INTERVIEW
P86
NICKY 2006 MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPION NICKY HAYDEN
A
fter 13 years of MotoGP
competition, 2006 World
Champion Nicky Hayden
has swapped to the FIM Superbike
World Championship on a two-year
term inside the Honda Wo squad,
alongside 2015 rookie rider Michael
van der Mark.
A lack of competitive machinery,
an age tag that reads 34 and the
possibility of being the first man
to ever win both the MotoGP and
World Superbike Championships
all pushed and pulled Hayden to
his new role, in a whole new world
championship.
Talent happily endures and
already some of his new World Su-
perbike rivals say there is no reason
he cannot win races this year. With
a new Honda altogether for 2017,
the reason for his two-year contract
is obvious enough.
After his first two days of testing
on his 2016 machine at Motorland
Aragon, the former AMA Supers-
port and Superbike Champion now
knows where he is and what he
needs to do to start moving towards
real competitiveness.
And World Superbike is where it's
at already in his consciousness.
"From the moment I left Valencia,
MotoGP is in the rear view mirror for
me," he said.
A dirt tracker by breeding, and
a winning AMA Superbike rider in
his early pro times, in some ways
Hayden is setting course for the
way home in his professional life
NICKY HAYDEN EMBARKS ON A NEW CHAPTER IN HIS RACING CAREER
AS HE SWITCHES FROM MOTOGP TO WORLD SUPERBIKE FOR 2016.
Kentucky
KID 2.0
BY GORDON RITCHIE / PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
The
