Some of the stuff he says is a joke about sharing data and that's why I'm mad. I haven't seen his data for a long time. The truth is he sees everybody's data, so lets be clear about that.
Last week, Alberto Puig, Dani Pedrosa’s team manager, started a smear campaign against Nicky Hayden, accusing him of all sorts of inabilities. Going so far as to call into question Hayden’s 2006 MotoGP Championship. Hayden had previously said that he believes Puig, for all intents and purposes, runs HRC and the Repsol Honda team. Puig took offense, and the dirty laundry in the Repsol garage is quickly coming to mainstream light.
This war of words apparently started with an interview Hayden gave to Madrid-based newspaper El Pais a few weeks past. El Pais is one of Spain’s largest national newspapers.
At this mornings pre-race press conference in Malaysia, Hayden was questioned on the topic at hand and responded by stating that “it certainly seemed to ruffle a few feathers but I’m not really wanting to go back and have a cat fight back and forth with this guy and defend against everything he said. I’m not even sure what I said but I did say Puig basically runs our team, he runs HRC at the moment and I really believe that and I stand by that.
Speaking on the accusation that Hayden needs and relies on Pedrosa’s set-up data, Hayden said “some of the stuff he says (Puig) is a joke about sharing data and that’s why I’m mad. I haven’t seen his data for a long time. The truth is he sees everybody’s data, so lets be clear about that. If it’s me going fastest or (Andrea) Dovizioso going fastest, he sees everything. I do think (Kazuhika) Yamano, our team manager, has done a great job. That guy is in a tough, tough spot and I know he’s got a lot of heat coming at him from all directions, so that’s basically what I said. I need to quit being a hypocrite I guess.” finally remarking on the wall seperating the two riders, put up as an agreement between Michelin and Bridgestone when Pedrosa switched tire brands earlier in the season, “that wall I couldn’t care less about. It doesn’t even faze me one little bit, said Hayden, who has claimed two podiums in the three races since Pedrosa quit Michelin.
For the 2009 season Hayden is leaving Repsol Honda behind for the factory Ducati garage. If his recent turn of form is to be believed, given his riding style and the less political approach taken at Ducati. 2009 should be a banner year for The Kentucky Kid. Andrea Dovizioso, moving up to the factory Repsol Honda
team for 2009, will be his replacement.
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