Nicky Hayden says his Red Bull Honda squad uncovered a broken frame ♍on his﷽ Fireblade CBR1000RR SP2 after race one which is blamed for his frustrating opener at Assen before bouncing back with ninth place in race two.

The former MotoGP world cha𝓰mpion felt he couldn't extra🤪ct the full performance from his Red Bull Honda in race one and after his Ten Kate Racing team stripped back the bike it unveiled a broken hanger in the frame.

After fixing the issue and a strong start off the line, Hayden felt he co𝕴uld target the top five battle before tyre wear played its part which saw him finish race two in ninth place.

"Race one was a disaster but we found out that the frame had a break in it on one of the hangers which made it impossible to be really fast and I could barely finish," Hayden said. "I was much happier in the warm-up straightaway and the tea🦂m made a couple of changes overnight to calm the bike down a littlꦇe bit.

"I made a pretty good start in the first couple of laps to make a couple of positons and was close to the battle for top guys. I enjoyed race two more today, not finishing 20 seconds back, but at least the bike was feeling good and I was able to fight with s﷽ome other guys.

"It has not been an easy weekend having lost pretty much all▨ of FP2♈ with a problem and then with the issue for race one."

Hayden remains outside the top tenꦰ in the World Superbike riders' championship, ten points off of Milwaukee Aprilia's Eugene Laverty, while Honda has stayed rooted to the bottom of the manufacturers' championship after the opening four rounds.