Nicky Hayden signs an autograph for a young fan at the 2015 Indianapolis Red Bull Grand Prix, which turned out to be the last MotoGP race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Hayden’s last MotoGP race in the United States.
Nicky Hayden is leaving MotoGP and going to the Superbike World Championship for 2016 and sounds about as happy about it as a little kid sent to his early bed time while his older siblings get to stay up late and continue the birthday party.
Hayden will race for the Ten Kate Honda team in WSBK. Of course a news release was issued. These releases are written by professionals, who know you have to mold the words just the right way. You can’t outright lie. You just present things in the best light. With that, here’s Hayden’s statement and my translation:
“Well, my next stop is Superbike with Honda! I’m very excited, obviously, to stick with Honda; it’s where I’ve had the most success in my career, even though the last two years on an open-class Honda MotoGP bike have been horrible. World Superbikes is a championship that I followed closely as a kid when a lot of American riders were fighting at the front, though like most people I stopped following it closely when MotoGP went to four-strokes and cemented its place as the premier series, pushing superbikes to second-class status. It just seems like the right time and the right team to go with, since I have no better options and the alternative is running some AMA Grand National flat-track races at drab county fairgrounds tracks for “fun.” I know I’ve got a lot to learn and it’s going to be a big challenge, because the Honda superbike is even further behind the curve than the Honda MotoGP bike, but also I’m very motivated to start and learn what I can. I’d like to say thanks to everyone who has supported me through my MotoGP career. We had a good run but now it’s time to move on and try something different.”
Don’t take this the wrong way. I’m a big fan of Nicky Hayden, his work ethic, his genuineness. Some people love to dismiss his 2006 world title as a fluke, but nobody wins a world championship by luck alone, and nobody wins one without some luck, too. After years of Valentino Rossi making everyone else crack under pressure, it was Hayden who cracked Rossi at the final race of that 2006 season. That accomplishment alone puts him in an elite group.
Ever since that title, bad timing and external circumstances have worked against Hayden, however. Honda decided Dani Pedrosa was their hope for the future, and built the program around him. Hayden went to Ducati when, as it turned out, Ducati had lost its way and would continue to refuse to admit it until Rossi made it impossible to deny. He hoped getting back on a Honda (he won his AMA Superbike title and MotoGP title on a Honda) would revive his career, but the open-class RCV1000R failed to live up to promises of being competitive. Horrible problems with his right wrist and more than one surgery cast doubt. Plus, he’s now 34, way closer to the end of a professional racing career than the beginning.
I had hoped Hayden would jump to World Superbikes two years ago when Ducati dumped him. Maybe even staying on a Ducati. Given the wrist problems, maybe he wouldn’t have been any more competitive then than now. But two years at this stage of his career is a long time. I wanted to see if he could become the first rider ever to win a MotoGP and a Superbike World Championship, but it was obvious Hayden didn’t want to take what he saw as a step down.
Winning a WSBK title now on the Honda is going to be a tall ask. The CBR1000RR is the oldest design on the grid in Superbikes (see my story today at RevZilla about the Kawasaki ZX-10R and the current status of liter-class sport bikes). Hayden will replace Sylvain Guintoli, who won the title in 2013 and is set to finish sixth on the Honda. Guintoli is going to go ride the new Yamaha YZF-R1M, which is promising, and the Kawasaki is updated. There’s a chance that every bike on the grid in WSBK next year will be significantly improved except Hayden’s Honda.
It would be great to see an epic comeback, but it’s more likely we’ll see another episode of bad timing and poor luck for Nicky Hayden, a guy who deserves better.
