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
Honda
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:
Rider | GP wins | WSBK wins | First WSBK win |
---|---|---|---|
Marco Lucchinelli | 6 | 2 | Donington Park, 1988 |
Mick Doohan | 54 | 3 | Sugo, 1988 |
Kevin Magee | 1 | 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.
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments