Hayden to leave Honda for Ducati
Hayden’s departure from the factory Repsol Honda team comes as no surprise with the 2006 world champion keen to seek a new challenge. For some time Hayden has been frustrated with the political and technical turmoil of the HRC squad.
Hayden’s Ducati deal ends his long association with Honda and has come as a big shock to the management of Honda USA who have lost a valuable marketing asset.
Ducati team boss Livio Suppo said the team has always admired Hayden and his attitude to racing.
“Last year no one gave enough credit as a rider to Casey, except maybe Nicky, plus he’s used to having a stronger teammate," Suppo said. “In the beginning at Honda he was with Valentino Rossi and then with Dani Pedrosa and he has a lot of things that make us think he would be the best teammate for Casey. And we don’t have to worry about his consistency and I think he is a good, complimentary teammate for Casey. On the other hand you can always have a young rider and if he’s a rookie he has no pressure to do anything.
“We hope to confirm everything for Ducati’s 2009 plans by the end of this month, if not then at Indianapolis." SPEEDTV.com
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| Nicky Hayden |
06/11/08 Nicky Hayden has started talks with Honda as rumors intensify that he is a red-hot favorite to join reigning world champion Casey Stoner in Ducati’s factory squad.
Hayden is out of contract at the end of 2008, but with Italian Andrea Dovizioso hotly-tipped to take his factory Honda RC212V, he is looking at other options.
Ducati team boss Livid Support is coy about Hayden’s prospects of replacing struggling Italian Marco Melandri, but MCN sources claim a deal is close to being signed for Hayden to partner Aussie Stoner in 2009.
He certainly tops a list of candidates to replace Melandri.
“We owe it to Honda to sit down with them and start talking with them before anybody else," said Phil Baker, representative of Hayden’s management team.
“We’ll see their level of interest before we go elsewhere."
Baker denied that Hayden had commenced talks with Ducati, or Yamaha and he added: “We have to keep every option possible open. It is nice to be wanted but I feel confident that Honda will be open to start the discussions and we’ll see where we stand from there.
“We have never doubted Nicky’s ability to perform well given the right combination of tires and bike."