Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

There is a rumour which is gaining a lot of momentum in the U.S.A that Nicky has already signed for Ducati next season! Ridiculous I here you scream? Not really perhaps.

Remember he was so close to signing for them before winning his title in 2006. He did though eventually show maybe loyalty beyond what was called for and remained with Big Red.

This is the time of the season that next years rider line up's are looked at and plans drawn up. No matter what public displays of patience Ducati give towards Marco,they have to be mortified at his performances.What was in many peoples minds the "Dream Team" line up,has gone just so badly.

Marco will need to hold his hands up fast and simply state.."I cannot ride this thing" and save face and reputation whilst he can. Time is not on his side if he wishes to manage the situation well, with so many excellent young guns in the 250's and other newcomers who would jump at the Ducati ride.

Ducati like Nicky, he like his work ethic and his attitude and constant striving to make the best of what he has. I think that the bucking bronco GP9 bike could be a Godsend for Nicky who is so much happier on a bike that feels "alive."

What you reckon guys? Nicky to Ducati as likely as a BJ from Her Maj or a very sensible possibility?

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

I'd say it is entirely possible.

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

One thing is for sure is that Melandri WONT be riding Ducati next year. He'll be lucky if he finishes the season.

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Straight swap may do them both good!

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Seems like a good swap to me. Melandri may well struggle to get a factory ride next year though until he proves himself again. Dovidoso to Repsol Honda next year I reckon ;) (unless he has a long contract I didn't know about).

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Would love to see Haydon being competitive again!

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

I wonder if Haydon would struggle with Ducati as Melandri has? Melandri was quite exciting to watch as a Honda rider, he would "back it in" every so often, get it smoking up on corner exits... give him a bike that appears to be a bit of a handful and he struggles:confused:

I cant see Melandri landing a decent ride for next season, as for Haydon if he does go to Ducati maybe it would give him a new lease of life?? Or would he struggle and claim its built for Stoner, as has been claimed he said about the Honda?

Time will tell....

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

I think the fact that the Ducati is something of a wild machine to get the best out of, Nicky would thrive and thoroughly enjoy riding it.No question at all in my mind on that.

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Weird, I was saying this the other day. Good move for Ducati, 2 world champions in one team.

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Bumping an old thread, sorry. Crash.net report that Haydon will be leaving HRC for Ducati for '09.

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Yeah...but Mr Hayden was saying that Honda treated him bad and Pedrosa was Mr Honda Golden Boy.

See,,,Pedrsoa gets Bridgestones and Hayden don't even get asked.

He would be very happy at Ducati...

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

You have to wonder if there was/is bad blood between Hayden and Honda. He won the championship then failed to defend it and has had a not so good season in '08. The foot/ankle injury must have annoyed the top brass at Honda some more? And yes, bit out of order to switch Pedrosa, and Hayden gets over looked. I like and rate Hayden BTW, hope he gels well with the Ducati.

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Because Hayden is moving to Ducati and Honda want the Desmosedici to be a new bike on new tyres, why give your future competition a head start.

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

I think Honda started developing the Honda for Pedrosa even before Hayden had won the championship, if I remember correctly. Hayden just had no chance defending his title on a bike not developed for him.

Did anyone else catch Mamola slagging Puig & Pedrosa just before the trophy presentation? :p

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Hayden's championship winning year was not meant to be. Haydon was riding the development (test) bike that year. Pedrosa was meant to win it while Haydon sacrificed his year to develop the bike. After Pedrosa had such a bad season compared to what Haydon was doing, Honda had to reluctantly back Haydon and do what they could to make sure Honda won the Riders title.

As far as Honda were concerned the number 2 rider won and they were not overly impressed. Much the same as when James Toseland won the WSB on a Ducati in 2004. He too was not meant to have won it. Ducati expected and wanted Laconi to win the title.

All the above is of course just hear say and rumour.

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Pedrosa will have it tough next season with AD being his team mate!

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

HRC in theory will indeed have an extremely strong line up with those 2 young guns. I agree Dovi might draw the best out of Dani more often and the Italian himself would not surprise me if he shows title aspirations next year.

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

On the other hand, seeing what Honda have done to Nicky, I can't see things going too well for Dovi either way...

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

It's official, Nicky to Ducati:
http://www.crash.net/motorsport/moto...ns_ducati.html
yay!

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Pedrosa will still be the number one rider, but I can see Dovi being the strongest rider.

No offence to Hayden, but I still believe that factory ride should have been Edwards' in 2003.

Kiyonari is rumoured to be the new Honda factory MotoGP rider for 2010 at the end of his contract with Ten Kate.

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Did anyone else catch Mamola slagging Puig & Pedrosa just before the trophy presentation? :p[/quote]

Well they were all making some choice comments about Puig werent they ? what are you referring to ...about his horrible style and making enemies in the paddock ?

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Alberto Puig has to be the most obnoxious individual in the paddock. Even the Spanish track side dudes struggle getting two words from him. This is where his influence on Dani is very bad. I can assure anyone who is interested, that Dani away from the track and Puig is a very relaxed and easy going fella,(remember we over here see a whole lot more of Dani than you do.)

I can eventually see big bust up taking place in a season or two when the Little Spaniard finally blows out Puig and is then seen by many as a completely different character.


On Nicky...

I just hope he does not struggle with the front end like Melandri and Elias have as after all they also left Honda to ride the Ducati. NIcky also has to get used to a new tyre brand. I am confidant though that with his amazing work ethic,he will come good and will take no more than 2 or 3 races to do so.

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

the point i understood was that Puig will speak to you one day & send you to Coventry the next , & does this regular....

yes Sir @Peter @Henry- they agreed with you about Pedrosa being relaxed and nice away from the Puig svengali ...

Puig has done a lot for young riders inSpain - ie Danny Webb & other Brit riders....so he cant be all bad, can he ?:confused:

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Problem is it all has to go Puig's way!

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Firstly, it was great to see Nicky back up front on sunday. I really like Nicky, and rate him as a rider and as a person...who couldn't be happy for him when he won the MotoGP world championship in 2006? Bloke was in tears riding around back to the paddock. He's very emotive, I like that. Same reason I cheered for him when he was throwing a right wobbler when Dani took him out at estoril in 2006 aswell!

Nicky has never looked comfy on the 800, he's all arms and legs. The new fairing honda gave him worked to some extent, but it wasnt originally designed for the bike I suppose, and I suspect the simple act of makinf the fairing wider may have given some more handling issues? Who knows. Nicky has been given a good role of helping to develop the pneumatic valve engine, but even that role was given away to Nakano (who suprisingly enough was able to see how the pneumatic honda works with the bridgestone tyres, before Dani got a chance to test...:rolleyes:). Honda have been good to Nicky, given him job security and all that, but its time for him to move on. The 800 just dosn't work the way Nicky wants it to. Look how comfy he was at indy, sliding the bike about. The honda dosn't always work like that, thanks to how honda have developed it for dani's 250cc high corner-speed style.

The ducati is much more of a "chuck it in on its side, crack on the throttle and get it outta that goddam corner ya'll" machine :D Casey is pretty rough with it, and I think the desmo will be well suited to Nicky's style of riding. I really hope so, anyway. I want to see Nicky back up there...even Rossi said he enjoyed racing with Nicky, because he is hard but fair and takes it on the chin like a man (not like a child...*cough*...casey).

So here's to 2009 and the hopefull return of Nicky to the top step of the podium.

Of course, this means no miraculous comeback for Gravel Trap Gibernau :(

Matt

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

I like Haydon too.He reminds me of Chris Walker in many ways.Without wanting to be rude to either I think they both punch above their wieght,making up for that fraction less talent by sheer determination and grit.Haydon won a championship against the odds like that and good luck to him.Stalker lost a BSB championship despite putting everything and more into it,but thats life.
And when I say a fraction less talent,I only mean less than the very best,not that they dont have talent!

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

http://pix.crash.net/motorsport/view/507341.jpg

http://pix.crash.net/motorsport/710/507336.jpg

http://pix.crash.net/motorsport/710/507428.jpg

http://pix.crash.net/motorsport/710/507411.jpg

http://pix.crash.net/motorsport/710/507380.jpg

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Hope he does better than Melandri...

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Depending how he gets on with the new CF chassis I think he'll do much better on the Duke, it rides the way he likes. Honda made the bike fit Pedrosa and he just couldn't get on with it.

The whole series next year will be of great interest, I think there's a lot of talent coming through in what was this years rookies.

I'd like to think he'll have a much better year than this.

.

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Can't do any worse now can he.

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

"Nicky Hayden - who had previously stated that it wouldn't take long for him to discover is the Ducati Desmosedici suits him or not - was fastest of the riders that have changed teams, sitting ninth out of the 17 riders present with a time of 1min 34.128sec.
Hayden, who is also making his debut on Bridgestone tyres, has thus taken less than half a day to match Marco Melandri's best Valencia race lap on a Desmosedici."

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Fab, good on you Nicky.

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

At last I have a Ducati rider I can cheer for in Moto GP:D


Though I'll still want Rossi to win the title, I'd love Nicky to finish above both Stoner and Pedrosa:p

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Re: Ponder this...Hayden to Ducati!!!!
 

Even so, Hayden was disappointed with his lap times, particularly as team-mate Casey Stoner was fastest of all.
http://www.crash.net/MotoGP/News/142...le_ducati.html

Hmmmmm

:smt087:smt087