earlyapex

An American finally wins a motorsports world championship! Nicky Hayden won the MotoGp World Championship on an improbable Sunday when the Doctor crashed his bike very early in the race. Nicky looked like he would have to settle for 2nd place in the world championship when his own team mate crashed him out of the last race. This time Pedrosa played the role of supporting team mate and all Nicky had to do was ride home comfortably to take the title.

http://www.motogp.com/en/motogp/index.htm

Wow!

Greg Fishman

Awesome job by Nicky. He is from a town near my hometown and is a great ambassador for the US and MotoGP.

earlyapex

He really deserves this one. I would not have reacted as well as he did when Pedrosa took him out a couple of weeks ago.

I hope the new Honda 800cc machine is competitive next year. The Repsol Honda fell behind the Yamaha and Ducati competition the last third of th season.

MDL

I was thrilled to see Nicky win the title. It seemed like no one was giving him a chance. Just goes to show that it's not over till it's over. The poll on the Moto GP site had him buried.

How about the yellow and white smoke celebration at the end.

Dan.

Flying Finn

Great job!

I like the "doctor" a lot but it was great to see someone else win and great that American won after fairly long hiatus (Kenny Jr. won in 2000, correct?).

My bets are on Doctor or Capirossi for next year though, I predict this is one timer for NH.

multi21

Glad to see an American do well in that sport. I couldn't believe when Pedrosa took him out!!! Reminded me of when Montoya took Kimi out at Indy this year (along with 1/3 of the field)!!

MDL

[QUOTE=Flying Finn]Great job!

I like the "doctor" a lot

I like the Doctor too. I think he is on par, as a racer, with Senna and Schumacher. He can turn it on any time he wants. It's hard to believe he just "fell off".

Dan.

David Floyd

Congrats to Nicky

Finally ??? You say that like an American has never won a World Championship.

earlyapex

There have been previous motor bike world champions. Kenny Roberts Jr won his championship years ago. When was the last American F1 champion? Mario Andretti?

Cris Brady

I read an interview with the Doctor after the race and he said he was stuck in-between a couple of bikes and wasn't able to get enough airflow to his bike. This caused the bike to overheat a bit and he said this robbed him of about 15-25% of his power. So he didn't have enough power to get by and make the pass. So he tried to force the issue and ending up tucking the front and it was all over.

So as much as I am a Rossi fan, I was also rooting for Nicky this season. If you like your racing close, competitive and with lots of passing, MotoGP is the place to be. Great Season!

Flying Finn

In deed, that (Andretti's F1 WDC) was 28 years ago...

David Floyd

Kenny Roberts 500cc GP World Champ 78,79,80
Kenny Jr 500cc GP Word Champ 2000
Wayne Raniey 500cc GP World Champ 90
John Kocinski 250cc GP World Champ 90
Danny Laporte 250cc MX World Champ 88
Brad Lackey 500cc MX World Camp 82

By no means is it lack of talent that there are not many more American World Champs, more money to be made here at home and the difficulty of being away from home for months at a time to run the World circuit is a big factor IMHO.

My background is in MX so I know more names in that area, but just think if Bob Hannah, Jeff Ward, Rick Johnson, David Bailey, Jeramy Mcgrath, Ricky Carmicheal had decided to go for the World title.

earlyapex

Few other names of 500 cc world champions

Kenny Roberts Sr. 1978,1979,1980
Eddie Lawson 1984,1986,1988,1989
Wayne Rainey 1990, 1991, 1992
Kevin Schwantz 1993
Kenny Roberts Jr 2000

I met Wayne Rainey once and he is a very nice person and very easy to talk to. Wayne tears up the track at Laguna Seca on a hand controlled formula cart.

Cory M

If you guys want to see a cool MotoGP documentary that shows some of the history and rivalries rent or buy "Faster". It is a really cool movie with lots of candid interviews with past and current MotoGP riders, lots of good on track footage, and good insight into the sport. I rented it from Netflix and actually watched it a couple of times before I sent it back.