A detailed look at the profile of MotoGP rider Nicky Hayden – MotoGP
MotoGP winner, Nicholas (Nicky) Patrick Hayden was born in the U.S. state of Kentucky. He started racing at an early age of 17, and proved himself a champion in 2006.
Hayden faced a lot of ups and downs during his career. After 2006, he seems to be at odds with his luck. Currently racing with Ducati, Hayden has been able to finish as a winner in 3 races.
In the beginning of his career, Nicky Hayden won AMA Supersport championship in 1999. He participated in full season in 2001 and made his way to the podium. In the very next year, he proved himself as the youngest champion of the event.
2003 was the year which gave Hayden the opportunity to enter MotoGP. He joined Repsol Honda and became teammate of Valentino Rossi, the defending champion. He won Rookie of the Year award by finishing fifth in the championship.
In 2004, he was unlucky and had to face many critiques. However, he was able to get to the third position in the very next year, which answered the critiques well. He won the very first race that year. In the same year, he earned 3 pole positions as well.
2006 was a year when he was able to get the leading position in the championship from the third race, however later in the season he faced an accident which saw him fall 8 points behind Valentino Rossi, his teammate. However, he recovered in the last race
and was pronounced as the champion. It was his luckiest year as he was unable to generate such results until 2011.
In the following year, he made his way into Honda Racing Corporation. This was a not a successful period for him considering his past performance as he crashed several times, although he was able to win a pole position and 3 podiums.
Nicky Hayden had deteriorating relations with his team because of his poor form in 2008. He crashed a lot of times and was not able to prove his racing skills due to problems with the bike. Therefore, he left Honda and joined Ducati Marlboro Team in 2009
to partner Casey Stoner.
Hayden was unable to prove his skills even after joining the Ducati team, as he had complains with the grip of the bike. He suffered a major accident and finished the 2009 MotoGP championship in 13th place, his worst result in his career.
Hayden got extension in his contract with Ducati in the following year, 2010. He showed his best performance after 2006 and got 163 points in the championship. He was only able to finish on the podium once.
Later in the following year 2011, Hayden faced arm injuries and it was an unfortunate year for him and his teammate Valentino Rossi. He was able to get only a third position in the season and stood at the 8th position in the championship.
In the ongoing year until July 15, 2012, Hayden has scored 74 points and stands 7th in the championship. He is hopeful of getting good results in the remainder of the season.
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