Double US Grand Prix winner Nicky Hayden disappointed to finish fifth in his home race.

Lone Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden ended a tough home US Grand Prix weekend at Laguna Seca with fifth position on Sunday.

Hayden knew almost as soon as he saw Michelin's 'hard' tyre selection that it was going to be a tough weekend and, whilst he was able to qualify on the front row with one-lap rubber, always feared that he would struggle in the race.

Those fears proved correct, although the tyre problems encountered were not those that Hayden had expected.

"Obviously at my home race I'd hoped to be able to put up a better fight than that. It was certainly a tough weekend, we struggled a bit with the tyres we had available," he confirmed. "We really had only two race tyres, the one I used in practice I kept using again and again, I used it Friday, Saturday and again this morning, by the end it had 35 laps on it.

"I think I learned a good lesson, we set up the bike on quite old tyres. In the race when we put in a grippy new race tyre the balance of the bike changed a lot, so it was pushing the front in a lot of places," he explained. "I would've liked to have been closer to the front but I think we learned a good lesson.

"Now we've got a few weeks off, so we'll regroup and try to finish the year strong. Hopefully I can improve and they can do some work in Japan," added Nicky, whose biggest disappointment was arguably finishing just behind fellow Michelin-Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso.

Hayden will at least have the chance to make amends during the second round on American soil, at Indianapolis in September.

The 2006 world champion was Repsol Honda's sole representative in the US GP after team-mate and title contender Dani Pedrosa withdrew due to injuries he suffered in Germany the previous Sunday.

Pedrosa flew home to Barcelona on Saturday and will spend the sport's traditional summer break recuperating from his injuries in order to be in the best-possible shape for the next race at Brno in the Czech Republic on August 17.