Grand Prix motorcycle racing refers to the premier class of motorcycle racing events held on road circuits. Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since. Subscribe and SAVE, give a gift subscription or get help with an existing subscription by clicking the links below each cover image. There are an immeasurable amount of books on motorsports. These few are a some of my favorites because they capture the dream of motorsport. Guys like Donohue, Hunt. Its all in the mind Marquez psychs up for the FinalShowdown 1 min. Its all in the mind Dovi psychs up for the FinalShowdown 2 min. MotoGP Rewind A. Im very happy to join Guandalini Racing in Laguna Seca and Im honoured to have this opportunity, Smrz said. And of course thanks PR Racing for allowing me to. Valentino Rossi Helmets Valentino Rossi Helmets. The 2. 00. 8 Moto. GP season saw Valentino Rossi claim his 8th World Championship after losing out in the previous two seasons to Nicky Hayden when Rossi crashed out in the final round in 2. Casey Stoner dominate the 2. The 2. 00. 8 Moto. GP season also arguably saw Valentino Rossi in his finest racing form to date, and there were some heart stopping battles that took place on track most notably the thrilling, and now infamous, mid season clash with Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca, a race that will go down in Moto. GP history. The 2. Advanced Driver Updater Crack Key more. Moto. GP season was also notable for some of the most memorable Rossi helmet designs, in particular the My Face or double take design worn for the Italian Moto. GP, and probably goes down as being Valentinos most famous Mugello helmet so far. Motorcycle and Racing News Complete coverage of SBK World Superbike, MotoGP, BSB British Superbike, AMA Superbike roadracing. Street Bike and Sportbike news, new. Rossi_Corkscrew_Laguna2008.jpg' alt='Motogp Laguna Seca 2008 Full Race' title='Motogp Laguna Seca 2008 Full Race' />Rossis partnership with AGV helmets also developed deeper links and Lino Dainese, the founder and current president of Dainese S. Valentino Rossi as Honorary President of AGV, the historic Italian crash helmet manufacturing firm that Dainese acquired in 2. You can check out all the helmet designs that Valentino wore during the 2. Moto. GP season, and find out the stories behind them below. Valentino Rossi Helmets Valentino Rossi birthday helmet Jerez 2. Rossi celebrated his birthday with a surprise Aldo Drudi designed helmet that he wore during the pre season testing at Jerez. It also marked his first full season on Bridgestone tyres. FIND OUT MOREValentino Rossi My Face helmet Mugello 2. The infamous My Face aka Double Take helmet, was designed by Aldo Drudi and was worn at the Mugello round of the 2. Moto. GP. Rossi won his 7th consecutive Mugello race in 2. Drudi helmet proved to be be biggest talking point and it was highlight of the weekend for many fans and reporters. This helmet was also issued in a limited edition replica model available to buy. FIND OUT MOREValentino Rossi Football Azzurri helmet Catalunya Moto. GPValentino sported a tribute to the Italian football team in the Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya Moto. GP in 2. 00. 8. The Italians were competing in the European Championships and Valentinos bike was given a paint job to make it look like a football kit, his helmet had a football design, and the famous 4. Italian football team wore. FIND OUT MOREValentino Rossi 5 Continents helmet. The Valentino Rossi 5 Continents helmet was the primary helmet that Rossi wore throughout the 2. Moto. GP season, and its another distinctive design by Aldo Drudi. The design is an evolution of Rossis trademark sun and moon themes where each ray of the sun represents one of the 5 continents that Moto. GP races in. FIND OUT MOREValentino Rossi My House helmet Misano 2. The custom designed helmet that Rossi wore at the Misano round of Moto. GP in 2. 00. 8 was designed to celebrate his home race and featured a cartoon house surrounded by common Rossi images, including his late Bulldog Guido. Misano was notable for Rossi earning his 6. Grand Prix victory and matching the record of his countryman Giacomo Agostini. FIND OUT MOREValentino Rossi Dreamtime Helmet. The Valentino Rossi Dreamtime helmet first appeared in Australia in 2. Rossis 2. 00. 8 Moto. GP campaign. The helmet design takes its inspiration from ancient Aboriginal art. Once again, this is an Aldo Drudi designed helmet. FIND OUT MOREValentino Rossi Celebr 8 Helmet. The Valentino Rossi Celebr 8 helmet was designed to commemorate Rossi winning his 8th World Championship title. This helmet design was not used in any races but it has been used extensively in 2. In February 2. 00. Sepang tests, Rossi also used newly designed yellow version of the Celebr 8 helmet. Nicky Hayden Wikipedia. Parts of this article those related to Death need to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Last update JuneAugust 2. The Kentucky Kid redirects here. For other uses, see Kentucky Kid. Nicholas Patrick Hayden July 3. May 2. 2, 2. 01. 7, nicknamed The Kentucky Kid, was an American professional motorcycle racer who won the Moto. GP World Championship in 2. Hayden began racing motorcycles at a young age. He began his road racing career in the CMRA before progressing to the AMA Supersport Championship and then to the AMA Superbike Championship. He won the AMA title in 2. Repsol Honda team to race for them in Moto. GP. In his first season he performed well, finishing fifth in the championship and winning the Rookie of the year award. However, this was followed by a difficult second season in which he could only manage eighth overall. Hayden then rallied in the 2. Grand Prix win at Laguna Seca, and finishing third in the standings at the end of the season. The next year, 2. Haydens greatest in motorcycle racing as he won the 2. Moto. GP world title, breaking Valentino Rossis five year consecutive streak. He remained with Honda for two more seasons without a world title, before moving to Ducati for 2. Hayden had five largely unsuccessful seasons at Ducati, with his highest finishing championship position a seventh place in 2. He subsequently moved to the Honda Aspar team in 2. Superbike World Championship. Hayden finished fifth in his first season back in World Superbikes with the highlight of his season being a win in Malaysia. He remained in Superbikes for the 2. On May 1. 7, 2. 01. Hayden was hit by a car while riding his bicycle in Italy. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and died five days later in a local hospital. Early careereditHayden was born in Owensboro, Kentucky. He started road racing with the CMRA, often against racers many times older. Hayden would often start races from the back of the grid because a family or crew member would have to hold his bike upright as his feet would not yet touch the ground. Later, at age 1. 7, he was racing factory Honda RC4. In 1. 99. 9, he won the AMA Supersport championship on board a privateer Honda. In 2. 00. 1, his first full season as an AMA superbike racer, he came within 4. Mat Mladin and runner up Eric Bostrom. The 2. 00. 2 season, however, would see Hayden answering the bell he won the Daytona 2. Honda Superbike en route to becoming the youngest ever AMA Superbike Champion, defeating reigning triple champion Mat Mladin, among others. He also entered the World Superbike round at Laguna Seca, making a solid 4th in the first race before colliding with Noriyuki Haga in race two. Hayden was one of a long line of American road racers to come from the American dirt track scene. In 1. 99. 9, Hayden won his first Grand National Championship race Hagerstown Half Mile and took Rookie of the Year honors. He was also declared the AMAs athlete of the Year. In 2. 00. 0, Hayden won the Springfield Short Track. In 2. 00. 2, despite racing in just a handful of dirt track events, Hayden was able to win four races Springfield Short Track twice, Springfield TT, and Peoria TT. At the Springfield TT race, the three Hayden brothers took the first three places Nicky 1st, Tommy 2nd, and Roger Lee 3rd. The win at the 2. Peoria TT came after beating thirteen time Peoria winner, Chris Carr, despite starting from the penalty line. Hayden only lacked a win at a mile track to join Dick Mann, Kenny Roberts Sr., Bubba Shobert, and Doug Chandler in the prestigious Grand Slam Club. Moto. GP careereditHonda 2. Immediately after winning his AMA Superbike championship, Hayden was tapped to join not only Hondas Moto. GP racing efforts, but what was arguably the premier team in Moto. GP racing Repsol Honda. Hayden also became teammate to the defending series champion Valentino Rossi. In his first year of Moto. GP racing 2. 00. Hondas RC2. V, an achievement that won him the Rookie of the Year award. In 2. 00. 4, however, Hayden had a difficult year and was widely critiqued, but he scored his first win in 2. Laguna Seca. 5 In 2. Hayden finished third in the Moto. GP championship points standings behind Marco Melandri and series winner Valentino Rossi. For 2. 00. 6, Hayden was charged with spearheading Repsol Hondas championship aspirations, and was the only rider to be handed the full 2. Honda bike during pre season testing. He led the championship from the third race and looked set to break Valentino Rossis championship winning streak. In the second to last round at Estoril in Portugal, teammate Dani Pedrosa lost the front end on the brakes a lowside to avoid colliding with Hayden. The resulting lowside accident took out both bikes. This left Hayden eight points behind Rossi in the championship with one race left to go. In the last race of the season on October 2. Rossi crashed on lap 5 trying to make up for a poor start. Hayden won the 2. Troy Bayliss. Loris Capirossi finished second. Nicky Hayden with number 1 on his motorcycle for the 2. On September 2. 2, 2. Hayden signed a two year agreement that allowed for him to race for and develop with the factory Honda Racing Corporation HRC team for the 2. Moto. GP seasons. He utilized the 8. Honda RC2. 12. V, and as title holders, his Moto. GP racing number changed from 6. Hayden, struggling with performance, and teammate Dani Pedrosa having shown what the Honda was able to do. A crash at Le Mans dropped him to eleventh in the standings at this stage. However, during testing before Donington, he requested that most of the electronics be switched off and his times improved. His subsequent performance in a wet Donington and a dry Assen showed a slight return to form, challenging for fifth with his trademark sliding and tail out non standard lines. However, he ultimately kept crashing, with a pole and 3 podiums but no victories proved to be the 2nd worse defence of a championship ever recorded after Kenny Roberts Jr. The 2. 00. 7 season also saw the release of an authorized biography on Hayden and his brothers The Haydens Nicky, Tommy, Roger, from OWB to Moto. GPtimed to coincide with his return to the Red Bull U. S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. In 2. 00. 8, Hayden ran his old number 6. Casey Stoner earned the right to run the number 1 plate after winning the Moto. GP title in 2. 00. Donington Park marked the race debut of Hondas pneumatic valve engine, which only Hayden was using initially. In the next round at Assen, Hayden ran 3rd from the start and was set to finish there until he ran out of fuel at the final corner, due to an electrical system problem which prevented accurate fuel monitoring. Colin Edwards captured Haydens 3rd place podium moments before Hayden coasted over the line with no power, to finish 4th place. A heel injury sustained in a motocross crash put him out of two rounds. 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. Hayden stated Ive never been put in the conditions to choose. Once they told me that I would have just wasted my time had I even only thought about asking for Bridgestone tires. Im not surprised theyve given them to him. Besides, at Misano I didnt even have the same fork Dani had.