fought his way back up to second, he would overtake Hayden under wet and tricky conditions down at the main straight on lap 14. With the rain increasing, Hayden started struggling and almost lost second place to the charging Jorge Lorenzo, until the marshalls red-flagged the race with seven laps to go. At the Japanese race, Hayden would finish in fifth position. Hayden's second and last podium of the season, and of his Honda career, would come at the race in Australia. Hayden qualified third while home hero Stoner took pole position. When the lights went out, Stoner was challenged by the 'Kentucky Kid' for 10 laps, before the Australian started to pull a two-second advantage halfway through the race and a 6.5 second lead at the chequered flag. Hayden—still in second place at the time—was facing a late charging Valentino Rossi, who had worked his way up from 12th after a high-speed qualifying fall on Saturday. Hayden fought hard to keep second place, but ultimately couldn't prevent Rossi from taking it on the final lap. At the last two rounds of his Honda career in Malaysia and Valencia, Hayden finished fourth and fifth, respectively. By the middle of 2008 it was strongly suspected by fans, media, and the MotoGP paddock already, and later supported by Hayden's own admission during a press conference that he would be leaving Honda, that Hayden would be joining the Ducati Marlboro Team to ride alongside Casey Stoner for the 2009 MotoGP season. This was confirmed on September 15, 2008 thus ending his 10-year relationship with Honda. Ducati (2009–2013) 2009 During preseason testing, Hayden was plagued with problems and routinely finished in the mid-pack or lower. His major complaint was that the GP09 was "pumping" during corner exits leading to problems with grip. These problems continued throughout preseason testing. His first season at Ducati started off badly when, during qualifying at the season opener Qatar round, Hayden suffered from a severe pain in his back and needed three stitches for a cut to his chest after he fell in a major crash. He was launched into the air by a highside at the end of the 45-minute qualifying session when he was trying to improve on his 16th position, and was taken to hospital afterward. After it was declared that Hayden had not broken any bones, he returned in the warm-up session on Sunday and