IN
THE
WIND
P46
N
icky Hayden is either playing
his cards very close to the
vest or really does not know yet
what he will be doing in 2016.
It's clear from talking with the
2006 MotoGP World Champion
that he would like to remain in
the MotoGP paddock, but he's
sounding more and more open
to the possibility of running in
World Superbike. The hope
by many American racing fans
that he might return to race
MotoAmerica AMA Superbike
seems very remote.
Hayden admitted that he's been
talking to World Superbike teams.
"I've had some discussion in
this paddock and in World Su-
perbike," Hayden said recently.
"It's still a little bit early, espe-
cially for Superbike. [I've got] a
few lines in the water that could
be interesting. We'll just see if
something good comes up and
continue riding bikes. I would
like to keep going and, if not, I'll
deal with that, too."
While he didn't completely
rule out coming back to race in
America, Hayden made it clear
that MotoAmerica, at least at this
point, still has some growing to
do before he'd give it a serious
look.
"I would like to stay with Hon-
da if something was to come
up," Hayden said. "But I don't
know, I'd like to see the series
get going a little bit, still four or
five Superbikes, that's not like
something that would really ex-
cite me and sound like it would
really be fun and something I'd
like to do. So, I don't know."
Staying in MotoGP would be
ideal for Hayden, but he would
have to contemplate it carefully.
"With the right situation,"
he answered when asked if
MotoGP was, in fact, his first
choice. "The right bike, the
right team, right sponsor to do it
right."
The other real possibility is
Hayden switching series to try to
become the first rider to win Mo-
toGP and World Superbike titles.
"That's not got a bad ring to it,"
Hayden admitted about shooting
to become the first to pull off the
feat. "That wouldn't be a bad little
box to check off on the way out.
I know it's easier to say than to
actually do. It's deep water over
there, too. That [World Super-
bike] sounds more appealing
than going back to AMA."
Larry Lawrence
HAYDEN
TO WORLD
SUPERBIKE?
Will we see
Nicky Hayden in
World Superbike
soon?
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
