MotoGP: Nicky and James Finally Hit It Off

The BBC's MotoGP pitlane reporter Matt Roberts has revealed that Nicky Hayden and James Toseland are getting along well, after a dodgy start. According to Roberts, after qualifying at Estoril, Nicky complained that Toseland had baulked him on a hot lap, causing the Kentucky Kid to qualify lower than he should have. When nice guy Toseland popped round to Nicky's motorhome to apologise, the seething Southerner slammed the door in the Yorkshireman's face! (Most Yorkshiremen would have booted the door in and decked Nicky at this point, but Tose is far too nice a lad for that.) Later on, Hayden appeared at Tech 3 and apologized for "acting like a baby".

I've always maintained that Nicky is a decent bloke and worthy champion, despite the heckling from those who point out the feeble number of victories he scored in his championship year (2). This just shows that the lad has class, as shown by his calmness in the aftermath of his team-mate Dani Pedrosa's notorious torpedo attack (after he'd finished ranting in the gravel trap of course) and his refusal to take the bait when Pedrosa acted like a baby by decrying Nicky's bike development skills.

Even Valentino Rossi, who is usually one of sport's good guys, was riled into casting a gypsy curse on Sete Gibernau for some perceived slight. (He pompously proclaimed, rightly as it turned out, that Sete would never win another race after the Spaniard's team protested about Rossi's mechanics cheating by "rubbering up" Rossi's grid spot by doing scooter burnouts on it.)

So Nicky can hold his head high, as unlike some people in the MotoGP world, his head is actually on his shoulders instead of being rammed firmly up his own rear end.