According to Honda team manager Gary Mathers, American Honda's Nicky Hayden is puling out of the HP4 600 Supersport championship for the rest of the season.
"If Nicky won both these last 600 races, (and) led the most laps, he'd still lose (the title)," said Mathers.

Hayden is the reigning AMA 600 Superport champion, but is now dueling for the Superbike championship with two rounds remaining.

This is a radical departure for American Honda, as the CBR600 series has been one of their strongest sellers for the last decade, and much of that built on dominating the 600 Supersport championship.

"He can still win Superbike," said Mathers, "so we said, 'hey, let's concentrate on something you can win'. And he agreed."