News

Hayden and duhamel to make gp history

18/07/07

By David Miller

Laguna’s MotoGP race card will be something of a mark in the history books as it is the first time for the best part of a decade that a rider has competed in more than one race in one day in the premier class - and this time there's two of them.

The last man to do it was Britain’s Chris Walker in 1995 when he rode a 500cc Harris Yamaha to 15th and a Padgetts Honda 250 to 21st in consecutive races alongside the likes of Mick Doohan, Max Biaggi and Tetsuya Harada at Donington Park.

Miguel DuHamel is standing in for the injured Toni Elias on a Gresini Honda while Roger Lee Hayden is wildcarding for Kawasaki. Thirty eight year-old Canadian DuHamel will also be taking his regular seat for Honda in the AMA Superbike race, while Hayden will ride in the supersport category – as if trying to beat his brother and reigning world champion Nicky wasn’t pressure enough.

"I still can't believe it. I've been waiting for this moment for such a long time and it is nice to be a part of a team as important as Fausto Gresini's,” said DuHamel. “I feel bad for Toni Elias and I wish him a speedy recovery, hopefully he will be back on track soon, but I am very excited. My physical training programme has had an extra motivation to it in the build up to this weekend.”

Hayden, in the meantime, will be out to impress his new boss Michael Bartholemy with a view to taking a ride alongside John Hopkins in 2008. “It's a dream come true to race a MotoGP bike at Laguna Seca and it's been years since I raced against Nicky,” he said. “I'm not putting any pressure on myself: I'd just like it to be a positive experience and if I can score some points, that would be awesome. With quite a few Americans on the grid, the crowd will certainly have something to cheer about, plus my family and friends are going to come along so it should all be pretty cool.”