American MotoGP rider Nicky Hayden may not be going to Team Aspar on Aprilia after all, with various events causing a change that may see him on the Honda Production Racer with Aspar
For the rest click HERE
Get Started for FREE
Sign up with Facebook Sign up with X
I don't have a Facebook or a X account
Ductalk: What's Up In The World Of Ducati
Ducati News Roundup Curated by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
American MotoGP rider Nicky Hayden may not be going to Team Aspar on Aprilia after all, with various events causing a change that may see him on the Honda Production Racer with Aspar
For the rest click HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
“I know that once you leave MotoGP you don't normally come back” – Nicky Hayden.
Nicky Hayden's future continues to be at the centre of MotoGP paddock speculation.
Earlier in the summer Ducati announced that the American would not remain with the squad for 2014, with Cal Crutchlow subsequently confirmed, and since then there have been lots of rumours about where Hayden will ride.
For the rest click HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
With all of the prototype seats occupied for 2014 - barring a contractual bust up between Ducati and Ben Spies, which is only an expensive theoretical possibility at the moment - battle has commenced for the rest of the MotoGP seats regarded as being most competitive. While the factory bikes - the bikes in the factory and satellite teams being raced as MSMA entries - are all taken, the privateer machines - using Dorna spec ECU software and extra fuel - are still mostly up for grabs.
For the rest click HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Nicky Hayden’s priority might be to secure a factory prototype ride for the 2014 MotoGP campaign, but the popular American is currently weighing up potential...
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
American MotoGP fans and fans of Nicky Hayden exhaled last week when Ducati announced it had signed The Kentucky Kid to a one-year contract for 2013 to continue riding for Ducati Corse.
Still, some wondered why Hayden was extended for just one year when his first two deals with Bologna were for two years apiece. It also was odd considering Ducati reportedly has proceeded deep into negotiations with Cal Crutchlow for a two-year deal starting next season.
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Nicky Hayden has confirmed he is close to agreeing a contract extension with Ducati’s factory MotoGP squad for 2013.
An official announcement is likely to be made during his home race in Laguna Seca after the American’s new deal was first revealed by MCN on Twitter earlier today.
More HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Wind Tunnel: Dave Despain chats with Nicky Hayden about the Italian GP and expectations for the Grand Prix from Laguna Seca.
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Nicky Hayden on Sunday night’s edition of SpeedTV’s Wind Tunnel, when asked by Dave Despain what his plan was for next year:
“For me personally, uh, things are looking good. You know I love it at Ducati, it’s really uh, I really enjoy my team, I’ve got a good group of guys, so we don’t have anything final yet but we’re quite far in uh, some negotiations and really there’s not, uh, we’re not too far apart so I’m hoping that uh, you know, during the summer break after Laguna we have two weeks off before Indy and uh, I hope that we can have an agreement there.... For the rest of what Nicky Hayden had to say click HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Nicky Hayden's racing future is still in question as the former MotoGP World Champion is investigating opportunities away from Ducati.
Nicky Hayden accepts that he is not Ducati's primary choice as a rider in MotoGP for 2013 and he is investigating other options including at Tech3 Yamaha.
And his current superstar teammate, Valentino Rossi, has denied that he has endorsed Hayden over British rider Cal Crutchlow at Ducati for next year.
Presuming Rossi is with Ducati next year he says that in terms of a teammate that "Crutchlow or Hayden is the same."
More HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
He says he the move has never been mentioned...
Ducati's Nicky Hayden has said there is absolutely no truth in the rumour he is considering a switch to the World Superbike Championship with the manufacturer and said there have been no conversations on the topic.
There has been huge speculation in the Mugello paddock that Hayden could be destined for berth alongside Carlos Checa if his seat is given to Cal Crutchlow but it appears the factory have cooled down on their approach with the English rider and, given Ducati's massive presence in the States, why would they get rid of their best performing employee. It may all hinge Rossi's decision, due to be taken at Brno latest.
"I know I'm not Ducati's number one choice so I know I have to look around. I have to think about my future and I have said from the beginning I like it here, the team is great, the sponsor is clearly the best in MotoGP but it's business. We haven't got the result in this year and a half maybe that I was expected to get so we will see what happens," said Hayden, speaking to bikesportnews.com this evening.
More HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Valentino Rossi has denied he is trying to influence Ducati to re-sign current factory team-mate Nicky Hayden over British rider Cal Crutchlow for next year’s MotoGP world championship.
The 33-year-old, who kicked off practice for his home race at Mugello with the ninth fastest time, denied he had said that his preference would be to partner Hayden in 2013, should he agree to remain with the Bologna factory next season.
Rossi hasn’t yet decided where his own future lies but Ducati has been negotiating with Crutchlow for a two-year contract.
Crutchlow was anticipating getting a written contract to mull over at Ducati’s home race in Mugello this weekend but that is not going to happen....More HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
With VW Audi Group buying Ducati and many of the top rides already secured for 2013, Toby Moody wonders whether Valentino Rossi might stick with the Italian manufacturer, tap into its extra resources and finally turn it back into a winner...
So...Casey Stoner is off back to Australia having fallen out of love with MotoGP. Jorge Lorenzo is staying with Yamaha for 2013 and '14, and Dani Pedrosa has signed an HRC contract as quickly as possible before anyone else takes his seat at Repsol Honda for his eighth season at 'Big Red'.
Furthermore, Cal Crutchlow is toying between staying with Yamaha – either with Tech 3 or the factory team – or going to Ducati. That could also be written; a bike that wins regularly or a bike that hasn't won for nearly two full seasons but may be an enticing option because of its 'financial incentives'. Decisions, decisions...
More HERE
Rescooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net from Ductalk: What's Up In The World Of Ducati |
Where does Nicky Hayden fit in 2013? His Ducati option is expired and he is free to talk to other teams, other series or, stay right where he is at if the moon and the stars align. He takes with him a large fan base, many of whom are in the USA. So the question is, if Nicky Hayden isn’t on a factory GP bike, is Ducati changing focus from the American market?
How Ducati has arrived at this crossroads is clear and no question it’s complicated. There’s a saying in racing – “The first person you have to beat is your own team mate”. Well that’s not ideal if your team mate is the #1 rider on the Ducati Corse team and among a small handful of the most powerful men in motorcycle racing. In a year where Valentino Rossi wasn’t backed into an obvious professional corner things might be different and Nicky Hayden might have remained under the protective favor of VR46. But this year Valentino Rossi had enough to worry about and that left Nicky Hayden exposed. From a team perspective, with only so many spaces on factory bikes possible, Rossi approaching the end of his motorcycle racing career, it’s clear a younger future must be considered. Adding to the complication is the unfortunate fact that just about every gold standard rider’s contract expired this year. Decisions that might have waited until 2013 became 2012 issues. If they don’t get it right this year next year’s crop of available riders to pick from will be sparse. Finally, Rossi wields the Italian press like a bat to communicate what he wants from Ducati. Looking for balance in the garage to the largeness of superstar Rossi may have been the final straw.
To read the rest click HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Where does Nicky Hayden fit in 2013? His Ducati option is expired and he is free to talk to other teams, other series or, stay right where he is at if the moon and the stars align. He takes with him a large fan base, many of whom are in the USA. So the question is, if Nicky Hayden isn’t on a factory GP bike, is Ducati changing focus from the American market?
How Ducati has arrived at this crossroads is clear and no question it’s complicated. There’s a saying in racing – “The first person you have to beat is your own team mate”. Well that’s not ideal if your team mate is the #1 rider on the Ducati Corse team and among a small handful of the most powerful men in motorcycle racing. In a year where Valentino Rossi wasn’t backed into an obvious professional corner things might be different and Nicky Hayden might have remained under the protective favor of VR46. But this year Valentino Rossi had enough to worry about and that left Nicky Hayden exposed. From a team perspective, with only so many spaces on factory bikes possible, Rossi approaching the end of his motorcycle racing career, it’s clear a younger future must be considered. Adding to the complication is the unfortunate fact that just about every gold standard rider’s contract expired this year. Decisions that might have waited until 2013 became 2012 issues. If they don’t get it right this year next year’s crop of available riders to pick from will be sparse. Finally, Rossi wields the Italian press like a bat to communicate what he wants from Ducati. Looking for balance in the garage to the largeness of superstar Rossi may have been the final straw.
To read the rest click HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Cal Crutchlow's offer of a factory ride at Ducati moved from conjecture to established fact at Assen, Crutchlow tacitly acknowledging that the factory which had offered him a contract was indeed Ducati. Though Crutchlow is waiting on an offer from the factory Yamaha team before giving Ducati an answer - Crutchlow is directly behind Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa in the Silly Season pecking order - he is believed to be very keen to take the ride, regarding a factory ride as the only chance he has of having a shot at being World Champion.
At Barcelona, when asked by MotoMatters.com whether the plight of the many top riders that have struggled on the Ducati worried him, Crutchlow told reporters it did not, saying that the similarities between his own riding style and Casey Stoner's made him optimistic he could learn to ride the GP13. "If I looked at my riding style and Casey's riding style, how we open the gas, how we brake, stuff like that, obviously he's a second a lap faster most of the time, but it's similar," Crutchlow said. "And as he's the only one who's been able to ride the Ducati, then I'm not scared to maybe take a chance and go there, no."
For the rest of the story click HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Crutchlow considers Ducati job offer
Nicky Hayden, 2006 World Champion on a Honda, could find himself without a MotoGP ride next year, if Rossi runs out of potions and decides to stay on at Ducati.
For the rest of the story click HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |