Who was “Kentucky Kid”?

Nicholas Patrick Hayden also was known as Nicky Hayden or Kentucky Kid was a professional racer belonging to America. He is known as the winner of MotoGP Racing Championship 2006. He was an enthusiast about motorbikes from the beginning of his life and started racing at a very early age.

He started racing career with Central Motorcycle Road Racing Association (CMRA). Later he made his way into the AMA Superbike Championship, and in 2002 he won the AMA title. Repsol Honda approached him, and he started racing with them for MotoGP in 2003 and won the title in 2006. In 2016 he rejoined Superbike world championship replacing Sylvain Guintolli at the Ten Kate Racing-run Honda Squad alongside Michael Van der Mark.

His racing number was 69 as same as his father. He belonged to a Roman Catholic family and had a secure connection to the church all his life. Two of Hayden’s brothers Tommy Hayden who raced for AMA in 2010 and Roger Lee who competed in Superbike World Championship, are also professional motorbike racers.

The morning of May 17, 2017, he was jogging with Kevin Schwantz. He invited him to ride a bicycle in the afternoon but not having a bicycle on hand, Schwantz refused. He went riding with his friend named Denis Pazzaglini in the afternoon. Unfortunately, he was hit by a car near Rimini, Italy that cost him his life.