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Nicky Hayden came out victorious on his return to the US this weekend with a lead-extending win at Laguna Seca, while his closest rival suffered a devastating blow.

Hayden started in sixth place but was soon challenging fastest qualifiers Chris Vermeulen and Kenny Roberts and then passed Vermeulen at the midway stage for a lead he would never surrender to consolidate his position as frontrunner in the MotoGP standings.

The American's overall lead now looks even more authoritative because Valentino Rossi, who appeared likely to consolidate his second place in the standings with a podium finish, endured late tyre and engine problems and ultimately did not finish at all.

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Speaking of the bike problems that have plagued him all weekend and indeed all season, Rossi said: "We made a big improvement this morning in warm-up and I was much faster, so I thought that maybe we could do a good job in the race and to start with we made good progress from our grid position.

"But then we had a problem with the rear tyre and I lost all grip and was forced to slow right down in order not to crash. Then we had a problem with the water-cooling system for the engine, it overheated and when I saw the smoke, I knew it was over."

Having put real pressure on Hayden with victory in Germany a week ago, Rossi has now slipped back down to fourth place and 51 points off the lead - the biggest the gap has been all season.

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