Roger Lee Hayden, younger brother to former MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden, has signed with Team Pedercini for the 2010 World Superbike season. Roger Lee rode the Kawasaki ZX-6R to an AMA Supersport Championship, so theoretically he should feel at home again on Team Green satellite team in WSBK. However, the liter-bike class has proven difficult for the younger Hayden. In his three years on the Factory Kawasaki AMA Superbike team, two of those years were shortened by serious crashes.
This doesn’t bode well for Kawasaki, which has had a wheelbarrow full of problems in their WSBK program. However, after pulling out of MotoGP and other national level racing series, the rumor-mill pegs the Japanese manufacturer as putting the majority of its racing resources into World Superbike. This could make 2010 the come-back season for Kawasaki in WSBK, and with some good luck a pivotal season for Roger Lee Hayden as well.
“I have experience on the Kawasaki Superbike, so that does not make everything completely new,” said Hayden. “It’s a big difference from what I did last year, but I’m ready and looking forward to taking that next step.”
That next step starts at the end of January when Hayden takes to the ZX-10R at WSBK’s testing in Portimao.
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