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I’ve always liked the humility that Nicky Hayden has. Throughout the 2006 season, he was a BIG team player for HRC…much more than I could ever have been.  He kept his mouth shut as he ‘developed’ the motorcycle while trying to win a championship.  All that has earned him my respect.  Now he gets the patented Motorcycle Bloggers ‘Golf Clap Award’ for gritting out a shoulder injury sustained at Portugal when Pedrosa took him out.

Check it from roadracingworld.com:

 

Shoulder Surgery Means Nicky Hayden Will Miss Jerez MotoGP Test

MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden will sit out the MotoGP test at Jerez on November 28-30 in order to receive medical treatment to his injured right shoulder. The Repsol Honda rider will have further MRI and CT scans on November 29, at the Freemont Clinic in California, prior to an operation scheduled for the following day.

The surgery will repair an undisplaced fracture through the right greater tuberosity (shoulder bone). At the same time the metal plate on the 25-year-old Americans right collarbone will be removed. The metal plate, a legacy of a Supermoto crash in 2004, was bent in the fall at this years Grand Prix of Portugal and, combined with the shoulder fracture, has caused Hayden considerable discomfort ever since.

Hayden made light of the injury following the accident at Estoril, not wanting to offer championship rival Valentino Rossi the slightest psychological boost going into the MotoGP title showdown at Valencia. With the championship in the bag and the winter break approaching the decision has been made to complete the surgery to give the World Champion the maximum time for recovery before the 2007 testing programme begins at the end
of January.

Hayden’s team-mate, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, will attend the three-day Jerez test to continue the development of the RC212V.

Speaking from his home in Owensboro, Kentucky, the World Champion said: “The shoulder’s been pretty uncomfortable since Estoril and the testing since the last race hasn’t made things any better it actually hasn’t been much fun to ride under these circumstances. Id love to be at the Jerez test and its going to be hard to be at laid up at home. But its time to get this thing fixed so that I can come back fully fit for the tests in January and February and be ready for the 2007 season.”

I can’t imagine racing with that kind of injury.  I broke my collar bone back in 2001 from a low-speed high side at Grattan Raceway in Michigan.  I was in a sling + figure 8 brace for about a month and out of sports for a couple of months - not weeks.  To fight off pain like this…no matter the pre-race doping…takes guts and commitment.

Another reason to say that he earned it.