Loyal To A Fault

Recently I was looking at some photographs I took during the month or so I spent in Madrid, thinking about the Spanish people I met and things I observed about the country during my time there. Being a MotoGP fan, I also thought about Repsol, HRC, Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden.

Nicky Hayden is hard not to like. In spite of his seeming inability to overcome the burden of his Kentucky roots (having spent several years abroad, can you learn even a few words of a foreign language, Nicky, please?), he embodies some of the best qualities I’ve ever observed in a top-level athlete, and as a fellow American I find a lot to respect about how he conducts himself. Immensely talented as a motorcycle racer, he has shown a remarkable discipline as a racer in a difficult situation since Dani Pedrosa joined him at HRC. Given the undesirable situation of a Spanish rider joining him on a team with a Spanish oil company as its main sponsor, Hayden has resolutely presented the face of a company man who thinks of his team before himself. Given the egos usually involved with athletes at this level of competition, Hayden’s dedication to HRC and its efforts is truly remarkable. In spite of HRC’s obvious prejudice in favor of Pedrosa and the Spaniard’s questionable judgment and commitment, Hayden has remained loyal to a fault.

Pedrosa, on the other hand, is quite difficult to like if you wake up in the morning and find you aren’t Spanish. Even if you are, you had to be at least a bit embarrassed by Pedrosa’s idiocy at Estoril in 2007. You must wince slightly when Pedrosa falls and cavalierly makes his way to safety without the slightest intention of picking up his bike and trying to continue on as so many others do. Even if you are Spanish, you must, on occasion, wonder if Pedrosa is the rider to support, or if Jorge Lorenzo isn’t a better choice. You might wish that Sete Gibernau had achieved what his talent promised was possible, or that Carlos Checa had had a few more things go his way over the years. You might even wonder if you should, given the current choices, abandon a nationalistic stance and support some other pilota who rides his ass off regardless of the conditions, who is determined to do his best with whatever cards he is dealt.

Personally I’m more in support of class than I am of Americans for America’s sake. Every rider in the premiere class deserves respect for his talent—you simply don’t make it to the show without being freakishly able to ride a motorcycle. Even those at the back of the grid have more talent for riding in their little toes than most of us have in our entire beings. All of us put together, probably.

But what makes us care about one rider more than another? Some fans find their interests in sport are purely selfish, that is, they support a winner for winning’s sake because they feel gratified for having chosen a winner. For true fans, however, it’s character. It’s not just talent or success, it’s dedication, courage, flair, and most importantly, something we call heart.

And for character, Hayden is hard to beat. He won a world championship for HRC and Respol only to watch his team focus their development on Pedrosa. He remained a company man, focusing his public comments on his work ethic of not giving up and bringing his best to every race in spite of the (piece of junk) bike he was given to ride. He watched Michelin, his tire supplier, get utterly owned by Bridgestone, and never complained in public. He watched the once mighty HRC be humiliated by a tiny Italian factory and went about his business, doing the best he could every time he got on an inferior machine that had been designed for his teammate, who was not reigning world champion.

If you’re HRC, who could possibly be better? Colin Edwards might be a rival, in terms of accepting a supporting role with outstanding modesty. But as far as the whole package goes, Hayden is the man to have for a second string rider because you can treat him like a dog and he’ll be professional all the way. If he wins in spite of your lack of full support, great. That means you win, too, and more to the point it means he isn’t winning for one of your competitors. The Godfather advised keeping your friends close, and your enemies closer. Hayden is certainly someone you don’t want riding for the competition.

There used to be the perception that to be on a Honda was to be in a position to win. HRC certainly felt that was true and it was that arrogance that cost them the services of Valentino Rossi. But HRC is no longer the dominant technical force it was when Hayden was a youngster dreaming of riding in the premier class. Consider that Ducati’s 1098 in World Superbike is handicapped with a 6 kilogram penalty. Though this may very well change to 9 kilos, at the beginning of the SBK season a lousy 6 kilos was considered a proper weight disadvantage. In 2007, HRC got its ass kicked with a rider the size of a twelve-year-old girl and one of the biggest budgets in MotoGP.

2008 may show that Michelin has snapped out of its coma and that HRC can make a pneumatic-valved engine, but even if both things happen, the package will be custom-made for Pedrosa, not Hayden. Hayden has a dirt-track background; Pedrosa came up in the European system of 125s and 250s on tarmac. One bike is never going to suit both of these very different riders. And since Rossi left HRC, the former powerhouse has won only one MotoGP title. With Nicky Hayden.

It is past time for Hayden to abandon his dedication to HRC’s epic past and find a team that will treat him as his qualities merit. He should be at Ducati. In my opinion, he should have been at Ducati last season in place of Stoner. Ducati wanted Hayden, and Stoner has proven that a dirt-tracker can ride the GP7/GP8 just as Capirossi and Melandri have/are proving that a 125cc/250cc tarmac rider can’t. I think that if Hayden had Melandri’s seat this year, we’d see a MotoGP version of Spies and Mladin on AMA Suzukis. This would not be a good thing for MotoGP, but it would be better for Nicky Hayden that staying at HRC.

Ultimately Hayden’s situation isn’t entirely Repsol’s fault, but the oil company certainly shares a large part of the blame. Getting back to my cultural observations during my time in Spain, I am strongly of the opinion that HRC’s abandonment of Nicky Hayden in his World Champion year is due to the Spanish sponsor’s financial pressure to create a Spanish world champion.

Before I continue, let me say that my wife and I loved Spain. The people were, as a group, wonderful: warm, friendly, and generous. But underneath those qualities, there lurked something of the pain of history. The same thing was much more noticeable in Portugal, where a country that once ruled the sea, and thus the world, is now haunted by monuments to its former glory and power as it struggles to matter in the present. Spain is not quite like that, but there is some similarity. And while a series of 250cc world champions has been welcomed, a premiere class world champion is what Spain truly desires.

Look at Fernando Alonso in Formula One. He became a god in Spain relatively overnight after taking the world championship at Renault, and I think it was the national pressure to remain world champion that caused his appalling meltdown at McLaren. It’s easy to be classy when you’re winning. It’s when you’re not that being a class act is difficult. And Nicky Hayden is always a class act as a racer.

It is cruelly unfair that he must defer to Pedrosa’s needs. Pedrosa certainly has the talent to be world champion, as he proved by dominating the 250cc class. But does he have the heart to win if things don’t go his way? Could he have bounced back from his own idiot teammate crashing into him in the season’s penultimate race? All MotoGP evidence so far says probably not. Maybe his reluctance to pick up his bike after a crash is due to his wanting to avoid the embarrassment of being so small he can’t move such a relatively large object once it’s on its side. But I think it’s more due to a much smaller heart than other riders possess. And if it’s one thing Hayden has in spades, it’s heart.

Pre-season testing has been promising for Hayden, at least compared to his 2007 package. But if 2008 turns out to be more of the same lack of support from HRC, Hayden must move to a team that will treat him right. As Kropotkin points out on his season preview, Hayden needs a successful season with the latest influx of young riders, and his results in 2008 will have a dramatic effect on his future in MotoGP.

Rossi served HRC a nice big junk burger, and I, for one, would LOVE to see Hayden do the same.