Nicky Hayden has got alot on his plate in 06 (he is HRC's) number 1 rider so that must be talking effect plus he has never done it before. He has been number 2 in the team from 2003 untill 2005 and for the 2006 seaso he is number 1 with all the devlopment stuff to do it will be hard
But by the same token, he can get things done his way and steer development in a direction that will benfit him, and hopefully other SBK graduates too
Joined Mar 2005
7K Posts | 20+
Woody Creek
It's true that he will have the upper hand in being able to develop the bike the way he wants it which will benefit him when he sorts the new bike out. The problem is that Nicky has never led a bike's development. In the AMA he rode the brand new RC51 behind lead rider Miguel Duhamel who developed the bike for American Honda. When he went to MotoGP same story, guys like Rossi, Barros, Biaggi and Gibernau led development. It is a task that is new to Hayden and I am interested to see how he handles it. It doesn't help matters that he has the most highly anticipated rookie since Rossi as his teammate pushing Hayden to go faster.
I think he can handle it. He's an experienced, mature rider. But I got a suspicion that HRC will only keep him until Dani is ready to take over the lead role. Then they'll put him and Melandri on the same team and put nicky on a satellite bike or dump him altogehter
If HRC dump Nicky Hayden at the end of the coming season he will get snapped up by Yamaha I think
if hrc dump hayden, i'd like to see him in the gresini team with melandri. fausto gresini dose'nt pressure his riders like the factory team. i think hayden would flourish like marco did when he came over to the team. plus the team rivalry would be excellent. they would really push each other i think. but he would probabably go with a yamaha factory ride if it was on the table as well.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (richo @ Feb 22 2006, 04:20 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I think he can handle it. He's an experienced, mature rider. But I got a suspicion that HRC will only keep him until Dani is ready to take over the lead role. Then they'll put him and Melandri on the same team and put nicky on a satellite bike or dump him altogehter
I agree with that richo. i also keep having this thought go through my mind that nicky's style is so different to everyone elses that im not sure hes the right guy to develop the bike? i just think if HRC worked solely with him, found him a setup and rear tyre that allowed him to make the most of his style then he would be lightning fast, but at the moment i do think he has too much on his plate with Pedrosa entering the team, leading development AND picking up where he left off last year fighting with marco and chasing rossi. I think he is worried that he will not have the tools to pick up where he left off last year. We will soon see what he is made of though when the racing gets underway!
I agree with that richo. i also keep having this thought go through my mind that nicky's style is so different to everyone elses that im not sure hes the right guy to develop the bike? i just think if HRC worked solely with him, found him a setup and rear tyre that allowed him to make the most of his style then he would be lightning fast, but at the moment i do think he has too much on his plate with Pedrosa entering the team, leading development AND picking up where he left off last year fighting with marco and chasing rossi. I think he is worried that he will not have the tools to pick up where he left off last year. We will soon see what he is made of though when the racing gets underway!
nice ideas guys. All very possible. I too am curious to see how Nicky will handle the new role.
I hope he will take the bull by the horns and prove the nay sayers wrong.
I hope he will take the bull by the horns and prove the nay sayers wrong.
I really hope he does well, but I can't help thinking that he's an ex-wonderkid and soon he'll have to shuffle over to make room for the new wonderkid. I guess his performance this season is what really matters.
