Hayden 'not going to whine and make excuses'.

Nicky Hayden will want to forget his first grand prix weekend with the #1 plate after three-days of scant reward ended with a meagre eighth-placed finish in the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix.

In reality, Hayden had expected to face difficulties at Losail after a poor pre-season test at the same circuit, but that didn't lesson the pain for the proud reigning MotoGP world champion - who finished just one place higher than he'd qualified.

"It's been a tough weekend but I'm not going to whine and make a bunch of excuses," said the straight-talking Kentuckian. "I qualified ninth and finished eight and, compared to the top boys, we've just been off the pace for the whole weekend. The biggest problem is confidence in the front and getting the bike to steer how I want it to.

"I tried to learn as much as I could in the race. I really felt like I rode my hardest and had some good dices with a few of the guys - I just about caught Vermeulen on the last lap and I got faster as the race went on. My last two laps were my fastest laps of the race and that's the positive thing. I want to say thanks to the team because those guys have been working hard. We'll stay here to test [on Sunday] and try to figure out some improvements, and hopefully be a lot closer when we get to the next race at Jerez."

"Nicky fought hard to finish in eighth place and earn some points, but of course this isn't where he wants to be and he's not satisfied with the result," admitted Repsol Honda team manager Makoto Tanaka. "The championship is long though and we will be concentrating on making the improvements we need to move forward."

Hayden was the third highest RC212V rider in Saturday's race, behind third placed team-mate Dani Pedrosa and fifth placed Gresini rider Marco Melandri.

"We are not satisfied with the results this weekend and we must work hard in many ways to make improvements," commented Tanaka.