Nicholas Patrick Hayden (July 30, 1981 – May 22, 2017), nicknamed "The Kentucky Kid", was an American professional motorcycle racer who won the MotoGP World Championship in 2006.

In 2001, his first full season as an AMA superbike racer, he came within 40 points of winning the championship, finishing behind only champion Mat Mladin and runner-up Eric Bostrom.

He also entered the World Superbike round at Laguna Seca, making a solid fourth in the first race before colliding with Noriyuki Haga in the second which ended in a 13th-place finish.

Hayden only lacked a win at a mile track to join Dick Mann, Kenny Roberts, Bubba Shobert, and Doug Chandler in the prestigious "Grand Slam Club."

[7] But the race was marred by the death of Japanese rider Daijiro Kato who crashed at the 130R and hit the barrier at high speed in the ensuing Casio Triangle.

During the race, Hayden had made his way up to third but ran slightly wide at the Honda curve, dropping him behind Marco Melandri, Tohru Ukawa, Sete Gibernau and Carlos Checa.

On Saturday, Hayden qualified ninth,[19] but managed to charge up the field and close in on Biaggi and Rossi halfway into the race, along with Barros.

[21] When the lights went out, Hayden initially started off well—he moved up the field to battle with a three-man group consisting of Rossi, Biaggi and Barros, who tried to reduce the gap to race leader Gibernau.

Hayden was in a strong position to finish third—overtaking Valentino Rossi's Yamaha in the early part of the race before being demoted to third by the same Rossi—maintaining a two-second gap to fourth place Marco Melandri.

[28] In contrast, Hayden scored consistent points in the next six races—the Portuguese, Chinese, French, Italian and Catalan and Dutch rounds—finishing seventh, ninth, sixth twice, fifth and fourth, respectively.

After taking over first place from Vermeulen, he built up a two-second gap and crossed the line first, 3.186 seconds ahead of Hayden's teammate Dani Pedrosa.

With Rossi scoring consistent podiums—including one win at Sepang—he managed to move up to second in the championship once more and cut the points deficit from 51 at Laguna Seca to 12 in Motegi.

Starting just 14th on the grid after another poor qualifying performance, the Michelin-shod Honda of Hayden, as well as the Yamaha of Colin Edwards fared much better on the Sachsenring track compared to the Bridgestone-shod Ducati of Casey Stoner, whom they would overtake in the closing stages of the race.

A crash by Andrea Dovizioso allowed him to move up into fourth position and he was trying to close down a two-second gap to third place Valentino Rossi, but he lost the front of his bike at turn seven and slid out of contention.

[85] As the season went on, the relations within the team had already deteriorated, and there was further friction when Pedrosa switched tire suppliers midseason (from the struggling Michelin to the dominant Bridgestone) without Hayden being consulted.

With the rain increasing, Hayden started struggling and almost lost second place to the charging Jorge Lorenzo, until the marshalls red-flagged the race with seven laps to go.

When the lights went out, Stoner was challenged by the 'Kentucky Kid' for 10 laps, before the Australian started to pull a two-second advantage halfway through the race and a 6.5 second lead at the chequered flag.

[93] After it was declared that Hayden had not broken any bones, he returned in the warm-up session on Sunday[94] and went on to finish 12th in the rain-delayed race, just behind his former teammate Dani Pedrosa.

[104] After his first podium of the season, Hayden would register his second retirement when he got tangled up in an incident caused by Alex de Angelis and Colin Edwards.

When de Angelis tried to gain positions during the short right-left turns one and two, he hit Edwards who then clipped the back of Hayden, making them all retire from the race on the opening lap of the San Marino GP.

[105][106] After Misano, Hayden finished eighth in Portugal, 15th in Australia after he crashed once more with Jorge Lorenzo on the opening lap and lost a significant amount of time in the process[107][108] and fifth twice in Malaysia and Valencia.

At the San Marino race, Hayden retired once more when he fell on the opening lap and took out Loris Capirossi, damaging his right little finger and requiring surgery in the process.

On the last lap, he overtook the Yamaha of Jorge Lorenzo on the penultimate corner by diving on the inside through the second part of the slow right-left turns 14 and 15 that leads onto the back straight.

At the final race in Valencia, Hayden would retire for the third time this season after he lost the front end of his machine and slid into the gravel trap from third place.

[128] At the final race of the season—the Valencian Community round—Hayden retired once more when he was eliminated, along with teammate Rossi, in a four-bike first-corner collision on the opening lap which was caused by the Suzuki of Álvaro Bautista.

[135] Although not fully recovered from his injuries, thanks to the support of the official physiotherapist Freddie Dente, Hayden returned for the San Marino GP, where he finished in seventh position.

After Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS star Jack Miller was ruled out for the Aragón round, Hayden was called by Honda in a substitute role.

Hayden replaced Sylvain Guintoli at the Ten Kate Racing-run Honda squad, alongside Michael van der Mark.

The Nicky Hayden AMA Horizon Award is presented annually to outstanding amateur rides in dirt track, motocross and road racing.

According to Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, a home surveillance camera installed several metres away from the intersection recorded the entire accident.