Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Hayden's 200 A t er one near miss and o ne abor tive attempt, Team Honda's Nicky Hayden was determined that he was going o win the 2002 Daytona 200. Hayden , a dirt- tracker who became a sensation fro m the time he sw ung a leg over an AMA-Ievel road racer, had nearly set the raci ng scene on its ear when he almost won the 200 0 Daytona 200 as a rookie. In a battle that came dow n to the wire, his lack of experience cost him the win when he pulled out of the draft on Yoshimura Suzuki rider Mat Mladin just a bit too early, allow ing Mladin to pass him back and score the win. An o il leak in t he 200 I race derailed Hayde n's chances for victory after he 'd qua lified thir d for the race . He was bound and determined that 2002 would be different. There is iro ny in the fact that, at 20 years o ld, Hayden was still not old enough to walk into any of Daytona's numerous watering holes to buy a beer. How cou ld a guy who hadn 't eve n seen the inside of the Ocean Deck possess the savvy tha t it would take to win America 's biggest road race? What mad e him so sure he cou ld pull off the win th is time? Momentum, says Hayden, now 23 a nd a member of t he Repsol Honda MotoGP team. "I had sta rted out really bad in 200 I ," Hayde n says. "But then I won th e last fo ur races of th e year, so going into Daytona I really had a lot of confidence. I felt really good and was really healthy. Things had come together with the team , the bike and me . Everyt hing was rea lly clicking." True enough, Hayden was fast right out of the box at Dayto na, saving his best effo rt for pole day, w here he clicked off a polewin ning time of I:4 7. 174 late in his qualifying session . Rathe r t han calling it good enough, howeve r, Hayde n came in, had a fresh qualifying tire put on his bike and went back o ut to see if he cou ld break the I:46 barrie r. Big mistake. " I had that big crash in the chicane," Hayde n re members, "and I was lucky to walk away from t hat . It was just a weird deal. I was on my out lap when it htppened. Qualifying tires, yo u barely get a lap out of 'e m anyway, so you really have to baby them. But maybe I baby 'd mine too much and let it cool do w n too much . T he left side was fine, but the right side was cold , and I had a big 'un." In the blink of an eye, Hayden was flung to th e gro und hard in the chicane , and his primary RC-51 was de stroyed . " It was like any crash ," Hayden says . "W he n you first catch your breath you start ta king inve nt o ry, mov e your feet and hands, and start working your way down the check list . But I could't catch my breath . Once I got up, though, it was all good ." In the aftermath, Hayden's health was in question right up to race day fo r the 200 , as he made himself scarce around the paddock. "I was feeling all right , but they had given me something at the hospital, and it kind o f tr ipped me out that night and all t he Eve n a crash in qualifying could not stop Nicky Hayde n from w in ni ng the 2002 Daytona 200. next day. I co uldn't clear my hea d ," Hayden says. "T he next day I hard ly rode because I fe lt so terrible . If I'd had to race the n, I still think I w ou ld have been pretty good, because Dayto na isn't that physically demanding, really." Still, a detuned Hayde n was astride a backup bike for the start of the race . With two-time and defending Dayto na 200 w inner Mladin unable to com pete after injuring his elbow in an infieldcrash prior to raceday, the race came down to a battle between Hayde n and Erion Honda's Kurtis Rob e rts , the two setting the lead pace as they swap ped the front position back and fort h. "I was conservative in t he beginning, just trying to see where I was fast, where I was strong," Hayden rec alls. "I didn't want to do anyt hing tha t would keep me from be ing there at the end . Me and Kurtis were going back and forth , but I figured there was a good chance he was going to have tire trouble because he wasn't holding back." Sure enough, Roberts' tire delam inated before t he first pit stop. Hayden neve r lost co ntrol o f the race after that. "I didn't want to push when everyone had new tires," Hayden says. " I wa nte d to wait unt il th e end of the run , when t he tires were worn out, to try and pull a gap. Kurtis had his pro blems, and afte r that, the race wa s pretty boring until about five or six laps to go . That's w he n one of my con tact lenses popped ou t. I could see o kay out of one eye , but the other eye was blurry, and at Daytona yo ur vision is alrea dy blurry enough." Hayden "survived" the mishap to claim the Dayto na 200 victory, still the biggest of his caree r to date. "It was a cool fee ling," Hayde n says. "I remember being a spectator there and sta nding up o n a moto r home, watching the guys go by - that on e year Scott Russell crashed right in front o f us and jumped over his bike and got bac k on and won it. So, to w in Daytona was a big deal to me . It' s one o f the highlights of my career, and win ning was a bit of a rel ief afte r I had been so close my rookie year." Perhaps as much as the w in, Hayd en remembers the cool-off lap from that same race . " I re mem be r riding around the infield, and everyone was cheering and stuff, but then I stopped in front of the dirt track boys to do a burnout in the dogleg ," Hayden recalls . "They were all on top of a motorhome, moo ning me . It was pretty comi cal. I have a picture o f it at home." Guess you could say it was a special day all around for Nicky Hayden at the 2002 Daytona 200. SCOTT ROUSSEAU 94 DECEMBER 15 , 20 0 4 • CYCLE NE WS 40th Anniversary 3D YEARS Aeu December 17. 1974 The Yamaha CaliforniaState High School Motoc ro ss Finals were held in Irvine, California, at the famous Saddleback Motocross Park. Over the course of the weekend there were 16state championscrowned ... There was an advertisem ent for Yamaha's Moto-Bike. It was a BMX bicyclethat had both fron t and rear suspensions... Ray Lo pez dominated the I25cc Pro class at the challengingValley Cycle Moto cross Park in Simi, California... Mike Joh nst o n got his first ORA Desert race overall victory in Adelanto, California. i!D YEARS AliD... December 17. 1984 ,...,.,.,,........_ ........ We went inside Wes ~~I;;:lli:!lliljll Cooley's Y oshimura Suzuki. On the cover .:::==~==.. was Wes Coo ley himself, piloting his superbike around ; ... _ _ _ "';;;;;;; '.,ii Riverside Raceway Dan Ashc raft and iiiiiiiiiiii. i11 Te d H u nn icu tt battled for the overall victory at the Jackrabbit's Motorcycle Club District 37 Hare & Hound. The two riders were no more than a few sec o nds apart for most of the long race... Young Ke vin Schwantz won the American Road Racing Association's Superbike fi nal at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosemond, California. The 20-year-old took hisYoshimura Suzuki to dual w ins at the even t and impres sed everyone in atte ndance . to YEARS AliD... December 14. 1994 The Florida Winter National Olympics too k place this time 10 years ago. Jim Nee se w as on e o f the big winners of the eve nt. He too k home the coveted Dunlop Silve r Tire Award for the best combined Expert class finish. James St ew a rt battled Josh Summey in the 6Scc 7- 1I class. Summey went on to wi n while Ste wart took second... Je remy Buehl was the only rider at round two of the National Arenacross se ries to ta ke home more th an one ma ineve nt win ove r the course o f the w ee k- end ... The final round of the World Supercross Series wrapped up in Tokyo, Japan. Je remy McGrat h to ok the win on the first night and the title. Mik laRocco e got the win the second night, while McGrath finished second.

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