MOTOGP: Hayden Signs with Honda for Two More Years
Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden (Photo: Getty Images / Robert Cianflone) The Kentucky Kid, Nicky Hayden, today signed a new, two year MotoGP contract with the factory Honda team to partner Dani Pedrosa in the Repsol squad. The deal was signed just 30 minutes after Hayden finished this afternoon’s second free practice at Motegi for the Japanese Grand Prix -- at 3:30 pm local time. Hayden was fifth fastest in practice, 0.6s behind Valentino Rossi. When given the news that Honda had retained Hayden, word spread from inside the Yamaha camp that senior management, including Yamaha race boss Lin Jarvis, were shattered with the news. Over recent weeks Yamaha had made a big play for Hayden to replace Colin Edwards as teammate to Rossi in the factory squad. Yamaha have now missed signing Hayden for a second time, also missing an earlier bid four seasons ago when Hayden joined Honda as a factory rider from the AMA Superbike Championship. Hayden’s contract extension was announced three hours after being inked by Honda Racing Corporation president Suguru Kanazawa, at the Motegi Circuit Hotel, just prior to a technical presentation on the Honda RC211V. "Honda has been my home for the last few years both in GPs and in America, and I didn’t want to leave,” said Hayden who stepped forward to speak at the presentation. “I didn’t want to change anything and at the end we all came together to do a new deal. I am really happy and I want to thank Honda.” Hayden, 25, has reportedly rejected a big money offer from Yamaha which could have potentially given him a significant pay raise -- perhaps close to $2 million more than Honda. “I did have some really good offers but I was straight-up with Honda. A few weeks ago I was a little nervous about how it would all turn out. But Honda met me in the middle and I think we’ve made a very fair deal. “A few weeks ago we had a few issues, and because it’s my future, I really had to sit down and consider everything. But my big goals for this year were to re-sign with Honda and to win the championship." Hayden’s management representative Phil Baker, commenting on a final and reportedly improved Honda offer, said: “At the end, Nicky received increased reassurances all round from Honda. It was very amicable and the last part of the deal came together very quickly over the past 24 hours. “I have now informed the other party who made an offer for Nicky, and naturally there was some disappointment, it is always difficult to break bad news.” Almost certainly Hayden’s signing has saved the career of Edwards at Yamaha, who mid-season appeared on the outer when Yamaha also failed in a bid to sign young Australian Casey Stoner from the Honda LCR team. Edwards believes he is now “90%” sure of staying at Yamaha. 800 in Play for Testing By signing today for Honda, Hayden is now eligible to ride the new Honda 800cc MotoGP bike in a test day at Motegi on Monday, the day after the Japanese GP. If Hayden had not signed by Monday, HRC managing director Satoru Horiike had confirmed that "Nicky will not be able to ride the 800 on Monday." |
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