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Hayden hails "truly amazing" first win in a decade

Nicky Hayden has described his first race victory in 10 years in the wet conditions of Sepang's second World Superbike race as "truly amazing".

Race winner Nicky Hayden, Honda WSBK Team

Race winner Nicky Hayden, Honda WSBK Team

Honda

Nicky Hayden, Honda WSBK Team
Race winner Nicky Hayden, Honda WSBK Team
Nicky Hayden, Honda WSBK Team
Podium: race winner Nicky Hayden, Honda WSBK Team, second place Davide Giugliano, Ducati Team, third place Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing
Race winner Nicky Hayden, Honda WSBK Team
Nicky Hayden, Honda WSBK Team
Nicky Hayden, Honda WSBK Team
Nicky Hayden, Honda WSBK Team
Max Biaggi, Aprilia Racing Team
Carlos Checa
Marco Melandri
Ben Spies

After finishing only eighth in Saturday's first race at Malaysia, Hayden threw caution to the wind in the second as he surged to the lead on Sunday and held Davide Giugliano at bay in the closing stages to take the win.

It came almost a decade after the American's last world championship win, which was at Laguna Seca's MotoGP round in July 2006.

He admitted that, with the championship not on the line, he was prepared to take more risks than his competitors in order to seize the victory.

"When it started raining I knew I had to go for it: I’m definitely not in the championship fight and that meant I could risk a bit more," recalled Hayden.

"In the first laps I took some chances to get to the front and I didn’t want to get caught up racing in a pack like in Assen. I wanted to be at the front with clear visibility.

"I tried to stay as comfortable as possible while in the lead because we weren’t sure of tyre durability on this track with the new asphalt.

"It’s been a few dry years but I never stopped trying; to get a win at this point in my career in Superbike is truly amazing," added the American.

Hayden's place in the record books

When he announced his switch to World Superbikes last year, 2006 MotoGP champion Hayden was positioned to attempt to become the only rider to have won titles in both series.

While that looks like it will have to wait for at least another season, the 34-year-old's Sepang win puts him in an elite club of 18 riders to have won races in both Grand Prix racing and WSBK.

List of riders to have won in MotoGP and WSBK:

RiderGP winsWSBK winsFirst WSBK win
 Marco Lucchinelli 6 2  Donington Park, 1988
 Mick Doohan 54 3  Sugo, 1988
 Kevin Magee 2  Phillip Island, 1991
 Pierfrancesco Chili 5 17  Monza, 1995
 John Kocinski 13 14  Misano, 1996
 Troy Bayliss 1 52  Hockenheim, 2000
 Makoto Tamada 2 3  Sugo, 2001
 Regis Laconi 1 11  Imola, 2001
 Garry McCoy 5 1  Phillip Island, 2004
 Chris Vermeulen 1 10  Silverstone, 2004
 Alex Barros 7 1  Imola, 2006
 Max Biaggi 42 21  Losail, 2007
 Fonsi Nieto 5 1  Losail, 2008
 Carlos Checa 2 24  Miller Motorsports Park, 2008
 Ben Spies 1 14  Phillip Island, 2009
 Marco Melandri 22 19  Donington Park, 2011
 Jordi Torres 1 1  Losail, 2015
 Nicky Hayden 3 1  Sepang, 2016

Hayden is now the fifth rider to have won a Grand Prix title in any class as well as a WSBK race (after Lucchinelli, Doohan, Kocinski and Biaggi), as well as the third to have won a premier class championship (after Lucchinelli and Doohan).

The Kentucky-born rider is also the 10th American to win in WSBK after Kocinski, Spies, Colin Edwards, Doug Polen, Scott Russell, Fred Merkel, Ben Bostrom, Doug Chandler and Tom Kipp.

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