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/128242
Nicky Hayden A lot of times th is year on a lot of tracks , we can ha v e di f ferent mapping , and whe n I knock the power off, I go faster. Uke Don ing ton and Sachsenring. that's just the wa y it is. You've got to be abl e to use it . Just in th e mappin g. j ust smooth ing it out. With Rossi leaving, wha t do you think? Do yo u wo rry about b ei ng the num b er -one guy? w ell , it is a big ste p , but I've never been th e guy to worry about "he's doing this" or "he' s do ing that. " I do what I can and not worry about everybody else. I was hop ing to see him k ind of go to th e Proton [laughter] . I thought maybe if he went to the Proton, it' d be better. But . honestly , we had a real good team because it wa s j ust a good atm osphere. Me and Valentin o both seemed to enjoy it. The whole team got along. com m uni cated well. So in that res pect, it ' ll be quite different , I don 't k no w what it' s like in ot her tea ms in M o t oGP , b ut fr om what I' v e seen , o ur team enjoyed wh at they did . A Q Winning does that. Yeah , it 's funn y how that works. Regardless, I'll do what I can , an d maybe, p robably , in som e ways it's go t to be bett er for m e. Valentino did a grea t job developing the b ike and leading the team . A Ni cky Hayden often looks to fonner Honda Grand PrI" racer Tadayukl Okada for advice. Okad a now works f o r HRC. Le Mans just learning. O ur bike's pretty fo rgiv ing. You might have seen Valentino [ru n off the track] to day. I think that might be som e of it. That's what they pretty we ll told me - learn and don 't crash , basicall y . So how do you fi nd t he limit? I ran off eno ugh. And sometimes m ay be I think I should ha ve m aybe p u shed ha rder t o th e edge. I j ust try to do what I ca n. A lo t of tim es whe n I get in over my head , I just pick it up and run off th e tra ck . Ju st th is b ik e's so fast , j ust gra bbing a handful of throttle can get yo u out of a lot of tight spot s, too. To day in th e rain I got in a big slide. If you roll out, sure yo u' re done, but if you go ahead and stay in the throttle, you stay out of tr ou ble . A Q A re y o u surp rised y o u 're in the posit io n y ou' re in no w ? I didn 't k now what t o expect. My goa l was , I wan ted to b e g ett ing stron g er ev ery ra c e . Every body ask s you, "What's your p lan ?" I wa sn't about to make all these predictions, th is and tha t. Ba sicall y I said , "Th e best lean. " Regard less of wha t happens, I wan t to be getting stronger ea ch race . and I th ink tha t' s been true, and hopefully th is weekend will be th e best one yet . Eve n in AMA . I think I feed off improvem ent. Just on an ything , but even on racing especi all y , I just feed off of it a little bit more. Q Have you had to t h ink more about ra cing si nce you came over, t hinking abo ut it, ana lyzi ng it ? T o be ho n est , n ot so m uch. Ki nd of at t he beg inni ng of th e yea r when I was struggling a little bi t, I th ink I wa s thinking too m uch. I hear a lot of people and m ay be listening to too many peopl e you 'v e got to do thi s. do that . M ayb e I was be in g ha rd on m ys elf . T he m ore that I started not thinking abo ut too m uch , j ust do what I do , basically wh at I' ve done sin ce I was two, and rea lly the onl y th ing I kn ow how to do, just not tot all y beat myself up and think too hard. When I get on the bike, j ust do what comes natural and j ust ride . That's actually helped m e a lot. I th ink for sur e early I was looking at to o much data, studying too many graphs. all that other stuff that was hurting me, rather than helping me . Rossi sa id today he st opped having fun, and it w a s Brno t hat he sta rted to have fun aga in and j ust race fo r the joy of racing , and that's the way you 've always app roached it. Exactly. One night after I was struggling, I was talk in g to m y brother To m my, and he said , "J ust get on th e bike." He kn ow s m e better tha n anybody. Without being the re, he said , " I got this pic tu re in my mind, and I see yo u as being too tense ," j ust joki ng . He made m e th ink , "Get on the b ik e with a smile and get off it. " A nd tha t's one th ing - this bik e is really ac tu all y fu n to rid e. The Superb ike was cool; I liked rid ing it . It wa s fun to try to go faster and race it, b ut t o actually ride th e Superb ike wasn' t th e fun part. It didn 't have the feel. It's li k e you could on ly push it so hard. But I always say the V - five is a f u n b ik e t o rid e. Th is th ing he re, I swear it's more enj oy able to rid e. Th ere 's a bod y of opini on th at the b i k e s are t o o fast an d nee d t o ha ve a limited capacity. Wha t do you t hink? I li ke to go fa st. I gu ess somewhere down the road th ere could be a li mi t , bu t I th in k that' s part of racing. Trying to go faste r, qu icker . lighter and evolve . A 16 NOVEMBER 26, 2003' c u e I III n e A Yo u do n 't often hea r a ri der ask for less powe r. MaYbe in first gea r when I can't get it hook ed up. Q Rossi said maybe the limit of 2 50 horsepower is enough. vv s Do yo u w o rry about a ll t he d ist ractions , things like the media , having more commitments, worry about not having enough time to do t hings y ou li k e to do? I see some of the ot he r guys - they have a lot of other duties. I thi nk Honda does a good job abo ut ma king sure. at least wi th me , that the priorities are in li ne. I would be m or e worried if you guy s d idn 't w ant t o talk to m e. Th at would m ean I' m d o in g someth ing wrong. I guess as lo ng a s yo u guy s w ant to t alk to me , it' s a good thing .