the lead gap to 1.8 seconds three laps later. Hayden responded by upping his pace and crossed the line 1.941 seconds clear of second-place Colin Edwards and 2.312 seconds clear of third place Valentino Rossi. This was the first personal victory for the "Kentucky Kid" and the first win for the Factory Honda team since Rossi's last win at the 2003 Valencian Community round. After a great result at his home grand prix in the US, Hayden recorded his second DNF of the season in Great Britain. On lap two, Hayden high-sided his bike at the final turn while being in seventh place. At round 10 in Germany, Hayden scored his second pole position of the season, as well as overall, beating Sete Gibernau by 0.101 seconds on his 24th birthday. When the lights went out, Hayden converted his pole into a lead at the first turn, followed by Rossi, Barros and Gibernau. The race was stopped on lap six after a highside of John Hopskin's Suzuki caused him to lay on the track injured. After the race was restarted with the results from lap five taken, Hayden would once more start in first position, followed by Rossi and Barros. At the restart, Hayden once more kept the position, with Rossi, Gibernau, Barros and now Max Biaggi following him. On lap two, Rossi took the lead from Hayden before he was relegated to third by Gibernau, overtaking him at the end of the same lap. Gibernau ran wide on the last lap, but Hayden failed to capitalise on this mistake, crossing the line 0.885 seconds behind race winner Rossi to pick up his second podium place of the season. In the next three races, Hayden would finish off the podium. At the Czech, Japanese and Malaysian rounds, Hayden finished fifth, seventh and fourth—picking up the fastest lap at the Sepang circuit. Hayden finished the season on the podium in the next four consecutive races. In Qatar, Hayden would score another third place podium position. In Australia, Hayden went on to score his third pole of the season on Saturday and set a new record on the Phillip Island circuit with a time of 1:29.337, 0.731 seconds faster than Rossi's previous record on the venue. The next day, Hayden converted his pole into a turn-one lead when the red lights went out. On lap three, Rossi overtook Hayden going into turn