Cycle News

Cycle News 2013 Issue 04 Jan 29

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/106171

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INTERVIEW EARL HAYDEN arl E His Name Is THE HAYDEN WHO GOT IT ALL ROLLING BY PAUL CARRUTHERS PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREA WILSON AND THE HAYDEN COLLECTION E arl Hayden is not only the patriarch of the racing Hayden family, he's also a storyteller. A good one. Get him started, sit back and enjoy. Apparently the skill of spinning a yarn goes back a ways. "I had to tell bedtime stories every night and Nicky was the worst," Hayden says of his middle son, the 2006 MotoGP World Champion. "I had to tell him… 'coming off the last corner at the Sacramento Mile, Wayne Rainey leading, Doug Chandler, King Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson and Nicky Hayden.' At the end, King Kenny would nip Nicky and I had to tell the whole story again until Nicky won. I might tell it with him getting third, but I had to keep telling it until he won the photo-finish." And to think the rest of us got tucked in with Dr. Seuss. Earl Hayden is without a doubt one of the most popular men at any race he attends. And he attends plenty. He's a regular in whatever series his sons race in – and they've raced in them all, from MotoGP to AMA Superbike and every place in between. When he was gone for a spell over two years ago, there was a huge void in the paddock. "How's your dad? How's Earl?" It was the question of the day for the Haydens (Tommy, Nicky and Roger Lee) when Earl wasn't at the track – a place he'd been for almost his entire life. Hayden was home for all the wrong reasons. He was battling throat cancer – the only thing that could keep him away from the racetrack. But he's better now. Guess we can chalk it up as another battle won by a Hayden. "For four months I was probably in bed 22 hours a day," Hayden said of the early days of his cancer. "And the kids were racing. It's enough to make you sick.That winter it was cold and windy and I can remember the first time that I got up to walk to the mailbox… it was the P50

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