Nicholas "Nicky" Patrick Hayden (born July 30, 1981 in Owensboro, Kentucky) also known as The Kentucky Kid is an American professional motorcycle racer and MotoGP World Champion in 2006.

Biography

Beginnings and AMA Championship

As a youth, racing others twice his age in CMRA, Hayden would often start the race from the back of the starting grid while a family or crew member held his bike upright because he could not touch the ground. Later, at age 17, he was racing factory Honda RC45 superbikes while still in high school. In 1999, he won the AMA Supersport championship on board a privateer Honda. In 2001, his first full season as an AMA superbike racer, he came within 40 points of winning the championship, finishing behind only champion Mat Mladin and runner-up Eric Bostrom. The 2002 season, however, would see Hayden answering the bell: he won the Daytona 200 on a Honda Superbike en route to becoming the youngest ever AMA Superbike Champion, defeating reigning treble champion Mat Mladin, among others. He also entered the World Superbike round at Laguna Seca, but collided with Noriyuki Haga in race 2.

Grand National Championship

Hayden is one of a long line of American road racers to come from the American dirt-track scene. In 1999, Hayden won his first Grand National Championship race (Hagerstown Half Mile) and took Rookie of the Year honors. He was also declared the AMA's athlete of the Year. In 2000, Nicky Hayden won the Springfield Short Track. In 2002, despite racing in just a handful of dirt-track events, Hayden was able to win four races: Springfield Short Track (twice), Springfield TT Steeplechase, and Peoria TT Steeplechase. At the Springfield TT race, the three Hayden brothers took the first three places (Nicky 1st, Tommy 2nd, and Roger Lee 3rd). The win at the 2002 Peoria TT is nothing short of legendary, as he broke Chris Carr's string of thirteen consecutive wins at the venue, depite starting from the penalty line. Hayden only lacks a win at a mile track to join Dick Mann, Kenny Roberts Sr., Bubba Shobert, and Doug Chandler in the prestigious "Grand Slam Club."

MotoGP

First years

Immediately after winning his AMA Superbike championship, Hayden was tapped to join not only Honda's MotoGP racing efforts, but what was arguably the premier team in MotoGP racing: Repsol Honda. Hayden also became teammate to the defending series champion Valentino Rossi. Hayden was seemingly unfazed, and in his first year of MotoGP racing (2003), Hayden finished fifth in the championship points standings while riding Honda's RC211V, an achievement that won him the Rookie-of-the-Year award. In 2005, Hayden finished third in the MotoGP championship points standings behind Marco Melandri and series winner Valentino Rossi.

2006 Better to be lucky than good

For 2006, Hayden was charged with spearheading Repsol Honda's championship aspirations, and was the only rider to be handed the full 2006 Honda bike during preseason testing. He led the championship from the third race and looked set to break Valentino Rossi's championship-winning streak, which had dated back to 2001. Capturing the championship was not without peril: in the second to last round at Estoril in Portugal, teammate Dani Pedrosa missed his braking point while following Hayden. The resulting lowside accident took out both bikes, with Rossi claiming second place in that race, finishing 0.002 seconds behind Toni Elias. This left Hayden eight points behind Rossi in the championship with one race left to go. In the last race of the season on October 29, 2006, the unexpected happened when Rossi fell off his motorcycle on lap 5 trying to make up for a poor start. Hayden subsequently won the title at the Valencia season finale, during which Pedrosa waved him past early in race; but Puig said the American had acted like a "hypocrite" and is "jealous".winning the championship by finishing 3rd (9.3s) behind race winner Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi. He thus beating Rossi 252 points to 247. , Hayden managed the feat even with only two race wins in the season.

2007 and 2008

On September 22, 2006, Hayden signed a two-year agreement that allowed for him to race for and develop with the factory Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) team for the 2007 and 2008 MotoGP seasons. He has already begun testing the new 800 cc Honda RC212V. His MotoGP racing number changed from 69 to 1 for the 2007 season.

2007 started and finished badly for him, with the Nicky struggling with performance, and team-mate Dani Pedrosa having showed what the Honda was able to do. A crash at Le Mans dropped him to eleventh in the standings at this stage. However, during testing before Donington, he requested that most of the electronics be switched off and his times improved. His subsequent performance in a wet Donington and a dry Assen showed a slight return to form, challenging for fifth with his trademark sliding and tail-out non-standard lines. However, he ultimately kept crashing, with a pole and 3 podiums but no victories proved to be the worse defence of a championship ever recorded. The 2007 season also saw the release of an authorized biography on Nicky and his brothers--The Haydens: Nicky, Tommy, & Roger, from OWB to MotoGP--timed to coincide with his return to the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

In 2008, Puig claimed the American used to copy Pedrosa's settings because he does not know how to set up a bike, was never a rival to Pedrosa and is a hypocrite for saying he does not have a problem with Pedrosa.

Former 500cc race winner Puig was asked by the official MotoGP website about the wall which now divides the Repsol Honda pits following Pedrosa's shock mid-season switch to Bridgestone.

Hayden does not like the idea of a team being separated.

"All I can say is that Hayden may be bothered because now he can't access information and telemetry data from Dani's bike," replied Puig.

"With this information he was able to improve his riding, as he had all of Dani's references and now he can't use that any longer. He was simply copying as he never knew how to set up a bike."

Puig's claims are not reflected in the results: in the three races since the pits were divided, Hayden has enjoyed his best form of the season, claiming two podium finishes and beating Pedrosa twice. In that time Hayden has scored 47 points, while Pedrosa has managed just 24.

Puig said the relationship between the riders has not been the same since they collided at the 2006 Portuguese Grand Prix, resulting in Hayden losing the World Championship lead with one further round to contest.

Hayden subsequently won the title at the Valencia season finale, during which Pedrosa waved him past early in race; but Puig said the American had acted like a "hypocrite" and is "jealous".

"Everything changed with the incident in Portugal, where Dani made a mistake during the race and apologised for it afterwards," said Puig.

"Nicky eventually won the title and Dani did what he had to do in Valencia, which was to help him. But from that point - even if Hayden denies it - all he's been doing has been talking about how Dani was 'weird' and bringing the people around Pedrosa into the subject.

"He shouldn't act like a hypocrite and say that he doesn't have a problem with Dani, because since that incident in Portugal I think he has talked to him about twice.

"He shouldn't involve Dani's manager in this just because he's jealous of another rider."

Puig played down any rivalry on track between Pedrosa and Hayden as in the last two seasons the Spaniard has outperformed his team-mate.

"Honestly, and without trying to offend anyone, there was never a rivalry in the garage," he said.

"Nicky won the title when Dani was in his first MotoGP season, and since then there was no rivalry because he [Hayden] didn't get the results.

"On his own, Dani gained experience in this class and Nicky was always behind him, so Nicky has never been a serious rival."

Crash.Net / Eurosport

2009

Donington Park marked the race debut of Honda's pneumatic-valve engine, which only Hayden is using initially. In the next round at Assen Hayden ran 3rd from the start and was set to finish there until he ran out of fuel at the final corner, due to an electrical system problem which prevented accurate fuel monitoring. Colin Edwards captured Nicky's 3rd place podium moments before Hayden coasted over the line with no power, to finish 4th place. A heel injury sustained in a motocross crash put him out of two rounds Relations within the team had already petered out, and there was further friction when Pedrosa switched tyre suppliers midseason (from the struggling Michelin to the dominant Bridgestone) without Hayden being consulted. Nicky stated "I've never been put in the conditions to choose. Once they told me that I would have just wasted my time had I even only thought about asking for Bridgestone tyres...I'm not surprised they've given them to him. Besides, at Misano I didn't even have the same fork Dani had... No way would I think they'd let me try the new tyres."

This incident lent weight to the rumours that Hayden and Honda would part ways for the next season The rumour was confirmed on September 12th, 2008, when Hayden stated during a Dorna press conference, "It's no secret. Everybody knows where my next stop is going to be...But officially we're waiting to do it the right way, until the releases come out, because there's teams and stuff..."

By the middle of 2008 it was strongly suspected by fans, media, and the MotoGP paddock already, and later supported by Hayden's own admission during a press conference that he would be leaving Honda, that Hayden would be joining the Ducati Marlboro Team to ride alongside Casey Stoner for the 2009 MotoGP season. This was confirmed on 15th September 2008 thus ending his ten year relationship with Honda.

Trivia

• Hayden has two brothers, Tommy and Roger Lee, both professional motorcycle racers in the AMA, and two sisters, Jenny and Kathleen.
• Hayden lists Bubba Shobert, Will Davis, and Lance Armstrong as his personal heroes.
• His traditional racing number, 69, was the same number his father used. His father jokes that the number was selected because it could still be read when he frequently ended up upside down in the weeds.
• Nicky is one day younger than the double Formula One champion Fernando Alonso

Racing history

MotoGP

• Team(s): Repsol Honda
• Motorcycle(s): Honda RC211V, Honda RC212V
• First MotoGP Race: April 6, 2003 - Suzuka - Seventh Place
• First MotoGP Podium: October 5, 2003 - Motegi - Third Place
• First MotoGP Win: July 10, 2005 - Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
• Number of MotoGP Wins: 3
• Number of MotoGP Podiums: 20
• Highest Championship Position: First (2006)

AMA Superbike

• Team(s): American Honda, HRC
• Motorcycle(s): Honda RC51, Honda RC45
• First Superbike Race: April 18, 1999 - Willow Springs International Raceway - Twelfth Place
• First Superbike Win: June 11, 2000 - Road America
• First Superbike Podium: September 19, 1999 - Pikes Peak International Raceway - Third Place
• Number of Superbike Wins: 17
• Number of Superbike Podiums: 30
• Highest Championship Position: First (2002)

AMA 600 Supersport

• Team(s): American Honda, Erion Honda, HyperCycle Suzuki
• Motorcycle(s): Honda CBR600F3, Honda CBR600F4, Suzuki GSX-R600
• First 600 Supersport Win: April 26, 1998 - Willow Springs International Raceway
• Number of 600 Supersport Wins: 6
• Highest Championship Position: First (1999)

AMA 750 Superstock

• Team(s): HyperCycle Suzuki
• Motorcycle(s): Suzuki GSX-R750
• First 750 Supersport Win: April 19, 1998 - Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
• Number of 750 Supersport Wins: 5
• Highest Championship Position: Fourth (1998)

AMA Formula Extreme

• Team(s): Erion Honda
• Motorcycle(s): Honda CBR900RR
• First Formula Extreme Win: April 17, 1998 - Willow Springs International Raceway
• Number of Formula Extreme Wins: 7
• Highest Championship Position: Second (1999)

Career statistics

By Seasons

Seas	Class	Moto	Race	Win	Pod	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd	WCh
2003	MotoGP	Honda RC211V	16	0	2	0	0	130	5th	-
2004	MotoGP	Honda RC211V	15	0	2	0	0	117	8th	-
2005	MotoGP	Honda RC211V	17	1	6	3	2	206	3rd	-
2006	MotoGP	Honda RC211V	17	2	10	1	2	252	1st	1
2007	MotoGP	Honda RC212V	18	0	3	1	1	127	8th	-
Total			83	3	23	5	5	832		1

By class

Class	Seas	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Pod	Pole	FLap	Pts	WCh
MotoGP	2003-2007	2003 Japan	2003 Pacific	2005 USA	83	3	23	5	5	832	1
Total	2003-2007				83	3	23	5	5	832	1

Races by year

(MotoGP results legend) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Yr	Class	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Championship	Pts
2003	MotoGP	Honda	JPN 7	SAF 7	SPA Ret	FRA 12	ITA 12	CAT 9	NED 11	GBR 8	GER 5	CZE 6	POR 9	BRA 5	PAC 3	MAL 4	AUS 3	VAL Ret			5th	130
2004	MotoGP	Honda	SAF 5	SPA 5	FRA 11	ITA Ret	CAT Ret	NED 5	BRA 3	GER 3	GBR 4	CZE Ret	POR Inj	JPN Ret	QAT 5	MAL 4	AUS 6	VAL Ret			8th	117
2005	MotoGP	Honda	SPA Ret	POR 7	CHN 9	FRA 6	ITA 6	CAT 5	NED 4	USA 1	GBR Ret	GER 3	CZE 5	JPN 7	MAL 4	QAT 3	AUS 2	TUR 3	VAL 2		3rd	206
2006	MotoGP	Honda	SPA 3	QAT 2	TUR 3	CHN 2	FRA 5	ITA 3	CAT 2	NED 1	GBR 7	GER 3	USA 1	CZE 9	MAL 4	AUS 5	JPN 5	POR Ret	VAL 3		1st	252
2007	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 8	SPA 7	TUR 7	CHN 12	FRA Ret	ITA 10	CAT 11	GBR 17	NED 3	GER 3	USA Ret	CZE 3	SMR 13	POR 4	JPN 9	AUS Ret	MAL 9	VAL 8	8th	127
2008	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 10	SPA 4	POR Ret	CHN 6	FRA 8	ITA 13	CAT 8	GBR 7	NED 4	GER 13	USA 5	CZE Inj	SMR DNS	IND 2	JPN 5	AUS 3	MAL -	VAL -	6th	131

References

External links

• nickyhayden.com - Official site