With part of the WorldSBK paddock present in Barcelona for the MotoGP race last weekend, the Superbike Commission, the series’ rulemaking body, met at Montmelo to discuss changes to the WorldSBK rules.
Though much of what was agreed in the meeting amounted to a tidying up of the starting procedure, a big talking point was the introduction of a single ECU.
The various members of the Superbike Commission discussed whether a spec-ECU should be introduced for the 2018 season. They did not reach an agreement on the subject at Barcelona, but according to the press release issued by the FIM, they do expect the matter to be settled within the next few weeks.
Good news concerning two-time World Superbike champion Max Biaggi, as the Italian rider has been declared stable, after his supermoto training crash last Friday. Airlifted to the San Camillo Hospital, Biaggi suffered from thoracic trauma and multiple rib fractures.
Thankfully, doctors have ruled out that he suffered any spinal cord injuries, which is welcomed news after several weeks of high-profile incidents with former world champion riders.
Max Biaggi is the latest (ex-) rider to be injured in a training crash. The four-time 250cc champion was riding a supermoto bike at the Saggitario track in Latina, just south of Rome, when he crashed the bike.
Biaggi was transported to a nearby hospital, the Ospedale San Camillo Di Roma, where he is being treated with suspected thoracic and vertebrae damage.
The World Superbike paddock and the racing community came together at Donington Park, to pay tribute to Nicky Hayden.
But after two great races in the superbike class; a supersport race that saw great battles; and a Supersport 300 race that saw a three rider scrap for the win, it was the racing that paid the biggest tribute to The Kentucky Kid.
Like the article that preceded it, there is a backstory to this story and the photos that go along with, which I wanted to share with our readers.
As some of you already know, Steve sat down with Nicky at the Assen round for the World Superbike Championship, with them having a long conversation about his earlier racing career.
We originally planned to publish this story later in the year (maybe around the Laguna round), to showcase how Nicky came to be a World Champion, as he hunted for wins in the WorldSBK paddock, but with his untimely passing we wanted to share it with you now, as our last feature about the life of Nicky Hayden.
The photos are my own, shot at the 2013 MotoGP rounds held in the US, where at Laguna Seca, Nicky debuted his “Born to Ride” Arai helmet. While not the most recent photos of Nicky Hayden, the shots seemed like fitting photos to include of The Kentucky Kid, as the world continues to share the #RideOnKentuckyKid hashtag on social media. -JB
The choices we make can have consequences for years. Nicky Hayden’s choices as a teenager led him on a path to a world championship
In all walks of life, the decisions that you make at an early age can have untold consequences in later life. Whether it is the college you decide to attend, or your first job, there are certain moments that become cornerstones of your life.
For most people, the choices can be corrected over the passing of time, but for a motorcycle racer with a short career they can have huge consequences.
The pressure on young shoulders, once racing transitions from a hobby to a career, are huge. Families stake their financial future on a child in the hope rather than expectation that it will all work out.
In the current economic climate, this risk is huge, but it has always been the case. The Hayden family rolled the dice on their sons’ racing careers, and with a world title on the mantle back home in Owensboro, Kentucky it has worked out well for Nicky Hayden.
There is a backstory to this article that I wanted to share with our readers, as we originally planned to publish this piece a couple weeks ago, as something for our A&R Pro readers, to showcase the upbringing of Nicky Hayden, and his early racing career.
Steve and Nicky had been working together on several pieces – we will share the another with you later today/tomorrow – about his career, and we delayed this one because Nicky said that he had a bunch of old photos we could use with the story.
Getting the photos and finally ready to click “publish” on A&R, I woke up on the morning of Wednesday, May 17th with plans to start the day with this great story by Steve, only to read first the horrible news about Nicky’s accident.
Throughout the week that followed, it seemed inappropriate to share this retrospective with our readers, as Nicky clung onto life. Now today, as his family and friends remember him in Owensboro, we wanted to share Nicky’s story with all of our readers, as we say goodbye to The Kentucky Kid. -JB
Growing up in Kentucky, Nicky Hayden was a motorcycle racing protégé from an early age, but winning hasn’t come easy to the Hayden family.
Over the last 15 years, Nicky Hayden has become one of the most recognisable faces in the motorcycle racing world. He’s morphed from the Kentucky Kid to an old hand of the paddock, and now the Kentucky Legend.
But where did that legendary status come from? Hard work, dedication and an insatiable love of racing are the traits that have made Hayden famous, but the cornerstone has always been family and loyalty.
