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Nick Hayden's Indy aftermath. Unbelievable.

T

thephorest

Joined Feb 2007
472 Posts | 0+
Nagoya, Japan
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Balls of steel. What more can you say? Put these shots in the dictionary next to "determination".



Wow.



As a side note: Alpinestars get your sh together already! Pretty inexcuseable. They should improve the slider attachment system on their leathers and call it "The Hayden".
 
ThePhorest said:
As a side note: Alpinestars get your sh together already! Pretty inexcuseable. They should improve the slider attachment system on their leathers and call it "The Hayden".
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I don't think any leathers company could make "Indy-proof" leathers. It was a very poorly placed drain cover wasn't it?
 
Maybe not Indy-proof, but at least better than what that first pic looks like! These guys are doing 100+MPH with their knee on the ground...and oh my, they might actually touch something during a race. No need to incorporate that eventuality in your leather/knee slider design.
<
 
In defense of Alpinestars, had the slider remained intact, that energy would have been distributed through Hayden's knee. I'm as disappointed as anyone with the result, but it could have been a serious injury had the puck not gone. Just speculating really, but if it's enough to tear the puck from his leathers, it likely would not have been good for his knee.
 
But besides Alpinestars...



The dude was scraping the hell out of his knee in order to get a decent result at Indy. Comendable hardly begins to describe it.



I would have pulled into the pits...
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ThePhorest said:
Maybe not Indy-proof, but at least better than what that first pic looks like! These guys are doing 100+MPH with their knee on the ground...and oh my, they might actually touch something during a race. No need to incorporate that eventuality in your leather/knee slider design.
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At 100mph + drain covers should be designed better, thats part of why tracks get approved for GP. SO would it be ok if he fell off at say 300kph and accidentally caught said drain in the side ........ the track needs to be repaired so they don't "touch" something at 100Mph
<
 
Agreed, Alpinestars did exactly what it was supposed to do and sheer off saving Hayden's knee and leg in the process. Very commendable ride for sure, but honestly I don't know how much better his result would have been had he not lost the puck, he could have possibly held off Rossi who was struggling with the bumps of Indy? We will never know but at least he kept his bike upright and finished...oh and that is not a dig at Stoner peoples.
 
WOW!
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That looks bad, I think he could have made podium if he hadn't had this to contend with. I hope he's fit for Misano.
 
L8Braker said:
Agreed, Alpinestars did exactly what it was supposed to do and sheer off saving Hayden's knee and leg in the process. Very commendable ride for sure, but honestly I don't know how much better his result would have been had he not lost the puck, he could have possibly held off Rossi who was struggling with the bumps of Indy? We will never know but at least he kept his bike upright and finished...oh and that is not a dig at Stoner peoples.
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Not surprising or atypical for nicky.



Seeing this must put nicky pretty close to casey again in the points and that casey hasn't looked like winning a race this season after the first few laps at qatar I don't think we stoner fans have much to complain about.
 
ThePhorest said:
But besides Alpinestars...



The dude was scraping the hell out of his knee in order to get a decent result at Indy. Comendable hardly begins to describe it.



I would have pulled into the pits...
<
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No argument here. Was a great ride to take it home without a knee.
 
ThePhorest said:
But besides Alpinestars...



The dude was scraping the hell out of his knee in order to get a decent result at Indy. Comendable hardly begins to describe it.



I would have pulled into the pits...
<
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Im guessing that abrasion was from initial impact, not from continuing to drag the knee through out the remainder of the race.However, it cannot be under stated how that affected his performance. At the lean angles these guys achieve, the knee is a feeler gauge that is ingrained in their head, and sometimes a tool that will save the bike when they go to far. Not having that would be huge
 
Wow that looks awful! Fair play to him for carrying on, it shows just how much they rely on those though doesn't it!
 
"That is, because the drain covers were apparently constructed out of some form of plastic, they would flex as a rider passed over them with their knee down, creating a small ridge that would then rip off their knee pucks. Exactly as we saw with Nicky Hayden. The riders brought the issue to the attention of track officials as early as Friday, but no action was taken before the race. It remains to be seen if the situation will be rectified for next year."



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wonder what they could have done about those drains or the flexing between friday and sunday before the race???
 
FACTORY said:
"That is, because the drain covers were apparently constructed out of some form of plastic, they would flex as a rider passed over them with their knee down, creating a small ridge that would then rip off their knee pucks. Exactly as we saw with Nicky Hayden. The riders brought the issue to the attention of track officials as early as Friday, but no action was taken before the race. It remains to be seen if the situation will be rectified for next year."



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wonder what they could have done about those drains or the flexing between friday and sunday before the race???
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If flex was the problem, why not just cut a piece of non flexible material, like maybe STEEL, and seal up the drains since there was zero chance of rain. They could have even cemented over it and sanded it down. There are numerous things that could have been done, but was apparently ignored
 
so let me get this straight, the track left drain covers exposed close enough for riders to graze them. Then Nicky's slider takes a wack and tears the leather completely apart. Look at his leathers, would any of us want to hit the pavement wearing that open knee area at 100MPH+ i know I wouldn't your knee is F_ed, and I bet Nicky knew that, oh I bet be could feel the wind coming in and was dam near forced to slow down, the guy does have common sense ya know.
 
L8Braker said:
Agreed, Alpinestars did exactly what it was supposed to do and sheer off saving Hayden's knee and leg in the process. Very commendable ride for sure, but honestly I don't know how much better his result would have been had he not lost the puck, he could have possibly held off Rossi who was struggling with the bumps of Indy? We will never know but at least he kept his bike upright and finished...oh and that is not a dig at Stoner peoples.
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Make no mistake my friend. A puck is a very important and crucial piece of equipment. Riding without a puck is like riding without a visor, both a small piece of plastic but will impede your progress so detrimentally that it will cost you the race. Indy has a left turn bias, these are Nicky's best tracks. Losing that puck in the forth lap was a disaster. The puck is not just a "feeler" but riders actually "support" the bike up on turns. The difference this makes would have been the difference between a gritty 6th (and frankly this was amazing) and a possible podium, without exaggeration.



This is an example of the type of rider Nicky is. a man who is gritty and doesn't give up. I doubt that scrape was done initially, I bet it was him putting down his knee to support the bike until the leather wore off and left his skin exposed. Perhaps it was only then that he use the knew as a gauge/feeler resulting in the rash.



That's why we admire these riders. They do .... that is frankly crazy.
 

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