World Champion. There are few men in this world that can handle the responsibility and drive that it takes to leave a season carrying that banner. Despite all odds and the will of a very convincing Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden is our great white hope for the future. Under the intense scrutiny of an unforgiving media and the nods of millions of naysayers, The Kentucky Kid did the job and walked away from Valencia as number One.

While working out the details for the annual Racer of the Year Award (did anyone doubt that it would be him?), I had the opportunity to get his views on his well earned Championship from the agony of Estoril to the soaring heights of Laguna Seca and Valencia. Until the ROY story airs I figured that our readers would appreciate seeing the words of the champ and his thoughts directly, but keep watching this space for his Story of the Year

Once again, the staff at Racer Digest would like to congratulate our hero Nicky Hayden for making his dreams come true and taking us all along in the process.

Racer Digest: This year was a roller coaster of a year for you, with a lot of emotional ups and downs. Other than walking away with the title in Valencia, what was your high point?

Nicky Hayden, World Champion: Laguna Seca was a high point. To win at home with the home crowd is the best feeling you can imagine. I didn't expect to win so it was nice to do so in front of the fans and my family.

RD: The obvious low point would have to be Estoril. Your emotions were quite widely publicized, what did you do the two weeks following to prepare for Valencia?

Nicky Hayden, World Champion: Just went back to work. I had to make sure that I did the same thing I had been doing all year long. Just focus on the job. I wasn't going to lay down at this point, but at the same time needed to get my shoulder as good as possible and keep believing.

RD: How did you get over such a devastating turn of events in such a short amount of time?

Nicky Hayden, World Champion: I just kept focusing on the job. That's our sport for you, one week you can be a hero, the next, a zero.


RD: Watching all the media coverage, you handled the situation with Dani really well, how tough was it to talk to him those first few times in the days following the Estoril incident?

Nicky Hayden, World Champion: Tougher than you’ll ever know. I’m just glad I handled it the way I did. The main thing to remember is that I am a professional and the camera was rolling. We're forever under the spotlight and however difficult, I had to restrain my emotions as best as I possibly could. . . 

Photos by Tim Scholl

Everyone knows that championships take hard work. Hours and hours crouched behind a plexiglass screen, fighting for that last possible ounce of speed. Countless flights and layovers. The list goes on and on, but once the dust has cleared and everything is said and done, number one is totally worth the work. In 2006, Josh Hayes deserved the championship. His seemless display of consistency and resolve gave him the upper hand when the series fell silent at Mid Ohio and despite a long battle with Eric Bostrom for the glory, the last race was the only one that mattered. Only off the podium once, for a fourth place mind you, Hayes demonstrated exactly how to win a National Championship surrounded by some of the best competition in the world.

Yet despite carrying the banner of America's best, Josh is humble and unassuming. His laid back southern drawl belies the fact that he is one of the most driven and hard working men in the AMA paddock. He wants to succeed and knows that any kind of win at this level proves strength in a vast sea of talent. He is the champion for a reason giving credit to the hard work of his team and sponsors, but away from the madness of professional racing he is soft spoken and calm. Hayes knows where he came from and has the deep fan base to prove it. A few days after shaking down his title defending motorcycle, I spoke with Josh about his 2006 dream season and what the future holds for him.

Racer Digest: Describe how the 2006 season went for you.

Josh Hayes: Basically, it started off pretty strong, with the good Daytona result I came into it with pretty high expectations. I really felt like I should have won Daytona, but I couldn’t come away with a second place and being more or less the points leader too terribly bad because Jake (Zemke) wasn’t doing the whole season. We fought pretty strong for podiums and for being close to the front for the whole season, but it was mid season before I was really able to get rolling. I think the one race I wish I could get back and start over again would have been Infineon, where that was the one time I didn’t make it on the podium for the year. We had tried some new things at Fontana, the race before and we didn’t get it sorted out the way we wanted and we didn’t go back to what we knew quick enough so we just ended up messing up that one race pretty bad. So then we just went on a streak of racing second and some thirds as much as we could and then we came to Miller (Motorsports Park) to the new track, which was a fast and flowing track that suited me well and I was able to put together a really good result there and win the race. From there we went to the next couple of races and it seemed we were starting to narrow the battle down to just myself and Eric Bostrom. So Eric and I seemed like being at the front, together for the last couple of races. When they came back and said that we were allowed to use traction control, so the team went forth going about implementing that system into our bikes which definitely helped and we were able to run that the last three races. You know, I lead 45 of the last 48 laps of the year and Eric got me on one of those laps to win the race in Virginia. He kinda’ stole that one away from me, but I knew that we were strong and we came back and won the next two. Luckily we did it when the time was right and we were able to come home with a championship.