Q & A with Nicky Hayden

By Simon Strang

Friday, July 24th 2009, 18:15 GMT

autosport.com

Nicky Hayden has got ever closer to the pace in recent races as he gained a greater affinity with the tricky Ducati GP9. After today's practice session at Donington Park he met with the media to discuss his progress and his feelings about the wet first practice hour for the British Grand Prix.

Q. How was it today?

Nicky Hayden: It was little bit of a funny session with the weather. It was the same for everybody. Started out really slippery and struggled a lot more than I would have liked in the full wet conditions. I didn't have a good rhythm and good feeling and couldn't really push. But as the track dried out we made a few changes and I felt better.

But at the end I ran off at the last corner of what would have been my penultimate lap and came on to the track mid-way on the front straight, so that automatically killed that lap and the next lap. But I don't think anybody learned a whole lot about today. We really just need to see what the weather does tomorrow. If it's wet we learned some stuff, but there wasn't a whole lot to gained if it's dry.

Q. Sounds like you were using a lot of traction control?

NH: You know the feeling is strange because you don't have a lot of feel. It's actually crazy how the electronics have gone. It's wrong... in the wet, fully leaned over… you are not supposed to do that really but that's what we are doing so.

Q. Does it take a lot to train your brain to do that?

NH: Yeah! You are fully leaned over there, knee on the ground, in the wet, at Donington, and basically you would be as you would with a qualifier in the dry a couple of years ago.

Q. Does the bike hesitate as it limits the spin?

NH: Yeah, once it was drying out we had a bit too much traction control and it wasn't running freely. It was trying to run then it was still cutting and sometimes when the rain tyres get soft as they get hot, even when they are hooked up because they are moving so much it gives the electronics the impression that it is spinning. So the electronics work when they don't really need to.

Q. Do you think they should ban it?

NH: That's easy to say, but I think it is getting too much, you know. Like I say, fully leaned over, in the rain at Donington and you go wide open, I mean that's not exactly real racing. But that's the future and the world we live in now as far as technology is concerned and stuff, but I wish they could put some kind of cap on it or something because it is just taking over.

Q. Is it taking away the importance of the rider?

NH: I don't want to say that because I still believe the same, fast, guys would be winning but I think it would be more challenging as far as riding the motorcycle. The feel, the moving, the throttle control and the technique.

Q. Does it make it difficult for younger riders to come in and learn?

NH: No I would say it makes it easier. Especially for 250 and 125 guys. I think it makes it a lot easier for those guys to come in. Believe me, without traction control it takes a lot more time and a lot more… it was a learning process. Now, if anything, you have to forget what you already know and re-programme your brain to do that.

Q. With the team is it about finding your comfort zone, off the bike as well as on it?

NH: No. Off the bike stuff I don't make a big deal about this and that. Some riders maybe a little bit, but as long as you got the feeling on the bike the rest of that stuff don't matter I don't think. Not to me. I just got to get the bike tuned the way I like it and the rest of that stuff shouldn't matter.

Q. Where are you at with that?

NH: I think we are getting close. Sitting here telling you guys about it is one thing, but I need to go and prove it on race day. But I feel like we are on the verge of getting a solid result.

Q. Are you sad to be leaving Donington?

NH: A little bit. I'm excited to be going somewhere new just because I like the new tracks and going there for the first time is fun, but I like Donington.

Hayden calls for rider aid limits

By Simon Strang

Friday, July 24th 2009, 18:12 GMT

Former MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden believes that the use of electronic rider aids should be curbed in the premier category for the good of the sport.

The factory Ducati rider, who is in the middle of his seventh Moto GP season, says that while he accepts the championship must embrace technological advances, he wishes there was a way to stop traction control from having such an overbearing influence on a riders' throttle input.

Asked if he would like to see the technology banned, Hayden replied: "That's easy to say, but I think it is getting too much ,you know.

"Like I say, fully leaned over, in the rain at Donington and you go wide open [on the throttle], I mean that's not exactly real racing.

"But that's the future and the world we live in now as far as technology is concerned and stuff, but I wish they could put some kind of cap on it or something because it is just taking over."

Hayden added that while he did not consider traction control to impact on the pecking order, he did think that it had removed some of the challenge of riding a MotoGP machine.

"I don't want to say that [it takes away the importance of the rider] because I still believe the same, fast, guys would be winning but I think it would be more challenging as far as riding the motorcycle," he said. "The feel, the moving, the throttle control and the technique.

"It makes it easier for the 250 and 125 guys to come in," he added. "Believe me, without traction control it takes a lot more time and a lot more... it was a learning process.

"Now, if anything, you have to forget what you already know and re-programme your brain to do that."

Hayden unhappy with his race

By Michele Lostia from: www.autosport.com

Sunday, July 19th 2009, 16:26 GMT

Nicky Hayden leaves the Sachsenring unhappy with the way race his race panned out after classifying eighth, half a minute behind Valentino Rossi's race-winning Yamaha.

The Ducati rider had high hopes for the race following his fourth spot on the grid, which is his best qualifying result of the season.

But the day didn't get off to a good start when the American crashed his GP9 bike in the warm-up, and lost ten places at the start of the race after being forced wide.

"I knew I needed to get a good start if I was going to do anything special today but I got into turn one hot and everybody came underneath me," said the 2006 world champion.

"To be honest after my crash in warm-up I started the race a little uptight because I didn't want to wreck another bike or throw away everything we have gained and learned this weekend. It wasn't the race we were looking for so I'm sorry to the team because the bike was capable of more here, I've just made a couple of mistakes this weekend.

"I don't want to apologise for trying too hard though because I knew I could do good here. It is hard to be patient when you have a sniff of the front and instead of taking things step by step like we have up to now I pushed my luck and we've paid the price.

"So I'm disappointed with the race but not with the weekend on the whole because we're up and running now and moving forward."

Hayden encouraged by practice form

By Matt Beer from autosport.com

Friday, July 17th 2009, 16:15 GMT

Nicky Hayden believes his recent progress will continue in this weekend's German Grand Prix after being encouraged by his performance in Friday practice at the Sachsenring.

Following a tough start to his first season with Ducati, Hayden has got closer to the pace recently and finished fifth in the last race at Laguna Seca. He was eighth at the end of today's practice session, but had held the top spot on several occasions when the track was damp.

The American said he was pleased to be able to work in a more methodical manner now he was getting comfortable with the GP9.

"It is nice to be able to come to a track and not have to be trying something radical with the set-up on the first day and today we started out with pretty much the settings from Laguna, making a few changes as the session went on," said Hayden.

"Having said that we are trying a new handlebar here, which isn't normally the kind of thing you do at this stage of the season, but we have changed a lot on the back of the bike so we just needed to compensate a little at the front.

"Up to now we've been using data from [team-mate] Casey [Stoner] or previous riders to find a base set-up on a Friday but now hopefully we can work from my own data on a consistent basis."

He reckons his wet form bodes well considering the mixed forecast for the rest of the weekend.

"My final position today isn't too great but early in the session we were going really well, especially in the wet," Hayden said.

"We were on top for a long time and in this paddock if you're P1 in the wet, dry or intermediate you have to be riding well and be comfortable with the bike."

But he admitted to slight concern at the way he was elbowed down the order on a completely dry track at the end.

"I think I was third up until the last couple of laps, which has been a problem for us all season - when I try to really dig in we don't seem able to go any faster and it's an area we still need to address in order to improve qualifying in particular," he said. "We've started well so we'll see where we go from here."

Slow start for Hayden on West Coast

Friday, 03 July 2009 motogp.com

The 2005 and 2006 Laguna racewinner Nicky Hayden needs to get on the pace at round eight having started the weekend in 14th place on Friday.

The biggest event of the year thus far for Nicky Hayden commenced in modest fashion on Friday with the Kentucky rider lapping down in 14th on the FP1 timesheet at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.

Ducati have a significant fanbase in the United States and with Hayden this weekend making his first American appearance for the Italian factory the pressure is on for the former World Champion to at least try and match his top five result from last year’s race.

Although Hayden also has Indianapolis to look forward to late in August the visit to Laguna is a key moment in his first season with Ducati as he looks to kickstart his campaign, at the track where he took home victories in ’05 & ’06, having only twice featured in the top ten so far this year.

On the first day of action at Laguna, Hayden said, “It’s a new bike and new tyres for me here but I have been riding it all year and it shouldn’t have taken this long to get used to. This is not what I wanted from the first practice and I certainly hoped to be a lot closer to the pace.”

“Change of direction was quite slow and I didn’t feel that the acceleration was good. Coming out of the corners it felt very flat and not enough power, so hopefully we can find something with electronics or fuel mapping and make a big step on Saturday.”

On whether the data gathered by his team-mate Casey Stoner on the Ducati in the Australian’s successful 2007 and 2008 appearances at the track would be helpful over the weekend, Hayden commented, “As far as base set-up and base transmission are concerned sure his data is important and we have our electronic mapping in place from that so it is useful.”

Hayden on Laguna

Hayden on Laguna: ‘We’ll go full gas’

Wednesday, 01 July 2009 motogp.com

Nicky Hayden is looking forward to another special weekend at Laguna Seca, the scene of his superb wins in 2005 and 2006.

Although Indianapolis has now become Nicky Hayden’s true home event, the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca is always a special weekend on the calendar for the Kentuckian rider.

Hayden made history when he won the first race at the Californian track after it’s re-emergence on the MotoGP schedule in 2005 - after a ten year absence - and then repeated the victory in 2006 en route to the World title, writing his name into Laguna folklore.

This year, after a DNF in 2007 and fifth place last year, Hayden is appearing on American soil for the first time as a Ducati rider and is determined to put on a good show for the fans, despite his modest start to the season.

“This year we’re racing in America on the 4th of July weekend and it’s perfect,” he enthused. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holiday than at the US GP! Also the fact my brothers will be racing on the same weekend in the AMA championship helps make it special for me. This will be the first time my American fans get to see me on a Ducati so that will be cool because there are a lot of Ducati fans in the states. No predictions or anything but we’ll go full gas and see what happens.”

Looking to make progress from 15th in the championship, with just 26 points gained thus far in 2009, Hayden has his a good opportunity this weekend at his best track. “We still have a lot of work to do but it has been nice to see a little progress over the last few weeks and at Laguna I really need to take another big step,” the former Honda man continued.

“I don’t have any big plan or anything, it’s not that easy! All I know to do is keep trying and working at it and hope it will come. Laguna is a great track and very challenging. There are a few points that stick out but in general it is different to most tracks, which usually have a few different sections, whereas Laguna is basically just one section and you have to put it all together to make a good lap.”