Hayden Out at Ducati...

[Porkchop]

http://www.cyclenews.com/61/21985/Ra...t-Of-Work.aspx

Nicky Hayden has confirmed that he will lose his Ducati MotoGP seat at the end of 2013.

The 2006 world champion has been a factory Ducati rider since '09, when he joined from Honda.

Ducati has struggled in recent seasons and has not won a race since Casey Stoner's triumph in the 2010 Australian Grand Prix.

Reports of a change in the rider line-up surfaced earlier this week, and Hayden acknowledged at Laguna Seca on Thursday that he would not be retained.

"I'm not coming back to Ducati in MotoGP. They've chosen to go a different way," he said.

"Unfortunately these results the last few years haven't been what we hoped. Nobody likes to get sacked, but that's what happens."

Hayden has only taken three podium finishes in his five and a half seasons with Ducati, the last of them at Jerez in 2011.

His last race victories came during his title-winning season in 2006.

The 31-year-old American moved into MotoGP with Honda in 2003 straight from the AMA Superbike series in his homeland.

2014 MOTOGP SEAT UNLIKELY

Hayden said he had options for 2014, but admitted they were unlikely to be in MotoGP.

"I really don't know my future. I have a couple of things going, some interesting stuff," he said.

Nicky Hayden, Ducati, Assen MotoGP 2013"In MotoGP it doesn't look so good. This is the biggest show in the world. MotoGP's where my heart is. But I don't just want to run around and try to get a point here or there.

"There are only so many seats in MotoGP. That's tough. There are only 12 official bikes and most of them are spoken for.

"I'll take in all the options, weigh them out, see which one I'm most excited about and see which one's most fun."

Ducati currently fields Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso as its works MotoGP riders, and placed Ben Spies and Andrea Iannone at the satellite Pramac team, only for both their seasons to be disrupted by injuries.

What utter horse shit. The guys busts his ass for 5 years on a piece of shit uncompetitive bike and this is what they do to reward him. Its the rider... riiiight. Good luck Cal Crutchlow, go ahead and follow your ex-teammate Dovi from a semi-competitive Tech 3 seat to Ducati. That's what you wanted right? A factory spot? Hope you like green pockets instead of gold trophies... Hopefully Nicky picks up the Honda Grisini ride or a competitive WSBK seat....

[defector]

Originally Posted by Porkchop

What utter horse shit. The guys busts his ass for 5 years on a piece of shit uncompetitive bike and this is what they do to reward him. Its the rider... riiiight. Good luck Cal Crutchlow, go ahead and follow your ex-teammate Dovi from a semi-competitive Tech 3 seat to Ducati. That's what you wanted right? A factory spot? Hope you like green pockets instead of gold trophies... Hopefully Nicky picks up the Honda Grisini ride or a competitive WSBK seat....

I'll take the flaming for this:
Fucking seriously?! Why would you not look elsewhere at this point if you're DucAudi? Hayden didn't have to re-sign in 2010 did he? He made a choice to re-sign and take their $$. You know what they did to reward him for that choice? They paid him. Pretty damn well from my understanding. What more do they owe him?

[Porkchop]

Originally Posted by defector

I'll take the flaming for this:
Fucking seriously?! Why would you not look elsewhere at this point if you're DucAudi? Hayden didn't have to re-sign in 2010 did he? He made a choice to re-sign and take their $$. You know what they did to reward him for that choice? They paid him. Pretty damn well from my understanding. What more do they owe him?

You would hope a (somewhat?) competitive bike after 6 years???

[Porkchop]

Super long silly season read... but great stuff.

http://motomatters.com/analysis/2013...tellite_h.html

[defector]

Originally Posted by Porkchop

You would hope a (somewhat?) competitive bike after 6 years???

I believe that everyone else on a Duc in that time span was on the same uncompetitive bike. Where is the BS about this again?

He took Ducati's money (3 times, if I remember correctly). Clearly their $$ was competitive.Or was it the only Factory ride he had a shot at in GP?

[RACER X]

Nicky in w Honda for next season

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/197...par_honda.html

[Porkchop]

Glad he didn't go to Ducati WSBK. I was very confused with the rumors that he was at the Aprilia factory and was all but wrapped up to ride the Ape, allbeit the new Ape with pneumatic valves and seamless shift. But then Gigi had to go and move to Ducati to make things crazier. But I'm very interested in these production bikes...