PHOTOGRAPHY: GOLD & GOOSE
American Nicky Hayden’s MotoGP season has not delivered the kind of results he was hoping for at the start of the year with the Open Class Honda RC213RS machine.
It’s been a frustrating time for the 2006 MotoGP World Champion as he’s struggled towards the tail end of the points, battling with MotoGP rookies and fellow RS riders Eugene Laverty and Jack Miller.
“Yeah this year’s not been my best,” Hayden said matter-of-factly. “I’ve been healthy, so that’s been good, but we’ve been struggling with the bike, with the power and electronics. I don’t want to make a bunch of excuses, we’ve been struggling there, but also I gotta do better. With Indy coming up, my home GP, hopefully we can do better.
“There are [a lot of limitations within the control ECU], but the guys have got it working better. At the beginning of the season we had quite a few issues as the races wore on but they have improved the performance a bit, and now they are working at a good level, to be fair.”
Hayden was an interested onlooker at the recent Laguna Seca WSBK round, instantly sparking rumors of a possible switch to the production-based series for 2016. Hayden has been linked to a WSBK ride in the past, most notably at Ducati, yet he has yet to commit to any plans for next season.
“We’ll see what comes up,” Hayden said. “I still like racing so we’ll see what happens.”
When questioned about a possible return to the AMA, the former AMA Superbike Champion said, “We’ll see what happens with the championship, see if it grows back up to something that’s really good, but in the immediate time, I don’t think so.”
