Repsol Honda star Nicky Hayden will start his home race this weekend leading the world championship and full of confidence for Sunday’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. The 24-year-old from Owensboro, Kentucky is enjoying a brilliant 2006 season and, after his debut MotoGP win at Laguna Seca last year, he will be determined to take his RC211V to a second victory of the season and stretch his 26-point lead in the riders’ standings. A fighting third place in last weekend’s German Grand Prix where he finished just 0.26s behind the winner sets up Hayden nicely for the challenge.
MotoGP returned to the Californian circuit last year after a 10-year break and saw Hayden putting in a dominant performance to delight his home fans. He was fastest in all the practice sessions bar the first, took pole position and controlled the race from the front to win by 1.9s. With recent changes to the track to improve safety, Hayden and his rivals will begin Friday practice looking to find the bike settings and tyre choice to best-suit the modified layout.
At just 3.610km (2.243 miles) in length Laguna Seca is the shortest track on the MotoGP calendar and correspondingly has the highest race lap count, at 32. It’s one of five tracks in the 17-round world championship that runs anti-clockwise, and is the only venue where the 125cc and 250cc Grand Prix classes are absent.
Because of this, Hayden’s sensational young Repsol Honda team-mate, MotoGP rookie Dani Pedrosa, who graduated to the top flight from 250s this season, will be experiencing Laguna for the first time this weekend. However, the reigning 250cc World Champion has already proved that this should be no obstacle to him recording another impressive race performance. With two wins and four pole positions under his belt in 2006, it’s a mark of his meteoric progress that last weekend’s fourth place in the German Grand Prix, where he led the race and finished just 0.307s after the winner, was viewed by Pedrosa as a mild disappointment. He’ll be looking to put that right at Laguna Seca.
After practice on Friday and qualifying on Saturday, the 32-lap U.S. Grand Prix begins on Sunday at 2pm local time (11pm CET).
Nicky Hayden – World Championship Position: 1st – 169 points “It’s a pretty good feeling to be leading the world going into my home race. Even though there’s a lot of racing still to go and I really want to be leading the championship at the end of the season, I’m proud to go home to my fans out in front. Plus it’s a while since an American has been on top so I’m excited. But more importantly we’re going to go to Laguna and try to get 25 points. The circuit has been completely repaved and they’ve changed some parts of the track so it’s going to be different this year. They’ve altered Turn 1 and Turn 6, which affects the approach to the Corkscrew, so in some ways we’re starting from zero in terms of tyre choice, settings and gearbox – a lot of things could be different. Nonetheless I’m really looking forward to it and hopefully the American fans are ready to come out and show all their love and we can give them something to get wild about on Sunday.”
Dani Pedrosa – World Championship Position: 3rd – 140 points “I’m really looking forward to this weekend but I’m not sure how I’m going to find things at Laguna because it’s a new track to me. It’s a long time since I’ve raced at a circuit I don’t already know and most of the others have seen it before, so it will be difficult for me and the other new MotoGP riders at first. My job will be to adapt to the track as quickly as possible, find a base setting for the RC211V and have another strong weekend. I was a little disappointed to finish fourth at the last race in Germany, but I believe in myself and I’m still pretty confident. We are having a great season so far and I’ve just got keep working on the areas where I can improve.”
2006 Championship Current Standings:1, Nicky Hayden 169
2, Valentino Rossi 143
3, Dani Pedrosa 140
4, Marco Melandri 134
5, Loris Capirossi 118
6, Casey Stoner 91
7, Colin Edwards 77
8, Shinya Nakano 67
9, Kenny Roberts Jr 66
10, John Hopkins 64
11, Makoto Tamada 59
12, Toni Elias 58
13, Sete Gibernau 52
14, Chris Vermeulen 46
15, Carlos Checa 44
16, Alex Hofmann 19
17, James Ellison 17
18, Randy de Puniet 17
19, Jose L. Cardoso 8
Circuit length: 3.610km – 2.243 miles
Lap Record: Colin Edwards : 1m 23.915s (2005)
Nicky Hayden Interview: It must be a great to be World Championship coming to the U.S. Grand Prix?You know, it’s definitely quite a proud feeling to be leading the World Championship going into my home Grand Prix. I know it’s only just over half way through the year, and the most important thing is to be leading at the end of the season, but a lot of people didn’t expect me to be in this position. I’d say I was considered a pretty big underdog at the start of the season and, even after the first few races when I started leading the championship, I think everyone thought it was just a fluke. But now they’re starting to see that the team is for real and that we’re serious this year.
How did it feel to win at Laguna Seca last year?To win my home race last year, which was the first time I’d raced in a Grand Prix at home, was the best day of my life. Sure I’d won races before, but nothing of that magnitude. I’d had some good results in MotoGP – for example I was the Rookie of the Year in my first season. But to stand on the podium and hear my National Anthem in front of my home fans was really emotional for me – a great feeling.
With the championship lead will it feel slightly different this year?I had so much fun at this race last year. Just riding the bike was fun because it was running real well, but also just being around my family, my friends and all my boys from Kentucky. I had a great time, so I’m really looking forward to it. But it’s going to be serious business on raceday. I want to go get another win for the fans, and yes, it’s even bigger this year because of the position in the championship. This year I’m a serious contender and I need those 25 points for the win.
Are you a big star in America?In America MotoGP is not as well known and there are other sports that are so much bigger. It’s certainly not as big here as in Europe and other places around the world where they go bananas for MotoGP. There were well over 200,000 people at the last race in Germany, but after being around some of these crazy places in Europe I actually enjoy coming home and just blending in with the locals because, you know, I’m not into this sport to be a rock star. I wouldn’t really say I’m a shy person but I do like to go home and work on my game, work on my training and get stronger so I can put up a better fight. My profile in America is increasing though, and that’s probably good for the sport. I think it’s going to get bigger in America in the future, and Laguna this weekend is going to be pretty wild for sure.
You’ll have your family around at Laguna and we often see your dad at the races. Does this help you?Yeah I’ve been really lucky with the support I get from my family. It’s important to have good, strong people around you – and my dad’s a part of my racing team. This year I’ve been doing well and of course it’s quite easy to start making friends now. The phone starts ringing again and people want to catch up – or say they need some passes for the race. But I’ve been lucky to have a good support team, and also Honda’s been really behind me from my early days in America. Having those people that believe in you helps you get the best from yourself.
Have you always wanted to ride in Grands Prix?Me and my brothers went to the US GP in 1994 I think it was – the last time the race was held there before it was reinstated last year. I was a little kid and we stood on the fence, and to see these bikes made me realise even more than before this was what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to be a quarter back or a Nascar driver, even though I’m from Kentucky. I wanted to race in Grand Prix.
So, will you win your home GP?Well we did it last year and we’re going to bring all we’ve got!
Nicky Hayden’s Lap Of Laguna Seca: Nicky Hayden will arrive at his home circuit for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix leading the World Championship and ready once again to challenge the best riders in the world in front of his fervent home fans. Having taken pole position and stormed to his first Grand Prix win at the circuit last year, there’s no rider better placed to describe the demands and delights of this unique track.
Circuit Length: 3.610km (2.243 miles)
Pole Position: Left
Right corners: 4
Left corners: 7
Longest straight: 0.966km (0.600 miles)
Nicky’s Lap:Start/Finish straight“They call it the front straightaway but it’s not really very straight, you know it’s actually got quite a little bend in it and it leads to what I think is probably the most hairy place in MotoGP. It’s definitely the loosest…”
Turn One“You take this in fifth gear up over the hill. The bike wants to wheelie and both wheels come off the ground a bit, so you just wait for it to settle back down on the back side of the hill before opening the throttle.”
Turn Two“For turn two you backshift down into second gear. You try to get in a little too hot – overcook it a little bit – and then bring the bike back in, square it up and try and get the power down as much as possible.”
Turn Three“Here you’ve sometimes got to be careful on the first lap and make sure there’s some heat in the front tyre. It’s a really flat corner and you can’t really make up a lot of time there – you’ve really just got to be smooth and get your drive down to turn four.”
Turn Four“This is a really fast corner – faster than it looks – and it’s pretty important because it leads onto a straightaway.”
Turn five“Braking for turn five is a good place to pass – it’s an uphill corner which means you can carry a lot of speed. It’s really important to get a good drive up here because it sets you up for next bend which is uphill and blind.”
Turn six“When you hit the brakes for Turn Six the bike gets unweighted and quite loose. There’s a dip right in the middle and you’ve got to wait for the bike to settle down, hit the dip and then open up the throttle and carry your speed up the hill. It’s a big blind hill that leads you up to what I think’s the best corner in the world – The Corkscrew.“
The Corkscrew“There’s nowhere else in the world quite like this and it just all happens really quick from here to the finish line. They’ve made some changes this year and I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve done – whether they’ve made it better or worse. You’ve got to get the bike stopped, turn left and then flip it right. The ground really drops away so you’ve got to wait for it to load up and you’ve got to build the speed carefully. It takes a lot of effort because the bike wants to pull to the left and you’ve really got to muscle it back to the right for… “
Rainey corner“I like the challenge of the Corkscrew but this is probably my favourite corner on the track. It’s downhill but it’s got a bit of bank and there’s definitely a good line that allows you to best get the power down and use the camber to your advantage.”
Turn 10“This corner is so important because it leads you into the final corner, which is the best place to pass, so you’ve got to get through here cleanly and get a run down into the hairpin.”
Turn 11“This last corner is all about just braking, braking, braking and trying to keep the rear wheel on the ground. It’s probably the easiest corner on the circuit to crash at because it’s quite bumpy and you trail the brake a long time. A lot of guys get caught out here – and I’ve done it too many times. Then you just get the bike lifted up and try to keep the front wheel down and accelerate as hard as you can up the hill for another bite at Turn One.”
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