state of mind when he commented on his Malaysian result on Sunday.

“It was a strange race because the rain only came just before the start and it was falling hard,” he says. “Luckily we managed to get some racing in and when it first started raining I got excited because I thought maybe I could do something special. But at the beginning I was quite weak on the brakes and a few guys came past me, then once I got going I had a fun race.”

The 28 year-old adds, “I enjoyed myself passing and fighting with people, trying to close down the gap to the lead group, but I was just missing a little bit to really go with (Valentino) Rossi and (Jorge) Lorenzo and try to fight for the podium. When Chris Vermeulen came close to me I knew he was a rain specialist so I pushed hard to make sure he didn’t see a crack in the door.”

Reflecting on the season, Hayden explains, “In the end top five here in Malaysia with no practice in the rain is not bad. I think I was at more of a disadvantage than some of the others who know their bike well and have ridden this track in the rain. We had some engine brake settings that were wrong and on a couple of corners it was really hurting me, but really overall the team did a pretty good job.”