Nicky Hayden tributes at COTA

A series of tributes for much-missed 2006 MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden will take place during this weekend’s Grand Prix of the Americas, at COTA.

Midday on Friday will see FIM President Jorge Viegas and Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta preside over a ceremony attended by Hayden’s family and friends in which the Kentucky Kid’s #69 will be officially retired from the MotoGP class.

Later that day, the MotoGP paddock will join Hayden’s family, friends and track marshals at the Turn 18 ‘Hayden Hill’ grass berm, where Hayden’s 2006 Championship-winning Repsol Honda will be on display.

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Race day will then see the Hayden family present at the front of the MotoGP grid, together with Nicky’s 2006 RC211V.

Hayden took three wins and 28 podiums as a full-time MotoGP rider between 2006-2015, adding a World Superbike victory in 2016 before his tragic death while training on a bicycle near Misano in 2017.

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