Casey Stoner thrilled at Nicky Hayden progress

Casey Stoner has spoken of his delight at Nicky Hayden’s recent drastic improvement on Ducati’s factory GP9 machine.
After a torrid start to 2009, Kentucky rider Hayden has started to make significant progress on the fickle GP9, his encouraging eighth place in Assen followed up by his best Ducati result with fifth in his home race in Laguna Seca last weekend.
While the last two races have transformed Hayden’s morale, his revival has also cheered Stoner, who has been tiring of constant accusations that only he can perform for Ducati.
Stoner said: “I’m really happy. When I saw Nicky behind me (in Laguna) I thought awesome. It was really good to see and these last few races he’s made a lot of progress and it was good to see him find a bit more form here. Hopefully he can build on this for the rest of the season. I think the last few races that Nicky has got more confident with some changes to the bike and it’s really suited him. The results he’s had at the last races have been positive and it could have been even better if he didn’t have a problem in Assen.”