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Although HRC and International Racers Inc, the agency representing Nicky Hayden, both say that negotiations are still ongoing, it is generally understood in the MotoGP paddock that Andrea Dovizioso is tipped to replace the American in the Repsol Honda team.
Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden
The JiR Team Scott satellite team that currently employs Dovizioso and has an option to his contract for 2009 and is asking Honda to compensate them by subsidizing or otherwise influencing Hayden to accept a “transfer” with some assurances that the satellite team will receive strong support from HRC in 2009.
Rumors that Hayden has already signed an agreement with Ducati to enter as teammate with Casey Stoner in 2009 have been denied by both Hayden and Ducati, but Nicky also said, “Contractually I can’t talk about
this, but, seeing how the Ducati goes, a guy would be a fool not to consider moving to that team.”
The obvious question is, given the treatment that Hayden has received in Honda since winning the title in 2006, why would he believe any promises of “special treatment” in a satellite team and why would he consider a second-level Honda over a full factory Ducati?
The contrast between the success of Casey Stoner and the inability of both Loris Capirossi in 2007 and Marco Melandri in 2008 to achieve similar results with the Desmosedici in its 800cc form might cause Hayden to wonder if the Ducati is a one-man bike and that, somehow, only the Australian World Champion can cope with it.
The tests by retired veteran Sete Gibernau (35) in Mugello and the consistently strong testing results by reigning (but not defending) European Superstock 1000cc Champion Niccolo Canepa would seem to indicate that the bike can be successfully ridden by riders other that Stoner.
Unless some drastic turn of fortune over the next couple of races brings Hayden and Honda back together with an offer to continue in the Repsol Honda team, the most likely scenario would see the 2006 world champion joining the Marlboro Ducati team, a move that would certainly be commercially positive for Ducati in the American market. It would also mean that two of the three riders to win the World MotoGP title over the series' first seven years (Valentino Rossi, Stoner, and Hayden) would be riding in the same Ducati factory team, although the eighth MotoGP title, currently a three-way battle between Pedrosa, Rossi, and Stoner, could go to Hayden's Spanish teammate.
Hayden was very close to signing with Ducati towards the end of the 2006 season and, although he hasn’t said so, many in this paddock believe that he should have done so.
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