Darryl Mocek

I could not believe my eyes. I was watching the final race of the MotoGP championship race last weekend and at first, I saw what I expected to see...Valentino Rossi on pole. Nicky Hayden was on the second row in 5 ^th position...not good. I was all set to see Rossi take the championship. Not because Hayden isn't capable of winning, but because Rossi is one of those competitors that always seems to find a way to win when he really wants it.

From there, however, I saw Rossi do five uncharacteristic things. The race started and Rossi got a bad start, moving back to 7 ^th position (#1 – Rossi usually has very good starts). Hayden was just in front of Rossi and starting to move up the pack. Rossi started moving back (#2 – Rossi doesn't move back very often). After the first few laps, Hayden had moved up to second position. Rossi must have felt the urge to get to the front quick instead of being patient (#3 – Rossi is known as a patient rider who seems to do better as the race progresses). Suddenly, Rossi lost the front-end of his bike and crashed (#4 – a Rossi crash is a rarity). He was able to pick the bike up, but returned to the race in 19 ^th position. From there, he moved up to end the race in 13 ^th or 14 ^th position (#5 – even with a crash, Rossi typically moves up the pack relatively quickly).

Hayden finished 3 ^rd behind the two Ducati's of Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi with enough points to win the 2006 MotoGP Championship.

Congratulations Nicky!