Addicted to Speed
Living and loving the fast life with Nicky Hayden.
The last American to win the MotoGP world championship was Nicky Hayden, and May 22 was the sixth anniversary of his death, age 35, following a road bicycle accident in Italy while Hayden was in the middle of the 2017 season racing World Superbike for the Red Bull Honda team. The Southern gentleman brought a Kentucky-meets-Hollywood charm and charisma to the racing paddock the likes we may not ever see again, but his true colors were reflected by his addiction to speed.
Hayden took his one and only WorldSBK victory in a wet Sepang race in May 2016, regaining the confidence he lost after coming up winless since his world championship season 10 years prior. He raced the MotoGP championship from 2003 - 2015.
This addiction was most evident in 2016, the year Jean and I watched him take a WorldSBK podium spot in Laguna Seca with the Kawasaki duo Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes in Race 1 on July 9. We hosted Sykes at the Dainese San Francisco store I managed a couple nights before. Both Sykes and Hayden were Dainese-sponsored racers; I tried to get Nicky to appear but he told me his contract limited the number of in-store appearances by this time.
A month prior I was in Italy for the Dainese/AGV international sales and marketing meeting, which included a factory tour. I watched a skilled seamstress assemble Hayden’s WorldSBK Dainese leathers. One of my duties at the store was measuring clients for custom race leathers, and it was fun relating the stories of watching suits being made for Hayden, Valentino Rossi, and numerous superstars at the Molvena mothership.
In an amazing display of durability and skill – while racing around the globe for WorldSBK (which has two races each racing weekend) – Hayden replaced the injured MotoGP racer Jack Miller and mounted the Australian’s Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS’s Honda for the Grand Prix of Aragon in mid September of 2016. Here’s an excerpt from a pre-race interview with MotoGP:
How does it feel to be back?
Nicky Hayden: "It feels pretty good right now - I hope I can say the same on Friday afternoon! The opportunity came up and I wasn't going to say no. I still have a burning desire to race, not just MotoGP - I just love racing. So an offer to come here and ride a good factory Honda? I couldn't say no. I got the blessing from Honda Europe. I realize I've bitten off a lot with new tires, new bike and new team but I won't start making excuses before we even go out on track! I'm just going to try and get my head down and get up to speed as quick as possible. I've only got one race so I can't be waiting around too long to get up to speed!"
There have been a lot of changes in MotoGP for this season...
Nicky Hayden: "There have, but I don't want to get too caught up looking at every detail. It's been a long time since I've really ridden a full factory MotoGP bike and the tires and electronics have changed but I've got plenty of experience, so I can't get caught up worrying about it too much. I'm just going to get involved. I've met with the team to go over some things and I understand a few things but until I really get out on the bike there's not a lot more I can say. I'll get on the bike and see what it's like - but obviously I have some experience to fall back on."
What are the biggest differences between a race weekend on a MotoGP machine and on your Honda Fireblade in WorldSBK?
Nicky Hayden: "Well the thing I like most about Superbike is that we get to race twice in one weekend. I love that! Maybe not so much the one bike rule but if it means more teams can go racing then that's a positive. But here, with two bikes if we really need to try two different setups we can afford to go out in between sessions and try them. But I think the big thing is more stability - I think MotoGP machines are more stable and a lot more rigid. Then the speed - the straights certainly seem shorter on a MotoGP bike - and it's more physical. Another thing is the braking - with the carbon brakes here in MotoGP you can brake a lot harder and deeper into a corner."
Expectations, predictions…what are you hoping for by Sunday evening?
Nicky Hayden: "I'm not going to make any predictions now! I know how tough it is here, you know…these guys haven't slowed down. But I'm confident in myself - I've not come here to pick up some fancy new team clothing and just be on holiday. I want to push and try and get a good result so the team can justify why they brought me here. So let's see.
"My home is in Superbike now, my goals are in Superbike now - but this is a fellow Honda team needing a rider. Me coming in, trying to do a good job. I'm just a bike racer so if you give me a chance to ride a motorcycle I'm not going to say no. When I'm retired I guess I can look back on my MotoGP career but now I'm focusing on my goals for the future: to challenge for the World Superbike championship."
Hayden finished the race in 15th, with Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez taking victory. A month later, Hayden was called up again to replace former Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa at Phillip Island, who broke his collarbone in Japan. This time Hayden finished 17th, wearing basic Honda Racing red, white and blue leathers due to the short time between Pedrosa’s injury and Hayden jumping on a plane to race in Australia.
Hayden’s final season racing a motorcycle was lackluster at best – some say the Honda Fireblade wasn’t quite up to par, including the rider himself, who raced his entire career on the Japanese bikes save for five seasons on a Ducati.
"To be honest it's been a pretty frustrating couple of days, but this isn't the first time that I've had a frustrating test in my life and we'll work on it," Hayden said after a test session at the Portimao track in Portugal in late January 2017.
"The power is still not delivered quite smoothly enough so it wasn’t easy to find the grip and keep the bike calm under acceleration.,” he added. “We were unable to improve every area in quite the way we wanted, but we hope to be more competitive in Phillip Island, because there’s still a gap to bridge from the frontrunners."
Always the optimist, the Kentucky native had a slow start to the 2017 WorldSBK season, with mixed results and three retirements. His best result was a seventh-place finish in Thailand. Hayden's final race was the second race of the Motul Italian Round at Imola held on May 14, 2017 where he finished in 12th place, putting him in 13th place overall in the championship.
Hayden was hit by a driver while riding his Specialized road bicycle on Italy’s Rimini coast three days later, suffering a traumatic brain injury and dying in a local hospital near Cesena on May 22.
Life can be cruel. Most people assume riding a motorcycle fast will get them killed. But the sad reality is riding a bicycle in traffic is one of the most deadly outdoor pursuits. Of the 1,260 bicyclist deaths in 2020, 806 died in motor-vehicle traffic crashes in the United States alone. Retired MotoGP racer Cal Crutchlow – teammates with Hayden on the Ducati Factory team in 2014 – is an avid cyclist who proudly calls pro rider Mark Cavendish a close friend. When asked if he rode motorcycles on the street, he replied he did not, due to the danger involved. There’s irony around every corner in this world.
Specialized Bicycles is well known for its sponsorship of several MotoGP and F1 athletes. It raffled off Hayden’s custom S-Works Venge ViAS for the Nicky Hayden Memorial Fund in late 2017, a testament to Hayden’s dedication to speed on two wheels despite the danger.
Thirty-five is too young to leave this world. Nicky Hayden lived a dozen lifetimes compared to most. I keep Nicky’s contact information in my phone, just like fallen speed-addicted friends Carlin Dunne and Jessi Combs. To celebrate Hayden, I did a hilly road ride on May 22, proudly wearing my RIDE FOR NICKY cycling kit. It reminds me to smile more, ride more, and love life more, especially at 57.
Let’s not take our gift of life for granted.
What an exceptional individual! As you said, he lived more in his short life -- and probably achieved more joy -- than most.