013a__178490r.jpgPerfect team work and the impeccable race of the North American rider of the Repsol Honda Team certify a historic double win. Dani Pedrosa awarded Rookie of the Year in the MotoGP class, Shuhei Aoyama in the 250cc and Bradley Smith in the 125cc.

Nicky Hayden, 2006 MotoGP World Champion. This is how the extraordinary end of the season at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Cheste today will be remembered in history. The Kentucky rider switched the overall standings with a memorable race that awarded the eagerness of the North American rider.

In Valencia and to become the champion, Hayden had to recover nothing less than eight points. All fans knew that the Grand Prix was going to be extremely tense and so it was from the start. Rossi did not make a good start, while Hayden got to the leading positions, after touching each other before the first corner. Nicky immediately put himself in the leading group while Rossi was ninth after the first lap. The pressure kept on rising in Valentino, who saw how his big rival was escaping, with Dani Pedrosa between them, carrying out a strategy that had been perfectly planned last night by the Repsol Honda Team riders. With a superb race situation for the Kentucky rider, Valentino Rossi crashed in lap four, leaving the championship in Hayden’s hands.

Pedrosa put himself fourth, passing Stoner and Melandri and keeping Hayden’s back. Rossi continued with his race but he was only able to finish thirteenth. In the lead, the Ducati machines of Bayliss and Capirossi were unbeatable and Hayden, cool and calculating, remained in third position, comfortably and with no intentions of getting into an unnecessary fight. The positions stayed like that until the end. Bayliss, Capirossi and Hayden made up the last podium of the 2006 season and for the North American, who has shown an exemplary fighting spirit throughout the year, the title is a fair award for a regular and efficient season in which he has achieved 7 podium finishes and two brilliant victories in Holland and USA.

Jaume Giró, Repsol General Manager - “When a team joins its efforts to overcome setbacks, the good results always end up arriving. The Repsol Honda Team has closed an excellent season today in which they have achieved an important sporting success: Nicky Hayden, MotoGP World Champion; Repsol Honda Team, Teams’ World Champion and Dani Pedrosa, “Rookie of the Year” in MotoGP. But our presence in the Motocycle Grand Prix goes far beyond specific results. We are in the world championship because it contributes value and renown to our brand in a scenario of highest excellence, both as regards technology and competitiveness.”

Nicky Hayden - “When you dedicate your life to something and the dream comes true it feels so good. This is a proud day for me, the team and my family. I want to thank everybody back home and I hope they’re partying back there in Owensboro. When I went down at the beginning of the Estoril race I thought the dream was over but I just didn’t give up. Anything can happen in racing and you just keep fighting until the end. I just believe good things happen to good people and this is a great day for me. I swear on the warm-up lap I was riding round in front of a full house and I had tears in my eyes because I knew this was the chance of a lifetime and I had to go for it. I’ve felt all year that this was my year - even at Estoril when Elias beat Rossi I believed it. I knew that win or lose I was going to sleep well tonight because I was gonna give it my all today. I got a good start and I was just fighting to get to the front in the first few laps. I saw some marks on the track and then I came round and my pit-board said “Rossi P19″. Then it went to P17, P15 and P14 and it was a tough situation because I knew there was probably going to be a couple of riders pull over for him. And I knew that you can never count Valentino out - if his bike was ok then he can make up a lot of positions in a hurry. I didn’t know if I was going to have to fight the guys ahead of me because if you get in a dogfight with Loris and Troy you know you’re going to take some chances. But I stayed close enough that I felt like I was going to be able to go for it if I needed to. Then I saw “P3 OK” on my pit-board and I had faith in my team that they had figured it out that I was safe. Then I just tried to be smooth and tried to be smooth. Honestly I didn’t know it was over until the chequered flag. It feels really good to beat a guy like Rossi because he’s a real competitor with seven world titles and that just makes it that much more rewarding. Dani didn’t have team orders today but he let me by at the beginning of the race. We spoke last night had a gentleman’s agreement and I told him that if he helped me to win the world championship that we would be straight and I won’t forget it. In two or three years from now if we’re still team-mates and I can help him then I’ll return the favour - he’s a good man. I really want to thank everyone involved in the Repsol Honda Team, and Michelin because it’s their 5th straight title in MotoGP so a big thanks to them too. I’m looking forward to getting that number-one plate on my RCV next year.”

Dani Pedrosa - “I’m very happy for this result - for myself, for Nicky and for the team. The team has won every title this year - the riders’ title, the constructors, the Team title and the Rookie of the year so this is very good for us. I think we did a good job today. I made a good start and I was waiting until Nicky was behind me. When they showed me that Nicky was third and I was second I let him past and showed him with my foot where he should pass me. Then I slowed down quite a lot to give Nicky some space in second place. Then Melandri and Capirossi got past me but only Capirossi was able to catch Nicky again. At this point I thought Rossi was behind me so I was slowing down, slowing down to give Nicky some gap. Then they showed me that Rossi had crashed so when I saw this I tried to push again. I tried to pass Melandri and Stoner but it was not so easy. I could make a bit of a gap but already the tyres were on the limit and I had a big gap between me and Melandri and I didn’t push for the last five laps and brought it home.”

Press release courtesy of Repsol Honda.