Nicky Hayden

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Nicky Hayden's 2006 Honda RC211V
Nicky Hayden
Nationality 22px-Flag of the United States.png United States
Nicknames "Kentucky Kid"
"Trick Daddy"
Bike number 69
Current team Repsol Honda
Championships 0
Race Starts 58
Race Wins 3
Podiums 19
Poles 3
Fastest laps 4
Points 654
Last season 2006
Last position 1st (201 pts)


Nicholas Patrick Hayden (born July 30, 1981 in Owensboro, Kentucky), also known as The Kentucky Kid, is an American professional motorcycle racer who has been racing motorcycles throughout most of his life.

Biography

As a youngster racing others twice his age in CMRA, Hayden would 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 2001, his first full season as a AMA superbike rider, he came within six points of winning the championship. Hayden went on to win the Daytona 200 on a Honda superbike in 2002 and clinched the title that year to become the youngest ever AMA superbike champion.

His first year of MotoGP (2003) saw Hayden finish fifth in the championship points standings, more than enough to take Rookie-of-the-Year honors. In 2005, Hayden finished third in the MotoGP championship points standings behind Marco Melandri and series winner Valentino Rossi. For 2006, Hayden has been charged with spear heading Repsol Honda's championship aspirations. This is evidenced by his seniority in age among the new crop of MotoGP riders and by virtue of being the only rider to have been handed the full 2006 Honda bike during preseason testing. 2006 is proving to be a pivotal year in his career. Failure to lead Honda and challenge for the championship would have seen him demoted in Honda's pecking order of young riders, but he now leads the championship and looks set to be the first rider to take the title away from current champion Valentino Rossi since the inception of the MotoGP class.

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 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.

Racing History

MotoGP

AMA Superbike

AMA 600 Supersport

AMA 750 Superstock

AMA Formula Extreme

External links

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