Nicky Hayden: 1981-2017

The 2006 MotoGP world champion succumbed to injuries after a collision with car.

The 35-year-old was involved in a road accident with a car, just days after competing in the WSBK championship round at Misano. After the incident, Nicky was taken to a local hospital, and was then transferred to another nearby hospital for further assessment but on May 22 he died of his injuries.

Nicky lived and breathed motorcycles. He competed throughout his youth in Kentucky, moving on to the AMA Pro Flat Track circuit first, then on to the AMA Superbike series. In 2006 he won the MotoGP world title from his good friend Valentino Rossi and had been continuing to compete at the highest level in World Superbikes for the Red Bull Honda team.

In light of his passing, here’s an illuminating interview with Nicky in which he talks about that pivotal moment in 2006 at Valencia that gave him the MotoGP crown.

Q: What is your first memory on a bike:

Nicky Hayden: I get that question a lot and I really don’t remember because I don’t remember life before bikes. From the time I literally crawled, I was around a motorcycle. My dad raced, even my mom raced because my dad – as the story goes – needed a fast

girl because he wanted to make fast babies. He’d come from Kentucky, where horse racing is so popular, and the bloodline is so important. So my mom and dad both raced, my older brother was racing, and from the time literally I could crawl, I was already with the bikes.

Q: And that first MotoGP win:

NH: Laguna 2005 was like a dream for me because everything worked perfect. In racing, it doesn’t always go like a dream. Normally on the weekend, you work, you try something with a bike. It’s maybe a little bit better on braking, but it’s worse on corner exit and it’s a compromise, but that week, everything was perfect. The bike, from the first practice, was working well.

Every change we made was only better. Every time the lap time came and I remember being here in the lead in the race, and my mind wondering, coming out of that corner, that turn three, I remember looking up at the tower during the race, when I’m leading the race and I should only be

focused. My mind was relaxed. I was looking to see who was in second, third place, who else was doing what.

I got the pole position, I got the fastest lap, won the race. National anthem, I rode with my dad, and it was just a fairy tale. On that day, I felt unbeatable.

Q: And then the title winning year:

NH: Well, speaking of 2006, the race in Laguna that year was completely the opposite. Everything that race weekend was really difficult, I felt a lot of pressure, I qualified sixth, it was really hot, that year was record highs, and I couldn’t have done that race a half-a-tenth faster.

Whereas the race in 2005, I think I could have done it maybe three, or four, or five seconds faster if I needed to, but 2006 was much more difficult. What I remember that year was coming out of the last corner of Valencia and realising my dream of being World Champion at the highest level was coming true and that was very special.

Q: How did you prepare for Valencia in 2006:

NH: Well, for sure, in Portugal, that moment in the gravel trap, that thought of being World Champion just slipped through my hands. You never know how many times you’re going to be in that opportunity in life, but I gathered myself up, and after the race, maybe one hour after, I started to think of only Valencia.

I looked at the points and realised I still had a chance. I know Valencia is a small track, many guys go fast there – maybe it’s not the best track for Valentino at that time. And I somehow, as crazy as it sounds – people ask me now—from about an hour after that race, I always believed I was still going to be World Champion. Going into the last race, I think 11 points down on arguably the greatest rider of all time, with all the momentum on his side, an injured shoulder. Not many people outside of my team and family gave me a chance, and for whatever reason, that whole season I believed it was going to be my year. And that’s what I said all along, this is my year and I still think when they let off the yellow fireworks, I laughed, and I’ve seen the pictures because I guess I like being the underdog. I did have to chuckle and being on the podium and seeing the yellow fireworks was just something incredible.

That moment for me was what I lived all my life for and not just me, it wasn’t like a goal I felt I won. I felt my family won it, like we won it together, because my parents, and my sisters, and my brothers, they sacrificed so much to give us this opportunity at a young age and I felt like we won it.