Five Minutes With… Nicky Hayden

If you followed our hints and tuned in to NBC’s Today show this morning, then you know that Repsol Honda MotoGP racer Nicky Hayden made an appearance. Nicky was named to People magazine’s "50 Hottest Bachelors" list, and he is doing promotion for the upcoming Red Bull USGP. We spoke to him today, minutes after he won a dating contest on the Today show.
By Chris Jonnum

RRX : What have you been up to for the last few days?
Nicky Hayden: Well, we tested after the race in Spain on Monday, but we really didn’t get much done. It started raining about 10:30, and we only got about 15-20 laps in during the dry. But we did actually get some pretty good wet-weather testing. It rained pretty hard-hard enough to wear the rain suit. I’ve needed to work with some stuff in the rain. Definitely, going into Assen, that could be a little bit of a help. Also, I’d never ridden Barcelona in the rain. Anyway, did a few laps there and then took a pretty short flight to New York and did the Today show. I never really watched it before, honestly, or new what it was. I thought it was Good Morning America &rsquotil I got here, but I found out they’re not the same thing. They say it’s bigger. It was to promote the race and for my sponsors and stuff. It was all about People magazine. They had their 50 Hottest Bachelors or whatever, and I guess I’m one of those.

I’m out here in the west coast, so I haven’t seen the show yet. How did it go?
Yeah it was kind of funny, really. The other two dudes I was on there with-[NFL player] Dhani Jones and [country singer] Keith Anderson-were really cool guys, and we had a bit of fun. Dhani is really into motorcycles. He’s got a Harley and stuff, so he was wanting to know a lot about bikes and GP and stuff. They just had us do the Dating Game [laughs]. I remember watching that a long time ago. They picked some chick out of the crowd and asked us a couple questions. Whoever we chose would have a date. She got some flowers and an Alpinestars jacket. It was definitely something I don’t do every day-something a little bit different.

I understand she picked you. Are you going on a date with her?
It turns out she’s leaving today, and I’m leaving today, so I don’t guess we’re going to get to make it out on a date. Maybe I’ll take a rain check. She was from Seattle.

Was she a cutie?
Yeah, she was pretty hot! There was a lot of hot girls to choose from down there. They said all the hottest ones that I liked was only 18 or something, so they had to get one old enough to kind of be in between everybody.

So how does it feel to be one of People’s 50 Hottest Bachelors?
It doesn’t feel that great, not really. It’s exposure for my sponsors, and mainly, it’s for the race coming to America and stuff like that. But honestly, I’m not too worried about being the hottest bachelor. I mean, being the fastest bachelor might be kind of cool.

Has the buzz on the tour been building for the Red Bull USGP?
You know, it really has, I swear. The last few races, we were in Italy and Spain, which are some of the biggest races of the year-Barcelona’s in Dorna’s backyard-but I swear, all anybody wants to talk about is the U.S. round. I’m not just saying that to hype it up; a lot of people are really excited about coming back to America. I guess some people’s having a few visa issues or whatever; after 9/11, they’re cracking down on a few guys. A lot of people are talking about that and about how many paddock passes they sold. I guess they sold a lot of paddock passes, and the teams are worried about how they’re going to be able to work in those conditions-getting to Michelin and things like that. A lot of people are ready for it, and a lot of the riders want to know about Laguna-track changes and things.

You’ve been kind of an ambassador for the race, doing this appearance and an earlier promotional tour.
Yeah, it’s only been like two days each. A lot of people worked hard to make Laguna happen-Red Bull, and obviously the track and manufacturers. I’ve got the easy part, just to help promote it. A lot of people seem to think the race is sold out, but the people from the track want to make it clear, the race isn’t sold out. I want to see it go big and keep coming back and be a success, so I don’t mind putting in a little time.

Changing the subject a little bit, last weekend’s race went pretty well for you, with you running in podium position for quite a while. Were you pleased?
Yeah, it was a good race. I really want to be fighting for the win-not the podium-but it was my best race of the year. It was actually my most-fun race of the year, by far, just to be up there battling with the guys. I got up to third, and Melandri came past with a pretty big move. I went back to fifth. Barros got under both of us and cost us a lot of time from the leaders. Once I lost touch, there was no way I could reel them back in. I ran third for a lot of the race and felt pretty good. Then, just about 10 from the end, I just couldn’t keep the pace, and I just backed off like two-tenths a lap. Me and Melandri went back and forth four or five times, and it was really fun, but I obviously didn’t like the end result. We’re trying to get up there where I feel I belong. I still believe we can do it. It’s a tough pace up there, but the bike seems to be working good. This week was definitely the best I’ve done all year, as far as every session. We actually made a little mistake in qualifying with a misunderstanding on the settings. It wasn’t exactly right, and I think I could have been on the front row there.

What do you have planned going in to Assen?
Actually, not so much here. We’re going to Inside Edition and we’ll do something in the ESPN Zone. Then I’m going to the airport to fly home for a few days. I actually leave on Sunday for Assen because it’s a Saturday race, so we’ll have to leave kind of early.

All right, well, I know you’ve got a busy schedule, so I’ll let you get going. Congratulations on being a hot bachelor.
Alright, sounds good, brother. Peace. Good talking to you.