Nicky Hayden began his road racing career in the CMRA before progressing to the AMA Supersport Championship and then to the AMA Superbike Championship.
165 Facts About Nicky Hayden
2.
Nicky Hayden won the AMA title in 2002 and was approached by the Repsol Honda team to race for them in MotoGP in 2003.
3.
Nicky Hayden largely had mixed results in his first 2 seasons at Repsol Honda only getting 4 podiums.
4.
Nicky Hayden then rallied in the 2005 season by scoring his first Grand Prix win at Laguna Seca, and finishing third in the standings at the end of the season.
5.
Nicky Hayden remained with Honda for two more seasons without a win, before moving to Ducati for 2009.
6.
Nicky Hayden had five largely unsuccessful seasons at Ducati, with his highest championship position being a seventh place in 2010.
7.
Nicky Hayden subsequently moved to the Honda Aspar team in 2014 where he raced for two seasons.
8.
Nicky Hayden moved to the Superbike World Championship with the Ten Kate Racing Honda team in 2016.
9.
Nicky Hayden finished fifth in his first season in the Superbike World Championship with the highlight of his season being a win in Malaysia.
10.
For 2017 Nicky Hayden continued with the Red Bull Honda team.
11.
On May 17,2017, Nicky Hayden was hit by a driver while riding his bicycle in Italy.
12.
Nicky Hayden was posthumously inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2018.
13.
Nicky Hayden started road racing with the CMRA, often against racers many times older.
14.
Nicky Hayden entered the World Superbike round at Laguna Seca, making a solid fourth in the first race before colliding with Noriyuki Haga in the second which ended in a 13th place finish.
15.
Nicky Hayden was one of a long line of American road racers to come from the American dirt-track scene.
16.
In 1999, Nicky Hayden won his first Grand National Championship race and took Rookie of the Year honors.
17.
Nicky Hayden was declared the AMA's athlete of the Year.
18.
In 2002, despite racing in just a handful of dirt-track events, Nicky Hayden won four races: Springfield Short Track, Springfield TT, and Peoria TT.
19.
At the Springfield TT race, the three Hayden brothers took the first three places.
20.
Immediately after winning his AMA Superbike championship, Nicky Hayden was tapped to join not only Honda's MotoGP racing efforts, but what was arguably the premier team in MotoGP racing: The Factory Repsol Honda team.
21.
At the opening round in Japan, Nicky Hayden finished seventh while Rossi won the race.
22.
Nicky Hayden finished fourth in Malaysia, before scoring his second third place podium at the penultimate round in Australia.
23.
Nicky Hayden fought his way back and finished +0.031 seconds ahead of Gibernau.
24.
Nicky Hayden battled with teammate Rossi on the opening laps for fifth, passing and re-passing each other on multiple occasions.
25.
Nicky Hayden finished fifth in his first year in the championship with 130 points, 227 points behind the champion and teammate Valentino Rossi, an achievement that won him the Rookie-of-the-Year award.
26.
At the season opener in South Africa, Nicky Hayden started off well by scoring fifth, a result he would equal at the next round in Spain.
27.
Nicky Hayden had qualified second on Saturday, 0.369 behind polesitter Sete Gibernau and 0.373 seconds quicker than third position Valentino Rossi to secure his second ever front row start on the grid.
28.
Nicky Hayden would retire once more in Catalunya, this time due to mechanical problems to his Factory Honda bike.
29.
At the start, both Max Biaggi and Nicky Hayden put pressure on Kenny Roberts Jr.
30.
At the halfway point, Nicky Hayden was in second place before being overtaken by the Honda Pons of Makoto Tamada and was relegated to third, a place he would maintain until the finish line.
31.
Nicky Hayden would overtake Hayden for third place before he passed Rossi for second.
32.
At the Czech Republic, Nicky Hayden would retire for the third time this season.
33.
Nicky Hayden finished eighth in the championship with 117 points, 187 points behind the champion Valentino Rossi.
34.
At the first round of the season in Spain, Nicky Hayden retired for the first time this season.
35.
Nicky Hayden's breakthrough came at the United States GP, held at the Laguna Seca Raceway.
36.
Australian Troy Bayliss and American Colin Edwards knew this track well from their Superbike days, as well as Nicky Hayden, who won an AMA race at the circuit in 2000 and taken fourth in a World Superbike wildcard outing in 2002.
37.
On Saturday, Nicky Hayden took his first ever pole position in the MotoGP class, beating former teammate Rossi by 0.354 seconds.
38.
Nicky Hayden responded by upping his pace and crossed the line 1.941 seconds clear of second-place Colin Edwards and 2.312 seconds clear of third place Valentino Rossi.
39.
At round 10 in Germany, Nicky Hayden scored his second pole position of the season, as well as overall, beating Sete Gibernau by 0.101 seconds on his 24th birthday.
40.
Gibernau ran wide on the last lap, but Nicky Hayden failed to capitalise on this mistake, crossing the line 0.885 seconds behind race winner Rossi to pick up his second podium place of the season.
41.
Nicky Hayden finished the season on the podium in the next four consecutive races.
42.
The next day, Nicky Hayden converted his pole into a turn-one lead when the red lights went out.
43.
On lap three, Rossi overtook Nicky Hayden going into turn one before then being passed by Marco Melandri.
44.
Nicky Hayden fought back, passing Melandri again on the runup to Lukey Heights and closing the gap to Rossi and battling hard with him from laps eight to 17.
45.
On lap 17, Nicky Hayden would retake the lead from Rossi, but he had slowed down the pace enough for the trio of Melandri, Gibernau and Checa to catch the two at the top.
46.
Nicky Hayden did everything to close the gap, but Rossi managed to win the race with a 1.007 second lead over him.
47.
At the new Turkish GP, Nicky Hayden took another third place and at the Valencian Community round, he would narrowly lose out on the race win by 0.097 seconds to race winner Marco Melandri, battling hard on the last lap.
48.
Nicky Hayden finished third in the championship with 206 points, 161 points behind the champion Valentino Rossi and 14 points behind runner-up Marco Melandri.
49.
At the opening round in Spain, Nicky Hayden finished third, holding off Toni Elias by less than 0.1 seconds while title defender Valentino Rossi finished 14th after he was crashed out by the same Elias.
50.
At the second race in Qatar, Nicky Hayden finished in second place with Rossi winning the race.
51.
Nicky Hayden was running a strong race, even passing Rossi for the lead on lap 19, but ultimately lost out to him on the last lap and crossed the line 0.900 seconds behind Rossi.
52.
Nicky Hayden started fifth but dropped to seventh on the opening lap before moving up the field and finding himself second, behind Pedrosa.
53.
At the French GP, Nicky Hayden finished off the podium for the first time this season by finishing fifth, but would still leave Le Mans with a 43-point advantage over Rossi in the championship because he finished even lower in eighth.
54.
Nicky Hayden started from fifth on the grid but overtook Marco Melandri, Shinya Nakano and pole-sitter John Hopkins to move up to second and chase down Colin Edwards, who had been leading the race for much of the race.
55.
Nicky Hayden lunged his machine and both went through the corner side-by-side, but Nicky Hayden couldn't make the corner and ran wide across the gravel.
56.
Nicky Hayden started sixth on the grid, but gained three places at turn one and was chasing down Kenny Roberts Jr.
57.
Nicky Hayden finished ninth at the Czech Republic, fourth at the Malaysian, fifth at the Australian, despite scoring his first and only pole position of the season here, and finishing fifth once more in Japan.
58.
At the penultimate round in Portugal, Rossi took pole position on Saturday with Nicky Hayden starting in third position.
59.
On race day, Nicky Hayden was taken out by his teammate Dani Pedrosa on the fifth lap after Pedrosa tried to overtake him but failed, lost the front and hit Nicky Hayden, causing both riders to retire.
60.
Nicky Hayden took his second consecutive pole position on Saturday with Hayden starting on the second row in fifth place.
61.
Nicky Hayden meanwhile moved up from sixth to second on lap three of 30.
62.
Nicky Hayden then tried to go after race leader and wildcard rider Troy Bayliss, who replaced the injured Sete Gibernau.
63.
Nicky Hayden managed to get going again, but it would be to no avail: Rossi finished 13th while Hayden crossed the line in third place behind the Ducatis of Bayliss and Capirossi, collecting 247 points to Hayden's 252 and in turn, Nicky Hayden won the 2006 title by five points.
64.
On September 22,2006, Nicky Hayden signed a two-year agreement that allowed for him to race for and develop with the factory Honda Racing Corporation team for the 2007 and 2008 MotoGP seasons.
65.
Nicky Hayden utilized the 800cc Honda RC212V, and as title holders, his MotoGP racing number changed from 69 to 1 for the 2007 season.
66.
The 2007 season started badly for Nicky Hayden, struggling with the performance of the new bike.
67.
At the next two races in Spain and Turkey, Nicky Hayden finished in seventh place twice before finishing 12th in China.
68.
At the French round, Nicky Hayden recorded his first retirement of the season.
69.
At the Italian and Catalan rounds, Nicky Hayden finished 10th and 11th before finishing outside of the points in 17th in Great Britain after crashing out of sixth place early on.
70.
However, a wet qualifying meant that Nicky Hayden lost a lot of the momentum he had in the dry and qualified in 13th place.
71.
Nicky Hayden finished third, making this his second consecutive podium of the year.
72.
Nicky Hayden would rejoin in 16th position, his Honda damaged, fighting with wildcards Chaz Davies and Miguel Duhamel.
73.
Nicky Hayden bounced back at the next race in the Czech Republic, scoring another third place podium.
74.
At the Portuguese round, Nicky Hayden scored his first and only pole position of the season on Saturday, outqualifying Casey Stoner by just 0.040 seconds.
75.
Nicky Hayden started off well, moving up from fourth to second on the opening lap and battling with Stoner at the first half of the race.
76.
Nicky Hayden finished eighth in the championship with 127 points, 240 points behind the champion Casey Stoner and 115 points behind runner-up and Factory Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa.
77.
In 2008, Nicky Hayden ran his old number 69 since Casey Stoner earned the right to run the number 1 plate after winning the MotoGP title in 2007.
78.
Nicky Hayden finished 10th at the opening race in Qatar and was duly outpaced by his teammate Dani Pedrosa, who finished on the podium in third place.
79.
At the next race in Spain, Nicky Hayden finished just off the podium in fourth position while his teammate went on to win the race.
80.
Nicky Hayden would register his first and only retirement of the season in Portugal.
81.
Nicky Hayden had dropped back to seventh on the opening lap, before he fought his way back up to fifth place.
82.
Nicky Hayden finished sixth in China, eighth in France, 13th in Italy, eighth again in Catalunya and seventh in Great Britain.
83.
The race in Donington Park marked the race debut of Honda's pneumatic-valve engine, which only Nicky Hayden was using initially.
84.
At the next two rounds in Germany and his home round at the United States, Nicky Hayden finished in 13th and fifth positions.
85.
Nicky Hayden fought hard to keep second place, but ultimately couldn't prevent Rossi from taking it on the final lap.
86.
At the last two rounds of his Honda career in Malaysia and Valencia, Nicky Hayden finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
87.
Nicky Hayden was launched into the air by a highside at the end of the 45-minute qualifying session when he was trying to improve on his 16th position, and was taken to hospital afterward.
88.
At the second race in Japan, Nicky Hayden had never ridden the Ducati in the rain and qualified 12th.
89.
Nicky Hayden finished in eighth place at the German, 15th and a lap down after a poor tire choice at the British and sixth at the Czech rounds.
90.
Nicky Hayden then overtook fellow countryman Colin Edwards for third but had to hold off Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso in the closing stages of the race.
91.
Nicky Hayden did so and would go on to finish half-a-second clear of Dovizioso, becoming the first Ducati rider other than Stoner to finish on the podium since Loris Capirossi did so at the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix.
92.
When de Angelis tried to gain positions during the short right-left turns one and two, he hit Edwards who then clipped the back of Nicky Hayden, making them all retire from the race on the opening lap of the San Marino GP.
93.
Nicky Hayden finished 13th in the championship with 104 points, 202 points behind the champion Valentino Rossi and 157 points behind runner-up Jorge Lorenzo, his worst result since he first started racing in the MotoGP class in 2003.
94.
On September 3,2009, Ducati said that Nicky Hayden had signed a one-year extension of his contract for the 2010 MotoGP season, ending speculation of a move away from the team.
95.
Nicky Hayden would, compared to previous years, start off the season well by finishing fourth three consecutive times at the Qatar, Spanish and French rounds.
96.
At the San Marino race, Nicky Hayden retired once more when he fell on the opening lap and took out Loris Capirossi, damaging his right little finger and requiring surgery in the process.
97.
Nicky Hayden spun off on lap two of the Japanese round, along with Ben Spies.
98.
At the Malaysian, Australian and Portuguese rounds, Nicky Hayden finished in sixth, fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
99.
At the final race in Valencia, Nicky Hayden would retire for the third time this season after he lost the front end of his machine and slid into the gravel trap from third place.
100.
Nicky Hayden finished seventh in the championship with 163 points, 220 points behind the champion Jorge Lorenzo and 82 points behind runner-up Dani Pedrosa.
101.
Nicky Hayden is joined in the team by his former Honda teammate Valentino Rossi, who signed a two-year deal, to partner Hayden.
102.
Nicky Hayden finished ninth in Portugal, seventh in France, eighth in Catalunya, fourth in Great Britain, fifth in the Netherlands, 10th in Italy, eighth in Germany, seventh twice in the United States and Czech Republic and 14th in Indianapolis.
103.
Nicky Hayden took top-10 finishes in all but one race, when he finished 14th in his home race at Indianapolis.
104.
At the San Marino round, Nicky Hayden registered his first retirement of the season.
105.
Nicky Hayden finished eighth in the championship with 132 points, 218 points behind the champion Casey Stoner and 128 points behind runner-up Jorge Lorenzo.
106.
At the Indianapolis round, Nicky Hayden had been expecting the best performance to date for the Ducati team, believing it to be well-suited to the track conditions at the circuit.
107.
However, Nicky Hayden did not take part in the race after suffering an accident at turn 14 during the qualifying session, trying to improve on his qualifying time.
108.
Nicky Hayden failed to finish the Aragon Grand Prix, running wide at the final turn before crashing into a track-side wall at enough speed to launch him over the wall.
109.
Nicky Hayden finished eighth in Japan and Australia, sandwiching a season's best fourth-place finish at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
110.
Nicky Hayden crashed out of the final race in Valencia.
111.
Nicky Hayden finished ninth in the championship with 122 points, 228 points behind the champion Jorge Lorenzo and 210 points behind runner-up Dani Pedrosa.
112.
Nicky Hayden had stated that Dovizioso was the "best possible choice" to replace Rossi, prior to him signing a contract.
113.
Nicky Hayden scored points in the first five races: eighth in Qatar, ninth at the Americas, seventh in Spain, a season-best fifth in France and sixth in Italy.
114.
At round six in Catalunya, Nicky Hayden retired for the first time this season.
115.
Nicky Hayden initially had made up ground, where he went from fifth to eighth, to pass the Pramac Ducati of Andrea Iannone, but would crash out of the race on lap six when the front of his machine let go when he turned into the left-hander at turn 10 after passing Stefan Bradl for fifth place.
116.
Nicky Hayden finished 11th in the Netherlands, ninth in Germany, eighth at his home race in the United States, ninth again in Indianapolis, eighth twice in the Czech Republic and Great Britain and ninth twice in San Marino and Aragon.
117.
At the Malaysian GP, Nicky Hayden retired once more with mechanical problems.
118.
Nicky Hayden finished ninth in the championship with 126 points, 208 points behind the champion Marc Marquez and 204 points behind runner-up Jorge Lorenzo.
119.
Nicky Hayden partnered Hiroshi Aoyama, who moved from the Avintia Blusens squad, with the pair riding open-specification Honda RCV1000R motorcycles.
120.
At the season opening round in Qatar, Nicky Hayden finished in the exact same position as where he finished last year, which is in eighth position.
121.
At round five of the season in France, Nicky Hayden retired for the first time of the season when he came into contact with the Pramac Ducati of Andrea Iannone at the exit of the first turn on the opening lap.
122.
Nicky Hayden did not participate at the Italian race due to a wrist injury, which had lingered since the Spanish GP two races earlier.
123.
Nicky Hayden expected to return for the next round in Catalunya if the surgery was successful.
124.
At the Dutch round, Nicky Hayden finished outside of the points for the first time since the 2007 British GP but finished in the points again at the next round in Germany with a 14th place.
125.
Nicky Hayden returned in Aragon, where he finished ninth in wet-dry conditions which forced him to make a late-race bike swap.
126.
At the penultimate round in Malaysia, Nicky Hayden registered his second retirement of the year.
127.
Nicky Hayden crashed out of a top 10 finish at the hairpin.
128.
Nicky Hayden finished 16th in the championship with 47 points, 315 points behind the champion Marc Marquez and 248 points behind runner-up Valentino Rossi.
129.
Nicky Hayden was joined in the team by Eugene Laverty, who moved across from the Superbike World Championship.
130.
Nicky Hayden had the worst start of the season since he started racing in the MotoGP class in 2004.
131.
Nicky Hayden finished outside of the points at the opening round in Qatar with a 17th place, but fared better at the Americas where he crossed the line in 13th.
132.
At the Italian and Catalan grands prix, Nicky Hayden retired two consecutive times.
133.
In Mugello, Nicky Hayden crashed out of the race at turn four on the fourth lap and in Catalunya, he was forced wide into the gravel on the opening lap to avoid a collision and then crashed himself on the 14th lap at turn five.
134.
At round 12 in Great Britain, Nicky Hayden finished in 12th place, before failing to score any points once more at the next round in San Marino after finishing in 17th place.
135.
Nicky Hayden was forced to retire due to technical problems with the bike.
136.
Nicky Hayden moved to the Superbike World Championship in 2016, but made two one-off spot starts when Honda riders were injured at the 2016 season.
137.
Nicky Hayden said that he underestimated the task of adapting to the new Michelin tires but that his progress through the weekend was such that he was left longing to qualify and race again.
138.
Nicky Hayden replaced Sylvain Guintoli at the Ten Kate Racing-run Honda squad, alongside Michael van der Mark.
139.
At Assen, round four, Nicky Hayden scored his first podium finish with a third place in the opening race, running with the leaders before backing off in the closing stages.
140.
Nicky Hayden went around the outside of Sykes into turn five and followed Rea for the majority of the lap, making a strong move into the penultimate corner.
141.
Nicky Hayden established a four-second gap over Rea and the now chasing Ducatis of Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano.
142.
Giugliano was one second behind coming onto the final lap but Nicky Hayden held the gap to win his first World Superbike race, taking Honda's first win of the season in the process.
143.
Nicky Hayden remained at Ten Kate Honda for the 2017 season, partnered by Stefan Bradl.
144.
Nicky Hayden's best result on the season was a seventh-place finish in Thailand.
145.
Nicky Hayden was in 13th place overall in the championship at the time of his death.
146.
In 2018, Mayor of Owensboro, Tom Watson declared June 9 as Nicky Hayden Day, representing his racing number 69.
147.
In 2018, the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame bypassed the traditional five-year rule for a competitor to be retired, and Nicky Hayden was voted as a 2018 inductee into their Hall of Fame.
148.
Nicky Hayden was born into a Roman Catholic family with which he retained a strong connection throughout his entire life, even living in an apartment above his family while the rest of the MotoGP riders lived in Europe.
149.
Nicky Hayden had two brothers, Tommy and Roger Lee, both professional motorcycle racers, and two sisters, Jenny and Kathleen.
150.
Nicky Hayden's traditional racing number, 69, was the same number his father Earl used.
151.
On May 17,2017, Nicky Hayden was hit by a driver while riding his bicycle near Rimini, Italy.
152.
Nicky Hayden was riding alone at the time of the accident which took place at around 14:00 CEST.
153.
Nicky Hayden invited Schwantz to ride with him in the afternoon but Schwantz declined as he did not have a bicycle on hand.
154.
Nicky Hayden then rode briefly with his friend Denis Pazzaglini at some point in the early afternoon.
155.
Nicky Hayden was traveling west on Via Ca' Raffaelli when he was struck by a Peugeot 206 CC as he entered the street to cross Via Tavoleto.
156.
Nicky Hayden apparently did not halt at a stop sign and was possibly distracted by his iPod which was found by investigators at the scene of the crash.
157.
The driver of the car stated that he was on his way to work when Nicky Hayden passed through a stop sign and suddenly appeared in front of him.
158.
The speed of the car was not known but the impact of Nicky Hayden slamming into the windshield was strong enough to completely shatter it and dent down the roof of the car.
159.
Nicky Hayden's bicycle was found in the nearby ditch with its frame snapped in half.
160.
Nicky Hayden was taken to Rimini hospital with severe injuries, and was moved to the major trauma unit at the Maurizio Bufalini Hospital in Cesena for possible surgery.
161.
Nicky Hayden's injuries were so severe that he was not placed into a medically-induced coma and did not receive any surgery.
162.
Whether Nicky Hayden was at all conscious or in a natural coma during his last days is not known.
163.
The extent of Nicky Hayden's injuries was described as polytrauma including a traumatic brain injury that resulted in severe cerebral damage.
164.
Nicky Hayden suffered a broken femur, broken pelvis, and multiple fractured vertebrae.
165.
Nicky Hayden had been traveling at 20 kilometres per hour, and entered the intersection without heeding the stop sign.