Nicky Hayden has been left bemused by his Honda Fireblade CBR1000RR after the bike felt 'completely different' at the race two restart at Laguna Seca.

The former MotoGP champion says he was confident of producing 'something really special' in the second race at the iconic US track but his charge was cut short by a red flag stoppage for Team Toth Yamaha's Pawel Szkopek heavy off in which he sustained a broken toe.

Hayden explained after the race restarted he wasn't getting the same feeling from the bike despite not making any changes which denied him the chance to catch the front-runner and had to settle for fifth place to go with his race one rostrum.

"I'm really disappointed for how the race went, especially for how things were looking before the red flag," Hayden said. "At the first start there was a little glitch in the light and I got buried, but I was good in turns one and two and made up a lot of positions. I was feeling more and more confident and just had my best lap of the weekend on race tyres, then the red flag came out.

"After the second start something happened: we're not sure what exactly at the moment as the team is still analysing the data, but the bike was completely different.

"I couldn't brake as good as yesterday and I lost all confidence. It's a shame, really, because after the first start I thought I could have gone for something really special.

"Nonetheless, I want to thank the team because they did all it was in their power to give me the best bike and the fans for their incredible support. It surely wasn't a disaster, I would have liked to give more today."

Despite Hayden's disappointment at his race two result he was able to close up to his Honda team-mate in the World Superbike championship standings, with just 12 points separating the pair while the Dutch rider is level with Davide Giugliano on 185 points.

During the World Superbike summer break Hayden will compete at the Suzuka 8 Hours with the factory Honda squad.