with an 11th place, the British round with an eighth place, the German round with a then career-best fifth place, nearly losing out on fourth after a battle with Loris Capirossi, the Czech round with a fifth place, the Portuguese round with a ninth place and the Rio de Janeiro round with another fifth position. At the Pacific GP, Hayden would score his first ever podium in the motoGP class after an overtaking manoeuvre from Makoto Tamada on the last lap, which pushed Sete Gibernau into the gravel, was deemed to be against the rules by Race Direction and disqualified Tamada from the race, gifting third place to Hayden. Hayden finished fourth in Malaysia, before scoring his second third place podium at the penultimate round in Australia. During the race, Hayden had made his way up to third but ran slightly wide at the Honda curve, dropping him behind Marco Melandri, Tohru Ukawa, Sete Gibernau and Carlos Checa. He fought his way back and finished +0.031 seconds ahead of Gibernau. Hayden also battled with teammate Rossi on the opening laps for fifth, passing and re-passing each other on multiple occasions. At the Valencian Community race, Hayden would finish just outside the points in 16th place. Hayden finished fifth in his first year in the championship with 130 points, 227 points behind the champion and teammate Valentino Rossi, an achievement that won him the Rookie-of-the-Year award. 2004 After his decent rookie year in the top class, many expected him to do even better and some even speculated about a title fight with his new teammate Alex Barros or Valentino Rossi. At the season opener in South Africa, Hayden started off well by scoring fifth, a result he would equal at the next round in Spain. In France however, he finished 11th before retiring at the first part of the rain-affected race in Italy. Hayden had qualified second on Saturday, 0.369 behind polesitter Sete Gibernau and 0.373 seconds quicker than third position Valentino Rossi to secure his second ever front row start on the grid. Hayden would retire once more in Catalunya, this time due to mechanical problems to his Factory Honda bike. At the Dutch round, Hayden would once more finish in fifth place. At the seventh round of the season—the Rio de Janeiro GP—Hayden would score his first podium of the season in the form of a third place. At