Motorcycle sport is a broad field that encompasses all sporting aspects of motorcycling . The disciplines are not all races or timed-speed events, as several disciplines test a competitor's various riding skills.
86-709: Nicholas Patrick Hayden (July 30, 1981 – May 22, 2017), nicknamed " The Kentucky Kid ", was an American professional motorcycle racer who won the MotoGP World Championship in 2006. Hayden began racing motorcycles at a young age. He began his road racing career in the CMRA before progressing to the AMA Supersport Championship and then to the AMA Superbike Championship . He won the AMA title in 2002 and
172-653: A fastest lap and increasing the gap to win his first ever race with a margin of 1.505 seconds over Hayden. At the French GP, Hayden finished off the podium for the first time this season by finishing fifth, but would still leave Le Mans with a 43-point advantage over Rossi in the championship because he finished even lower in eighth. His closest contenders at that time were Marco Melandri and Loris Capirossi , who were both three points behind at that point. After France, Hayden bounced back by finishing third in Italy , battling throughout
258-648: A job from Suzuki in 1992 finishing 5th overall, only just behind experienced teammate Kevin Schwantz . Chandler spent 1993 and 1994 riding for the Cagiva team. He opened 1993 with a podium finish in Australia before things went sour and the team's support moved towards countryman John Kocinski . After the 1994 Grand Prix season, Chandler left Europe and returned to the AMA Superbike series with Harley-Davidson . After
344-638: A less than successful year in 1995 developing the Harley-Davidson superbike, he rejoined the Muzzy team for 1996, and won both the 1996 and 1997 AMA Superbike titles. As a result, he joined Fred Merkel and Reg Pridmore as three-time AMA Superbike champions. Despite a severe crash in World Superbike competition at Laguna Seca in 1998, he finished second overall to Ben Bostrom in the AMA Superbike championship. Chandler remained with Kawasaki until 2002, before
430-525: A local hospital. Hayden was posthumously inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2018. Hayden was born in Owensboro, Kentucky . He started road racing with the CMRA , often against racers many times older. Hayden would often start races from the back of the grid because a family or crew member would have to hold his bike upright as his feet would not yet touch the ground. Later, at age 17, he
516-578: A mile, half-mile, short track, TT and road race . He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2006. Born in Salinas, California , Chandler began competing in dirt track oval racing after experiencing success in motocross competitions. In 1983 he earned the prestigious AMA Rookie of the Year Award . His first-ever road race win was in 1988 in the Pro-Twins class at Mid-Ohio . He went on to take
602-663: A motocross crash meant that Hayden would not participate in the Czech and San Marino rounds. As the season went on, the relations within the team had already deteriorated, and there was further friction when Pedrosa switched tire suppliers midseason (from the struggling Michelin to the dominant Bridgestone ) without Hayden being consulted. Hayden 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 tires...I'm not surprised they've given them to him. Besides, at Misano I didn't even have
688-399: A number of checkpoints in diverse geographical locations while still obeying road traffic laws (not to be confused with car rallies such as WRC ). Speedway is a motorcycle sport in which the motorcycles have one gear and no brakes. Land speed is where a single rider accelerates over a 1 to 3-mile (4.8 km) long straight track (usually on dry lake beds) and is timed for top speed through
774-448: A paved area. The winner is the competitor who completes the course in the shortest time. Time penalties are incurred by putting a foot down, hitting a cone, or going outside the designated area. Similar to football, but all players (except goalkeepers) are riding motorcycles, and the ball is much bigger. Motorcycle Polo first began as an officially organized sport in the mid-1930s. In France , there are organized motoball competitions, and
860-634: A poor getaway at the line. He would eventually pass his teammate Pedrosa to hold on to third place on lap two, a position he held for the rest of the race. At the new race in San Marino , Hayden finished 13th after a poor start and a crash—involving Randy de Puniet and Pedrosa—forced him into the gravel. At the Portuguese round, Hayden scored his first and only pole position of the season on Saturday, outqualifying Casey Stoner by just 0.040 seconds. However, he would struggle on race day, managing to finish just off
946-574: A result he would equal at the next round in Spain . In France however, he finished 11th before retiring at the first part of the rain-affected race in Italy . Hayden had qualified second on Saturday, 0.369 behind polesitter Sete Gibernau and 0.373 seconds quicker than third position Valentino Rossi to secure his second ever front row start on the grid. Hayden would retire once more in Catalunya , this time due to mechanical problems to his Factory Honda bike. At
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#17328698173011032-415: A trap at the end of the run. The rider must exceed the previous top speed record for that class or type of bike for their name to be placed on the record books. See— [1] for an example. Enduro, not to be confused with Enduro (mountain biking) , is not exactly racing, because the main objective is to traverse a series of checkpoints, arriving exactly "on time" in accordance with your beginning time and
1118-444: A turn-one lead when the red lights went out. On lap three, Rossi overtook Hayden going into turn one before then being passed by Marco Melandri . Hayden fought back, passing Melandri again on the runup to Lukey Heights and closing the gap to Rossi and battling hard with him from laps eight to 17. On lap 17, Hayden would retake the lead from Rossi, but he had slowed down the pace enough for the trio of Melandri, Gibernau and Checa to catch
1204-465: A two-second gap. However, Hayden cut the gap to Vermeulen down as Vermeulen's Bridgestone tires started to suffer in the warm conditions and—as the halfway stage arrived—was within striking distance. Vermeulen ran slightly wide on the next lap, reluctantly conceding the win to Hayden. After taking over first place from Vermeulen, he built up a two-second gap and crossed the line first, 3.186 seconds ahead of Hayden's teammate Dani Pedrosa . Rossi retired from
1290-455: 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 utilized the 800cc Honda RC212V , and as title holders, his MotoGP racing number changed from 69 to 1 for the 2007 season. The 2007 season started badly for Hayden, struggling with the performance of the new bike. In Qatar he finished seventh while his teammate Dani Pedrosa finished on
1376-501: A wet qualifying meant that Hayden lost a lot of the momentum he had in the dry and qualified in 13th place. During warm-up on Sunday, the track was dry and Hayden finished the session first, ahead of the Suzuki of John Hopkins and the Yamaha of Valentino Rossi . When the race started, Hayden moved from 13th to sixth going into the first corner, and moved up to finish in third: his first podium of
1462-426: Is a motorcycle sport involving racing motorcycles . Motorcycle racing can be divided into two categories, tarmac-based road disciplines and off-road . Track racing is a motorcycle sport where teams or individuals race opponents around an oval track. There are differing variants, with each variant racing on a different surface type. A road rally is a navigation event on public roads whereby competitors must visit
1548-469: The 2006 MotoGP world title, breaking Valentino Rossi 's five-year consecutive streak. He remained with Honda for two more seasons without a win, before moving to Ducati for 2009. Hayden had five largely unsuccessful seasons at Ducati, with his highest championship position being a seventh place in 2010. He subsequently moved to the Honda Aspar team in 2014 where he raced for two seasons. Hayden moved to
1634-563: The AMA Superbike title in 1990 on a Muzzy Kawasaki , also taking World Superbike wins at Brainerd and Sugo that year. In 1991 Chandler travelled to Europe to compete in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing series. He rode for former world champion Kenny Roberts on a satellite team aboard a Yamaha . He finished a respectable 9th in his first year on the Grand Prix circuit. He accepted
1720-468: The Chinese round, Hayden would record his fourth consecutive podium by finishing second behind his rookie teammate Pedrosa, who won the race. Hayden started fifth but dropped to seventh on the opening lap before moving up the field and finding himself second, behind Pedrosa. In the last 10 laps, Hayden closed the gap to Pedrosa to just 0.6 seconds with four laps to go, but he responded by upping his pace, setting
1806-650: The Dutch round with an 11th place, the British round with an eighth place, the German round with a then career-best fifth place, nearly losing out on fourth after a battle with Loris Capirossi , the Czech round with a fifth place, the Portuguese round with a ninth place and the Rio de Janeiro round with another fifth position. At the Pacific GP , Hayden would score his first ever podium in
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#17328698173011892-401: The Dutch round, Hayden would once more finish in fifth place. At the seventh round of the season—the Rio de Janeiro GP —Hayden would score his first podium of the season in the form of a third place. At the start, both Max Biaggi and Hayden put pressure on Kenny Roberts Jr. who started from pole before passing him. At the halfway point, Hayden was in second place before being overtaken by
1978-762: The Superbike World Championship with the Ten Kate Racing Honda team in 2016. He finished fifth in his first season in the Superbike World Championship with the highlight of his season being a win in Malaysia . For 2017 Hayden continued with the Red Bull Honda team (formerly Ten Kate Racing team). On May 17, 2017, Hayden was hit by a driver while riding his bicycle in Italy . He suffered a traumatic brain injury and died five days later in
2064-599: The United States GP, held at the Laguna Seca Raceway . The Californian venue had not been on the calendar since 1994 , meaning that only a handful of riders had experience with this track. Australian Troy Bayliss and American Colin Edwards knew this track well from their Superbike days, as well as Hayden, who won an AMA race at the circuit in 2000 and taken fourth in a World Superbike wildcard outing in 2002. Rossi on
2150-503: The 130R and hit the barrier at high speed in the ensuing Casio Triangle. At the next race in South Africa , Hayden would once more finish in seventh position while his teammate scored second place. Hayden's only retirement of the season came in Spain . He would score two 12th places at the next rounds in France and Italy and would finish ninth in Catalunya . Further points would arrive at
2236-454: The 2002 Peoria TT came after beating 13-time Peoria winner, Chris Carr , despite starting from the penalty line. Hayden only lacked a win at a mile track to join Dick Mann , Kenny Roberts , Bubba Shobert , and Doug Chandler in the prestigious "Grand Slam Club." Immediately after winning his AMA Superbike championship, Hayden was tapped to join not only Honda's MotoGP racing efforts, but what
2322-492: The Factory Honda team. However, things would improve for him in 2005. At the first round of the season in Spain , Hayden retired for the first time this season. Hayden was in a strong position to finish third—overtaking Valentino Rossi 's Yamaha in the early part of the race before being demoted to third by the same Rossi—maintaining a two-second gap to fourth place Marco Melandri . With eight laps to go and 1.5 seconds behind
2408-606: The Honda Pons of Makoto Tamada and was relegated to third, a place he would maintain until the finish line. At the next race in Germany , Hayden would finish third once more, behind his teammate Barros and race winner Biaggi. On Saturday, Hayden qualified ninth, but managed to charge up the field and close in on Biaggi and Rossi halfway into the race, along with Barros. He would overtake Hayden for third place before he also passed Rossi for second. With six laps to go, Hayden overtook Rossi for
2494-551: The Honda curve, dropping him behind Marco Melandri , Tohru Ukawa , Sete Gibernau and Carlos Checa . He fought his way back and finished +0.031 seconds ahead of Gibernau. Hayden also battled with teammate Rossi on the opening laps for fifth, passing and re-passing each other on multiple occasions. At the Valencian Community race, Hayden would finish just outside the points in 16th place. Hayden finished fifth in his first year in
2580-508: The MotoGP title in 2007. Hayden finished 10th at the opening race in Qatar and was duly outpaced by his teammate Dani Pedrosa , who finished on the podium in third place. At the next race in Spain , Hayden finished just off the podium in fourth position while his teammate went on to win the race. During the race, he was close to overtaking Jorge Lorenzo , but a mistake with just six laps to go allowed
2666-549: The Spaniard to finish third. Hayden would register his first and only retirement of the season in Portugal . He had dropped back to seventh on the opening lap, before he fought his way back up to fifth place. A crash by Andrea Dovizioso allowed him to move up into fourth position and he was trying to close down a two-second gap to third place Valentino Rossi , but he lost the front of his bike at turn seven and slid out of contention. In
Nicky Hayden - Misplaced Pages Continue
2752-553: The Suzuki won the rain-affected race. At the Italian and Catalan rounds, Hayden finished 10th and 11th before finishing outside of the points in 17th in Great Britain after crashing out of sixth place early on. Things would get better at the Dutch round. On Thursday, he had a good pace on both free practice sessions, finishing third in both sessions. At the third free practice session on Saturday, he finished third once more. However,
2838-450: The UK are events for road-registered motorcycles. A course of typically 80 to 120 miles is plotted by the organiser, taking in roads, lanes and Byways Open to All Traffic (known as BOATs). The event is not a race and riders are required to follow the course by using a RoadBook compiled by the organiser. Similar to car Autocross , Motorcycle Gymkhana is a motorcycle time trial sport round cones on
2924-467: The US as Observed Trials, it is not racing, but a sport nevertheless. Trials is a test of skill on a motorcycle whereby the rider attempts to traverse an observed section without placing a foot on the ground (and traditionally, although not always, without ceasing forward motion). The winner is the rider with the least penalty points. Time and observation trials are trials with a time limit. The person who completes
3010-454: The US, Hayden recorded his second DNF of the season in Great Britain . On lap two, Hayden high-sided his bike at the final turn while being in seventh place. At round 10 in Germany , Hayden scored his second pole position of the season, as well as overall, beating Sete Gibernau by 0.101 seconds on his 24th birthday. When the lights went out, Hayden converted his pole into a lead at the first turn, followed by Rossi, Barros and Gibernau. The race
3096-583: The Year honors. He was also declared the AMA's athlete of the Year. In 2000, Hayden won the Springfield Short Track. In 2002, despite racing in just a handful of dirt-track events, Hayden won four races: Springfield Short Track (twice), Springfield TT, and Peoria TT. At the Springfield TT race, the three Hayden brothers took the first three places (Nicky first, Tommy second, and Roger Lee third). The win at
3182-434: The back straight and span out into retirement, much to the dismay of the watching Michael Jordan . Hayden finished eighth in the championship with 117 points, 187 points behind the champion Valentino Rossi. He scored two podiums and retired five times—the most times he retired in one season in his career. After a relatively poor season in 2004, many people critiqued his performances and stated that he should be kicked out of
3268-487: The championship once more and cut the points deficit from 51 at Laguna Seca to 12 in Motegi. At the penultimate round in Portugal , Rossi took pole position on Saturday with Hayden starting in third position. On race day, Hayden was taken out by his teammate Dani Pedrosa on the fifth lap after Pedrosa tried to overtake him but failed, lost the front and hit Hayden, causing both riders to retire. This first and only retirement of
3354-532: The championship standings, Hayden knew it would be tough to win at the Valencian Community round. Rossi needed to finish in second place or higher to win the title. He took his second consecutive pole position on Saturday with Hayden starting on the second row in fifth place. On race day however, Rossi got a poor start, dropping him back in seventh place on the opening lap. Hayden meanwhile moved up from sixth to second on lap three of 30. He then tried to go after race leader and wildcard rider Troy Bayliss , who replaced
3440-474: The championship with 130 points, 227 points behind the champion and teammate Valentino Rossi, an achievement that won him the Rookie -of-the-Year award. After his decent rookie year in the top class, many expected him to do even better and some even speculated about a title fight with his new teammate Alex Barros or Valentino Rossi . At the season opener in South Africa , Hayden started off well by scoring fifth,
3526-617: The closing stages of the race. Hayden finished third, making this his second consecutive podium of the year. After winning his home grand prix for two consecutive years, Hayden would retire for the second time at the United States round. After qualifying fourth on Saturday, he ran wide when he ran wide alongside John Hopkins at turn two and then made contact with Hopkins' Suzuki as both attempted to get back on line. Hayden would rejoin in 16th position, his Honda damaged, fighting with wildcards Chaz Davies and Miguel Duhamel . On lap eight, he
Nicky Hayden - Misplaced Pages Continue
3612-557: The fastest lap at the Sepang circuit. Hayden finished the season on the podium in the next four consecutive races. In Qatar , Hayden would score another third place podium position. In Australia , Hayden went on to score his third pole of the season on Saturday and set a new record on the Phillip Island circuit with a time of 1:29.337, 0.731 seconds faster than Rossi's previous record on the venue. The next day, Hayden converted his pole into
3698-402: The fifth and final time of the year at the last round at the Valencian Community . Hayden battled with Rossi and Biaggi during the race until his bike got sideways under braking into turn one, forcing him to ride wide (after narrowly avoiding hitting the back of Biaggi's machine)—handing Troy Bayliss third and Tamada fourth in the process. One lap later, he lost the front of his RCV heading onto
3784-527: The final podium position and would hold on to cross the line 0.207 seconds ahead of "The Doctor". After his consistent podium finishes in the last two Grand Prix, Hayden would finish off the podium once more in fourth at the British GP. At the Czech Republic , Hayden would retire for the third time this season. On Saturday, he had qualified on the third row in seventh place, but showed some serious pace during
3870-563: The following five rounds, Hayden would not finish higher than sixth. He finished sixth in China , eighth in France , 13th in Italy , eighth again in Catalunya and seventh in Great Britain . The race in Donington Park also marked the race debut of Honda's pneumatic-valve engine, which only Hayden was using initially. At round nine—the Dutch round in Assen—Hayden ran third from the start and
3956-414: The front runners Sete Gibernau and Rossi, Hayden lost the front of his factory RCV as he tipped in to final corner, sending him into the gravel trap and retirement. In contrast, Hayden scored consistent points in the next six races—the Portuguese , Chinese , French , Italian and Catalan and Dutch rounds—finishing seventh, ninth, sixth twice, fifth and fourth, respectively. His breakthrough came at
4042-490: The gap, but Rossi managed to win the race with a 1.007 second lead over him. At the new Turkish GP, Hayden took another third place and at the Valencian Community round, he would narrowly lose out on the race win by 0.097 seconds to race winner Marco Melandri , battling hard on the last lap. Hayden finished third in the championship with 206 points, 161 points behind the champion Valentino Rossi and 14 points behind runner-up Marco Melandri . He scored six podiums—one of which
4128-575: The gravel. This would have given the victory to Edwards, but he also ran wide onto a slick patch of synthetic grass and was thrown off his bike, allowing Hayden to win the race. This win gave Hayden a full set of 25 points and with Rossi finishing in eighth place, he increased his gap over him by 46 points in the championship. Hayden would once more finish off the podium in seventh place in Great Britain with Rossi picking up second place, but Hayden would respond in Germany by finishing third behind Marco Melandri and Rossi whom he battled with all throughout
4214-503: The injured Sete Gibernau . On lap five however, Rossi made a crucial mistake when he lost the front wheel of his M1 and slid out of contention. He managed to get going again, but it would be to no avail: Rossi finished 13th while Hayden crossed the line in third place behind the Ducatis of Bayliss and Capirossi, collecting 247 points to Hayden's 252 and in turn, Nicky Hayden won the 2006 title by five points. On September 22, 2006, Hayden signed
4300-463: The last two races of the season—the Malaysian and Valencian Community rounds—Hayden finished ninth and eighth. Hayden finished eighth in the championship with 127 points, 240 points behind the champion Casey Stoner and 115 points behind runner-up and Factory Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa. In 2008, Hayden ran his old number 69 since Casey Stoner earned the right to run the number 1 plate after winning
4386-425: The lead gap to 1.8 seconds three laps later. Hayden responded by upping his pace and crossed the line 1.941 seconds clear of second-place Colin Edwards and 2.312 seconds clear of third place Valentino Rossi. This was the first personal victory for the "Kentucky Kid" and the first win for the Factory Honda team since Rossi's last win at the 2003 Valencian Community round. After a great result at his home grand prix in
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#17328698173014472-506: The less marks on observation but the rider who balanced these competing demands the best. One of the most famous time and observation trials is the "Scott" trial held annually in North Yorkshire . Indoor trials held in stadiums (not necessarily with a roof) which by their very nature use human-made artificial sections in contrast to outdoor trials which rely heavily on the natural terrain. Long Distance Trials (often shortened to 'LDT') in
4558-432: The limit, but Edwards got a better drive heading into the fast kinks that precede the final chicane and retook the lead with just a few corners to go. Edwards then ran his M1 wide through the fast left hander, giving him a defensive inside line for the final chicane. Hayden lunged his machine and both went through the corner side-by-side, but Hayden couldn't make the corner (possibly after selecting neutral) and ran wide across
4644-527: The machines used for competition being similar to those used for other road disciplines . Doug Chandler John Douglas Chandler (born September 27, 1965) is an American former professional motorcycle racer . He earned a reputation as one of the most versatile racers of the 1980s and 1990s. Chandler is one of only four riders in AMA racing history to win the AMA Grand Slam, representing national wins at
4730-455: The motoGP class after an overtaking manoeuvre from Makoto Tamada on the last lap, which pushed Sete Gibernau into the gravel, was deemed to be against the rules by Race Direction and disqualified Tamada from the race, gifting third place to Hayden. Hayden finished fourth in Malaysia , before scoring his second third place podium at the penultimate round in Australia . During the race, Hayden had made his way up to third but ran slightly wide at
4816-505: The other hand, had never raced here, giving these riders an advantage. On Saturday, Hayden took his first ever pole position in the MotoGP class, beating former teammate Rossi by 0.354 seconds. On race day, Bayliss would be battling him for the first spot when the lights went out, but held on and built a gap of a second by the end of the opening lap. Rossi passed Bayliss for second place but 2.6 seconds separating Hayden and Rossi by lap 10. On lap 16, Edwards overtook Rossi for second place and cut
4902-480: The podium in fourth after moving up the order after an early race slump. In Japan , Hayden finished in ninth place. In Australia , Hayden retired for the third time of the season. Hayden started off well, moving up from fourth to second on the opening lap and battling with Stoner at the first half of the race. On lap 11 however, his engine started to lose power, which allowed Rossi to move up to second place. On lap 13, he lost power completely, forcing him to retire. At
4988-447: The podium, behind Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner , who won for his debut race for Ducati. At the next two races in Spain and Turkey , Hayden finished in seventh place twice before finishing 12th in China . At the French round, Hayden recorded his first retirement of the season. While running fourth in the race, he suffered a heavy fall with just four laps to go. Chris Vermeulen on
5074-423: The pre-race warm-up session by finishing first. When the lights went out, Hayden initially started off well—he moved up the field to battle with a three-man group consisting of Rossi, Biaggi and Barros, who tried to reduce the gap to race leader Gibernau. After Barros fell and retired, Hayden moved up to fourth, but with five laps to go, Hayden lost the front wheel on turn-in and bounced into the gravel, retiring from
5160-551: The race and a 6.5 second lead at the chequered flag. Hayden—still in second place at the time—was facing a late charging Valentino Rossi, who had worked his way up from 12th after a high-speed qualifying fall on Saturday. Hayden fought hard to keep second place, but ultimately couldn't prevent Rossi from taking it on the final lap. At the last two rounds of his Honda career in Malaysia and Valencia , Hayden finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Motorcycle sport Motorcycle racing (also known as moto racing and motorbike racing)
5246-472: The race and almost taking second from Capirossi (which also caused Capirossi to take the lead in the championship), second in Catalunya (while both Capirossi and Melandri missed the race), scoring the fastest lap, and scoring his first victory of the season at the Dutch round. Hayden started from fifth on the grid but overtook Marco Melandri , Shinya Nakano and pole-sitter John Hopkins to move up to second and chase down Colin Edwards , who had been leading
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#17328698173015332-597: The race due to mechanical problems, increasing Hayden's championship lead over now second-place Pedrosa by 34 points and Rossi by 51 points, who now stood fourth in the championship. Hayden finished ninth at the Czech Republic , fourth at the Malaysian , fifth at the Australian , despite scoring his first and only pole position of the season here, and finishing fifth once more in Japan . With Rossi scoring consistent podiums—including one win at Sepang—he managed to move up to second in
5418-419: The race for much of the race. On the penultimate lap, Hayden overtook him under braking for the back chicane . Edwards tried to keep his Factory Yamaha alongside him but was forced to lift and go down an escape road—rejoining just over a second from the Factory Honda rider. That mistake looked likely to settle the race, but Edwards pushed hard and passed Hayden again with just half a lap to go. Both were riding on
5504-537: The race in the process. Hayden would break his right collarbone when he rode a CRF450 Honda dirt bike in Italy, causing him to miss the next race in Portugal . He would return the next round in Japan but would retire from the race after he was involved in a six-bike crash on the opening lap, marking his fourth retirement of the season. At the next three rounds in Qatar , Malaysia and Australia , Hayden would finish fifth, fourth and sixth, respectively, before retiring for
5590-536: The race with seven laps to go. At the Japanese race, Hayden would finish in fifth position. Hayden's second and last podium of the season, and of his Honda career, would come at the race in Australia . Hayden qualified third while home hero Stoner took pole position. When the lights went out, Stoner was challenged by the 'Kentucky Kid' for 10 laps, before the Australian started to pull a two-second advantage halfway through
5676-462: The race, finishing 0.266 behind eventual race winner Rossi, and by winning his home race at the United States round in Laguna Seca for the second consecutive year in a row. Hayden started sixth on the grid, but gained three places at turn one and was chasing down Kenny Roberts Jr. and pole-sitter Chris Vermeulen . Hayden overtook Kenny Roberts Jr. on lap nine, but by that time Vermeulen had built up
5762-425: The race. Hayden was running a strong race, even passing Rossi for the lead on lap 19, but ultimately lost out to him on the last lap and crossed the line 0.900 seconds behind Rossi. In Turkey , Hayden would finish third once more after his Factory Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa crashed out of contention at the final stages of the race. This allowed Hayden to take the championship lead from Capirossi by just one point. At
5848-541: The releases come out, because there's teams and stuff" . Despite all the friction and negativity in the media between Hayden and the Repsol Honda team, he would go on to finish the season on a more positive note than last year. In his return race at the inaugural Indianapolis race, he would go on to finish second—his first podium of the season. Hayden started fourth but moved his way up the order, overtaking Valentino Rossi —who had fallen back from pole to fourth position at
5934-401: The route the quickest sets the "standard time" and all other competitors must finish within a certain amount of time of the standard time to be counted as a finisher (they received penalty points for every minute after the quickest finisher). This is combined with the penalty points accrued from the observed sections to arrive at a winner, who is not always the quickest rider or the rider who lost
6020-412: The same fork Dani had... No way would I think they'd let me try the new tires" . This incident lent weight to the rumours that Hayden and Honda would part ways for the next season. The rumour was confirmed on September 12, 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
6106-562: The season and his highest position since the start of the season. His good form continued at the next race in Germany . Starting just 14th on the grid after another poor qualifying performance, the Michelin -shod Honda of Hayden, as well as the Yamaha of Colin Edwards fared much better on the Sachsenring track compared to the Bridgestone -shod Ducati of Casey Stoner , whom they would overtake in
6192-466: The sport was included in the inaugural Goodwill Games . In the United States the completions are usually held on off-road courses, where one competitor at a time attempts to ride up a very steep hill, often 45 degrees or more. In some cases, few riders actually complete the course and results are judged on the distance that they manage to achieve. Of those that do complete the course, the rider to reach
6278-411: The start —, his future Ducati teammate Casey Stoner and rookie Andrea Dovizioso on the second lap to take over the lead. After Rossi fought his way back up to second, he would overtake Hayden under wet and tricky conditions down at the main straight on lap 14. With the rain increasing, Hayden started struggling and almost lost second place to the charging Jorge Lorenzo , until the marshalls red-flagged
6364-451: The time it is supposed to take to arrive at each checkpoint. The courses are usually run over thick wooded terrain, sometimes with large obstacles such as logs, ditches, and sudden drops. A competition based upon points for acrobatic ability on an MX bike over jumps. This activity evolved from Motocross a continuing popular form of racing at both the Amateur and Professional levels. Known in
6450-542: The top with the shortest elapsed time wins. The motorcycle of choice in the early decades was the Harley-Davidson 45 cubic inch model due to its high torque at low rpms, similar to farm engines. For years the national competitions was held at Mount Garfield near Muskegon, Michigan . In other countries, notably the United Kingdom , completions mostly take place on tarmac courses, occasionally closed public roads, with
6536-425: The two at the top. On lap 19, Rossi overtook Hayden before Melandri did the same by taking the position under braking at the Honda hairpin. The pair would swap positions multiple times before Hayden finally found a firm advantage over Melandri, but the combined effect of the squabble and Rossi's victory charge up front, meant that Hayden was now one second behind Rossi with five laps to go. Hayden did everything to close
6622-496: The year would hand Rossi the championship by eight points going into the last round of the season. However, because Rossi finished second—just 0.002 behind race winner Toni Elías —he took away five points from Rossi, which would play a crucial role at the last race in Valencia. After the race, Hayden said that he "didn't expect Dani to pull over and let me by, but I definitely didn't expect him to do that." Being relegated to second in
6708-548: The youngest ever AMA Superbike Champion, defeating reigning triple champion Mat Mladin , among others. He also entered the World Superbike round at Laguna Seca , making a solid fourth in the first race before colliding with Noriyuki Haga in the second which ended in a 13th-place finish. Hayden was 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
6794-454: Was a win. After silencing his critics in 2005 by winning his home race and scoring a multitude of podiums, 2006 would be an even better year for the "Kentucky Kid". At the opening round in Spain , Hayden finished third, holding off Toni Elías by less than 0.1 seconds while title defender Valentino Rossi finished 14th after he was crashed out by the same Elías. At the second race in Qatar , Hayden finished in second place with Rossi winning
6880-458: Was approached by the Repsol Honda team to race for them in MotoGP in 2003. Hayden largely had mixed results in his first 2 seasons at Repsol Honda only getting 4 podiums. He then rallied in the 2005 season by scoring his first Grand Prix win at Laguna Seca , and finishing third in the standings at the end of the season. The next year, 2006, would be Hayden's best in motorcycle racing as he won
6966-434: Was arguably the premier team in MotoGP racing: The Factory Repsol Honda team. In his rookie year of MotoGP, Hayden would be overshadowed by his teammate Valentino Rossi , who was the defending series champion of the year, but would still score consistent points. At the opening round in Japan , Hayden finished seventh while Rossi won the race. But the race was marred by the death of Japanese rider Daijiro Kato who crashed at
7052-596: Was lapping around three seconds slower than the rest of the field and ahead of only Hopkins on the timing screens, prompting him to retire eventually. Before the race, an authorized biography on Hayden and his brothers-- The Haydens: Nicky, Tommy, & Roger, from OWB to MotoGP —timed to coincide with his return to the US Grand Prix. He bounced back at the next race in the Czech Republic , scoring another third place podium. On Saturday, Hayden qualified 0.280 seconds behind Casey Stoner in second place, but slipped to fourth after
7138-533: 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 . In the 2002 season, he won the Daytona 200 on a Honda Superbike en route to becoming
7224-436: Was relegated to third by Gibernau, overtaking him at the end of the same lap. Gibernau ran wide on the last lap, but Hayden failed to capitalise on this mistake, crossing the line 0.885 seconds behind race winner Rossi to pick up his second podium place of the season. In the next three races, Hayden would finish off the podium. At the Czech , Japanese and Malaysian rounds, Hayden finished fifth, seventh and fourth—picking up
7310-437: 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 Hayden's third-place podium moments before Hayden coasted over the line with no power, to finish in fourth place. At the next two rounds in Germany and his home round at the United States , Hayden finished in 13th and fifth positions. A heel injury sustained in
7396-422: Was stopped on lap six after a highside of John Hopskin 's Suzuki caused him to lay on the track injured. After the race was restarted with the results from lap five taken, Hayden would once more start in first position, followed by Rossi and Barros. At the restart, Hayden once more kept the position, with Rossi, Gibernau, Barros and now Max Biaggi following him. On lap two, Rossi took the lead from Hayden before he
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