The Showdown: Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi’s 2006 title fight
The second instalment of ‘The Showdown’ goes back to 2006. Nicky Hayden leads for much of the season, and the title looks his for the taking, until Valentino Rossi comes roaring back.
It takes all 17 races, and the final round at Valencia, to settle it. For Hayden, it remains the only championship of his MotoGP career.
Reigning champion vs first-time challenger
The 2006 MotoGP season carried extra significance as the final year of the 990cc era, with MotoGP set to switch to 800cc machines the following season. For Nicky Hayden, it was a year to make the most of a bike he “adored”, Honda’s RC211V, and his confidence showed in the results achieved all season.
On the Yamaha side, Valentino Rossi arrived chasing a fifth consecutive MotoGP title, having won two with Honda before taking two more after moving to Yamaha.
The campaign began at Jerez on 26 March, and it started in the worst possible way for the reigning champion. Loris Capirossi took the first win of the year, with Dani Pedrosa and Hayden joining him on the podium. Rossi, meanwhile, was out of contention almost immediately.
He finished the first lap 43 seconds behind the leader, after the opening-lap incident left his bike damaged. Toni Elias had caught his rear tyre and caused the crash, and Rossi ultimately crossed the line in 14th.
The setback did not last long. Two weeks later in Qatar, Rossi bounced back with a win, while Hayden finished second to keep his own points total climbing. After one race of lost ground, the reigning champion was back in the fight.
Rossi’s run of setbacks
The high of the Qatar win did not last long. The Turkish Grand Prix arrived at the end of April, and Rossi, starting 11th, fought his way up to finish fourth.
The next two rounds were far worse. In China, a tyre failure ended his race, and at Le Mans a week later, a mechanical problem forced him out with just eight laps to go while he was leading. Hayden used the time to build his championship lead.
Five rounds in, Rossi sat eighth on 40 points, 43 behind Hayden, with 12 rounds still to run. Capirossi, Marco Melandri and Dani Pedrosa were all in the mix as well.
Chasing Hayden
With as many as 12 rounds remaining in the season, Rossi had plenty of time to turn things around. Fittingly, he engineered this comeback on home soil.
At Mugello, Rossi’s home track, he took victory from third on the grid. He passed pole-sitter Sete Gibernau in the opening laps, but a mistake dropped him to fifth. Hayden, Capirossi and Melandri tried to capitalise, while Stoner crashed out on Lap 8.
Melandri then ran off track while trying to force Hayden out of third, ended up rejoining in sixth and was out of the fight at the front. On lap 18, Rossi took second place from Hayden and set about chasing down Capirossi. By the flag, Rossi, Capirossi and Hayden finished less than a second apart.
Rossi carried that momentum to Catalunya, taking pole while Hayden started seventh. A first-corner collision between the two Ducatis brought out a red flag. With Capirossi, Gibernau and Melandri out of the restart, the melee removed three title contenders from the race. He then worked his way through the field and passed Hayden for second on Lap 8, then inherited the lead when Stoner crashed. Hayden hung on until the closing laps and finished 4.5 seconds behind.
Rossi had won two in a row, but Hayden, climbing from seventh on the grid, still left with the points lead, 119 to 90. The comeback was far from smooth for Rossi. Hayden answered with wins at Assen and Laguna Seca, where Rossi failed to score, and the gap ballooned to 51 points, the largest of the season.
Meanwhile, the rest of the field kept slipping. Pedrosa, Capirossi and Melandri each had rounds that unravelled through crashes, retirements or poor finishes and by the time the season reached Japan, all three were more than 25 points behind Hayden. Rossi, by contrast, strung together four straight podiums after the summer break, including a win at Sepang, while Hayden managed only ninth, fourth, fifth and fifth in the same stretch.
By Motegi, the gap had been cut to just 12 points. The turning point came in Portugal, with Hayden and Rossi separated by only 12 points before the race. Rossi started from pole and Hayden from third, with Colin Edwards between them on the grid.
Unfortunately for Hayden, a clash with teammate Pedrosa, who lost the front while trying to pass on the inside, ended his race. It was his first DNF of the season and came at the worst possible time.
“I don't expect Dani to pull over and let me by but I definitely didn't expect him to do that. We’re professionals and Dani did come to my motorhome and talk to me afterwards and we shook hands” Hayden shared via Repsol’s press release.
Meanwhile, Toni Elias, starting from 11th, won at Estoril, taking the lead in the final corner, beating Rossi by just two milliseconds Rossi’s second place was enough to take the championship lead from Hayden by eight points, heading into the final round in Valencia.
The grand finale
A title race that goes to the final round is always special, and at Valencia it could have gone either way: a third straight championship for Rossi with Yamaha, or a first for Hayden.
Rossi started from pole once again, with Hayden fifth on the grid. Wildcard entry and reigning World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss, along with Capirossi and Nakano, separated the two title rivals.
Then it all came crashing down for the Italian. A poor start dropped him to seventh, and on lap five he lost the front at the apex of Turn 2 and slid into the gravel, falling to 20th. The title was effectively decided there. Bayliss went on to win by 1.3 seconds from Capirossi, while Hayden took third and the 2006 championship, waving the American flag on the slowdown lap.
It was truly a season to remember for those who watched it unfold, and one well worth revisiting for newer fans. Be sure to stick around to find out who is next in ‘The Showdown’ series, and follow along with the current season as MotoGP heads to Portugal on 22 November.
Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
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