Repsol YPF
Ruta
NICKY HAYDEN
BIOGRAPHY
Hayden rode a motorcycle for the first time when he was just three years old. From then on the Hayden clan went to the racetrack like other families go to the park, Nicky commencing his racing career at the tender age of four. At first he raced dirt track, the discipline that honed the bike-control talents of Spencer, Rainey et al. These, after all, were the men who inspired Hayden - his whole family would crowd around the television to watch them racing GPs in Europe. He later graduated to Harley dirt trackers and much later to Honda dirt tools, some years after he'd quit full-time dirt track at the age of 13 to further his roadrace career. Hayden rode his first roadrace aged 11, again on minibikes, and realisedthat this was the way he wanted to go.
© Repsol YPF
After turning pro at 16, he rode his first full AMA (American Motorcyclists Association) season in 1998, demonstrating his innate talent by taking fourth overall in the Supersport series. The following summer he became America's youngest-ever 600 Supersport champ, using a CBR600 to win a season-long brawl with his big brother. That year he also finished second to Erion Racing team-mate Kurtis Roberts in the Formula Xtreme series and still found the time to compete in 12 of 18 Grand National dirt track events, claiming the Dirt Track Rookie of the Year award. He also got his first go at Superbike, substituting for injured Honda factory RC45 rider Miguel Duhamel, and completed a sensational season with his first Superbike podium at Fountain, Colorado.
Signed to Honda America for 2000, Hayden quickly justified his new employer's faith by winning his first Superbike victory at June's Road Atlanta round, and he won again at Laguna and Willow Springs to end his debut big-bike season second overall, just five points behind the experienced Mat Mladin. And yet Hayden had a difficult start to 2002, when he was favourite to topple Mladin, rebounding a few months later to win the year's final four races on his SP-1.
