Nicky Hayden
American motorcyclist who beat Valentino Rossi to win the Motogp blue riband trophy in 2006
NICKY HAYDEN, the American motorcycle racer who has died aged 35, was a former Motogp world champion; he won the sport’s blue riband trophy in 2006, thereby denying its greatest figure, Valentino Rossi, a sixth straight triumph.
Although just 21 when he joined Motogp – the motorcycle equivalent of Formula 1 – Hayden made an immediate impression. It was not simply that, riding for Honda, he had already given notice of his talent as the youngest winner of the AMA Superbike division in his native US.
It was also noted, in a sport requiring riders to hurl their machines around circuits at up to 220mph, that he did not fall into one of the two usual categories of competitors – the recklessly brave and the coolly calculating. Rather, he struck all with his immense and unforced likeability, and his old-fashioned good manners.
This took nothing away from his desire to win nor the work he was willing to put in to do so. In his debut year of 2003 he enjoyed two finishes in the top three, but above all sought to learn from his team-mate, Rossi. The cherubic Italian, three years his senior, was then at his most dominant and in the midst of a streak that would see him claim five titles back-to-back (with two more to come later).
Rossi subsequently left to join Yamaha. Hayden endured a poor second season, hampered in part by a broken collarbone, but in 2005 he bounced back to finish third overall. He also claimed a win on home turf at Laguna Seca, in California.
The following season was to prove his annus mirabilis. Although he only won two race victories, Hayden was consistently among the top finishers. He led Rossi for much of the year, but his chances appeared to have vanished in the penultimate race in Portugal when his team-mate Dani Pedrosa collided with him. Hayden collected no points, leaving Rossi eight ahead going in to the final race at Valencia.
Rossi, however, uncharacteristically showing his nerves, crashed early on in Spain while trying to make up for a poor start. Hayden finished third, doing just enough to fulfil his boyhood dream of winning the world title.
The following season, Motogp switched from 990cc to 800cc bikes. Hayden had learnt his riding style on the bigger machines and found, too, that the increasing use of electronics reduced the advantages he gained from having grown up racing on dirt tracks. He could only finish eighth in defence of his title.
His relationship with Honda came under strain, not helped by his having to miss races after hurting his foot riding at the X Games in Los Angeles. In 2009 he moved to the Ducati team, where he partnered first the young Casey Stoner – soon to be champion himself – and then Rossi once more.
Yet, while remaining competitive on the whole, he never again threatened to win the title. He moved teams several times but became increasingly frustrated. After battling a wrist injury, he had recently returned to Superbikes, riding for Ten Kate (now Red Bull) Honda on the European circuit.
Hailing him as one of the best friends he had made in the paddock, Rossi recalled how Hayden had marked his final Motogp race in 2016. Rather than making much of his exit, the American had come across to commiserate “the Doctor” on narrowly failing to win the title.
Nicholas Patrick Hayden was born at Owensboro, Kentucky, on July 30 1981. His father Earl, who ran a second-hand-car dealership, had raced on dirt tracks, as had his wife Rose. Their three sons and two daughters soon followed suit.
Nicky, the middle of the five children, could ride a small motorcycle at three and entered his first race aged five. Soon he was competing against older riders, though as his feet did not reach the ground he had to start from the last row so that someone could hold the bike upright.
Adopting his father’s old racing number, 69, he came up through minibikes and 125cc races, turning professional at 16 while still at school. He had to serve a six-month ban when it emerged that Earl had got him his racing licence by overstating his age by two years so as to get him earlier experience.
Progressing from the dirt track championship (similar to speedway in Britain), Hayden graduated in 1999 to the AMA Superbike series, the leading road racing competition in America. Among his victories in his championship year of 2002 was the Daytona 200 race.
Nicky Hayden suffered severe brain injuries on May 17 after being hit by a car while bicycling near Rimini, Italy, close to the Misano race circuit and to Rossi’s home village, to both of which he was a frequent visitor. Exactly a year earlier he had become engaged to Jackie Marin, an American reality television personality.
Nicky Hayden, born July 30 1981, died May 22 2017