Joerg Teuchert
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Decades will have passed and Nicky Hayden will be remembered as one of the most enigmatic, friendly and dedicated MotoGP riders to ever start a race in MotoGP, let alone win the world title.
Four years have passed since Nicky died of injuries sustained in a bicycle accident in Italy, while still competing in the fierce world championship.
His rivals and peers describe him as a humble, likable, charming and funny off-roader, a quick, fair and fearless competitor.
Here are 10 music videos that perfectly capture some of the essence of the Kentucky Kid and sum him up as passionate, funny, down to earth and a talented motorcycle racer.
10. Winning his first MotoGP race in front of home fans at Laguna Seca in 2005
If you only win one MotoGP race, you had better do it at home. A few years had passed since America’s last Golden Age, but Hayden not only became the first. An American driver has won a top race since 2000, but he did so in front of a patrotic supporter at Laguna Seca.
9. Home in Kentucky
Forget the Osbornes, we should have had the Haydens.
8. Giving a little means a lot
All the sensations …
7. Cutting your teeth on the US racing scene
Hayden’s rise to the top came by learning his craft on the US national stage and not on wider, smoother GP tracks.
6. His first and only WorldSBK victory
Hayden moved to WorldSBK in 2016 with Honda, but the bike was not competitive enough to exploit his talents. However, in the leveled rain conditions at Sepang, Hayden showed exactly what he could do as he marched to his one and only victory.
5. The proud roots of Nicky Hayden
Nicky’s close connection to her roots and her family is something that has been crucial to her success in racing. In this video, he goes back to his roots by training on a dirt road in his hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky.
4. The ice bucket challenge
Do you remember when we did that (can’t really remember exactly why …)? Well, Casey Stoner wasn’t going to do it.
3. On the charm offensive
Nicky Charming during a Q&A at the Red Bull Honda World Superbike launch earlier this year
2. Profile of a MotoGP legend
Only five different runners have won titles since Nicky Hayden in 2006. His name is forever etched in the sport’s most prestigious award.
1. Remembering Nicky Hayden
Despite three relatively meager career MotoGP victories, Hayden is affectionately regarded as a deserving MotoGP World Champion (2006). Competing among MotoGP riders between 2003 and 2015, a brief tragic foray into WorldSBK was an unfulfilled promise, with his only victory coming the year before his death.
A series of tributes for the much-late 2006 MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden took place during the 2019 Grand Prix of the Americas, at the Circuit of The Americas.
At noon on Friday, FIM President Jorge Viegas and Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta presided over a ceremony attended by Hayden’s family and friends in which the Kentucky Kid’s # 69 was officially retired from the category MotoGP.
Later today, the MotoGP paddock will join Hayden’s family, friends and track marshals at the budding Turn 18 ‘Hayden Hill’ berm, where 2006 Hayden Championship winner Repsol Honda was on display.
