He was largely being ignored before the start of the series, but after his poor performance in the opening round at Qatar a couple of weeks ago, Honda’s Nicky Hayden is completely off the radar screen. The first rider to take the MotoGP title away from Valentino Rossi two years ago, and still in his mid-twenties, Hayden is no longer the rising star, but a strange type of “has been”.
The new guard has arrived in the form of Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and others. Will the point-and-shoot style of an American-trained flat tracker ever match the speed of the kids raised on two-strokes? Are the new 800s tailor-made for the guys stepping up from the 250 GPs?
We have a long MotoGP season ahead of us, but the “younger guns” are setting the pace thus far, not Nicky Hayden
