Ducati's MotoGP pairing of Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso found themselves in front of race direction after their last corner bust-up at Indianapolis yesterday but have not fallen out over the melee which was a carbon copy of the last turn fight at Le Mans.

The duo had been scrapping for eighth place all race. Hayden put a move on the Italian into the last corner which pushed them wide and allowed Britain's Bradley Smith to sneak past for eighth but there is no acrimony in the Bologna camp.

"I certainly didn't want to touch my team-mate that hard. I'd been a bit faster than him there all weekend, it felt like he heard me accelerate, he accelerated, I was there and didn't want to go over, so I had to gas it a little more to make sure I didn't clip his rear and we touched," said Hayden, speaking at Indianapolis.

"For sure it was not a move I want to be doing every weekend when we're in ninth place and not gain a position. We had been going back and fourth, it's no secret we were quite far back but want to be at least the first Ducati. It was a racing incident."

"When Nicky passed me with six laps to go, I thought the battle was gone. I didn't expect Nicky to have the same problem but immediately I saw he did so I start to make my strategy and it work until the last corner."

Dovizioso lost grip from lap 12 and had almost given up hope of keeping Hayden behind him but saw when the American went past he was suffering the exact same problem so bided his time to go back in front.

"I overtake him on the last lap, I close all the doors. Nicky's pass was quite aggressive but I don't want to fight about that. We don't want to fight for the eighth position, the gap to the lead riders is big, this is the main problem," said Dovizioso.

"He hit me. I think he was wrong but there's nothing to really complain about to race direction, we talked there but I don't want to fight with him about that."