Motourage

In honor of Nicky Hayden’s birthday today, the Motourage Video of the Day is this tribute to the Kentucky Kid.

Born July 30, 1981, Nicholas Patrick Hayden’s racing resume is quite impressive.  In 1999, he won the AMA Supersport championship and earned the Rookie-of-the-Year title in AMA Flat Track in a season that also saw him named the AMA Athlete of the Year.  In his first full season as an AMA Superbike racer, he finished in third place.   In 2002, he won the Daytona 200, the AMA Superbike championship and placed fourth as a World Superbike wild card rider at Laguna Seca.  That same year, he won four AMA Flat Track races, beating Chris Carr’s string of 13 consecutive wins at the Peoria TT.

He was drafted into Honda’s MotoGP team, alongside reigning world champion Valentino Rossi, immediately following his Superbike championship.  He finished in fifth place and earned Rookie-of-the-Year honors.  Three years later, he won the MotoGP championship, breaking Valentino Rossi’s string of five titles.

The seasons since Nicky’s MotoGP championship have been unremarkable at best; however, since his move to the Factory Ducati squad, he has begun to make improvements on a machine that, until now, no one other than Casey Stoner has been able to tame.  A failed tire-selection gamble at Donington may have hindered Nicky’s quest for improvement, but we at Motourage hope for the best for the Kentucky Kid and wish him a speedy rise back to glory.

Happy Birthday, Nicky.