Hayden brings the title back to America!

Through consistency all season long and a couple of victories, Nicky Hayden took the top spot of the Moto GP World Championship in the last year of the 993 engines. Just as his disastrous luck at the Portuguese GP where his team-mate Dani Pedrosa took him out leaving him with no points from that race, Valentino Rossi's luck balanced the table when he took himself out. Rossi recovered from dead last to finish 13th, but it wasn't enough to stop Nicky, who won the World Championship by 5 points. Dani Pedrosa did an excellent job as Nicky's team-mate this time, and kept other riders behind him, while Nicky was in front of him.

What an amazing season of Moto GP this year has been! One of the closest in a while, with lots of different winners, not just one certain Valentino Rossi winning everything. I love Rossi, don't get me wrong, he's the master, er, "The Doctor", and is just amazing to watch, but some change every now and then is good, and to bring the title back to America, after a 6 year absence is also a good thing. I hope that it's not a trend though of American World Champions winning at the end of an era: Kenny Roberts Jr. won the last 500cc championship, now Nicky's wont the last Moto GP 993 championship and next year we have Moto GP with 800 cc engines. I don't want to wait another 6 years before the next US World Champion, or longer, depending on how long the 800cc formula lasts.

Congrats to Nicky Hayden, the 2006 Moto GP World Champion, Dani Pedrosa, the 2006 Rookie of the Year, the Repsol Honda the 2006 Team Champions, and Honda the 2006 Manufacturers Champion. Now let's keep it going for next year with the amazing new Honda RC212V, which must be one of the coolest looking bikes I've ever seen. At the same time, I'd love to see Colin Edwards get some well deserved good luck next year and win a race or two.