Photography by Larry Lawrence
Nicky Hayden is either playing his cards very close to the vest or really does not know yet what he will be doing in 2016. It’s clear from talking with the 2006 MotoGP World Champion that he would like to remain in the MotoGP paddock, but he’s sounding more and more open to the possibility of running in World Superbike. The hope by many American racing fans that he might return to race MotoAmerica AMA Superbike seems very remote.
Hayden admitted that he’s been talking to World Superbike teams.
“I’ve had some discussion in this paddock and in World Superbike,” Hayden explained. “It’s still a little bit early, especially for Superbike. (I’ve got) a few lines in the water that could be interesting. We’ll just see if something good comes up and continue riding bikes. I would like to keep going and if not, I’ll deal with that too.”
While he didn’t completely rule out coming back to race in America to race, Hayden made it clear that MotoAmerica, at least at this point, still has some growing to do before he’d give it a serious look.
“Yeah you know I don’t have a huge… I mean you know, the right situation,” he said. “I would like to stay with Honda if something was to come up. But I don’t know, I’d like to see the series get going a little bit you know, still four or five superbikes, you know, that’s not like something that would really excite me and sound like it would really be fun and something I’d like to do. So, I don’t know.”
Staying in MotoGP would be ideal for Hayden, but he would have to contemplate it carefully.
“With the right situation,” he says when asked if MotoGP was in fact his first choice. “The right bike, the right team, right sponsor to do it right.”
The other real possibility is Hayden switching series to try to become the first rider to win MotoGP and World Superbike titles.
“That’s not got a bad ring to it,” Hayden admitted about shooting to become the first to pull off the feat. “That wouldn’t be a bad little box to check off on the way out. I know it’s easier to say than to actually do. It’s deep water over there too. That (World Superbike) sounds more appealing than going back to AMA.”
