Hayden horror ends with Assen podium.

The Repsol Honda rider made a fantastic start from the fifth row and rode round the outside of nearly half the field to arrive at the first corner in fourth. By the end of the first lap he'd dropped to sixth but then - for the first time this season - began to pick off positions, his new RC212V finally behaving like his 990cc V5 of previous seasons.

"On the warm-up lap I was thinking this is by far the best my machine has felt all year in any conditions and, even though I'd qualified in 13th, on the line I just remember thinking, 'fight like a dog today boy!' Then I just put it in gear and got a really good start," said Nicky afterwards. "In fact I got such a good start that when I got to the hairpin I almost relaxed and took a breath and Edwards came back past me. I needed that start - the only choice I had was to look for a hole and do something."

The 25-year-old American then overtook Colin Edwards, Marco Melandri and Chris Vermeulen to take third by lap four, then lost the position to eventual race winner Valentino Rossi, before regaining his first rostrum of the 800cc era by passing Suzuki's John Hopkins on lap 14 of 26. Thereafter, Hayden underlined the extent of his recent set-up progress by pulling four seconds clear of team-mate Dani Pedrosa by the chequered flag.

"My pace was pretty good but when Valentino came through he just split and I couldn't get my pace down to do those few quick laps to stay with him. I thought for a while I might be on for something a bit special and maybe an even better result, but we'll definitely take this one and try to build on it," said Hayden, who was given a push back to the pits by Hopkins after appearing to run out of fuel on the slow down lap. "It's really nice to get a good result and just have fun - be up there at the front battling with the boys.

"A big thanks to my team and all my guys at Repsol Honda who've worked really hard for me. It would have been really easy to start giving up on me and pointing the finger but they stayed and worked really hard at the tests - especially the two days after Barcelona - so thanks to them. Thanks to Michelin too, because the tyres worked really well today.

"We've just found a little bit of an improvement with the machine - just those three or four tenths that make the difference between being at the back and being at the front. It's not like we found two seconds a lap, but just enough so that I can push and have fun. There's still some work to do and a lot of racing to go but we'll just try and enjoy this one," concluded the 2006 Assen winner.

"Nicky was able to return to the podium and this is very good - he's very happy about this and so am I!" admitted team manager Makoto Tanaka. "He was fastest in the warm-up and he did a very good job in the race - his very best. The pace of Rossi and Stoner was very fast though. With Sachsenring and Laguna Seca approaching - tracks which Nicky likes - things are looking better for him."

Meanwhile, Pedrosa had stuck with Hayden for the first two-thirds of the race, slotting in behind his team-mate and repeating every pass the world champion made. However, in the closing laps, the 21-year-old Spaniard began to suffer from wheelspin which forced him to drop back and settle for fourth, and 13 points to consolidate his third place in the championship standings.

"After qualifying in ninth position in the rain fourth in the race is not too bad, although I have to admit I was actually hoping for better," confessed Dani. "I got a good start and was able to get behind Nicky and in the first few laps I was very comfortable. When Nicky made a few overtakes I was able to follow him through and we worked our way up the order.

"It's a shame that in the last six or seven laps I began to struggle with traction again and I just couldn't keep the gap to Nicky. We'll have to keep working on this because it's an issue we've had in a few races this year which means we haven't always achieved the results that looked possible," he underlined.

The German Grand Prix at Sachsenring will take place on July 15, followed by the US Grand Prix one week later.