Nicky Hayden: Good luck to Leon

"Good luck to Leon - I am happy the team was able to find such an experienced rider with his credibility to hold the fort until I get back" - Nicky Hayden.

Peter McLaren

04 Aug 2014

Nicky Hayden will be watching from the sidelines during his home MotoGP round at Indianapolis this weekend.

The Drive M7 Aspar rider is to miss at least the next two races while he recovers from a second round of surgery on his right wrist. In the meantime, Leon Camier has been drafted into the team to ride Hayden's RCV1000R.

"Well I don't like the thought of this weekend being the Indy MotoGP race knowing I'll be watching and not out there on my bike representing in my home race, but this is the situation," said Hayden. "Truthfully I have already dealt with it and I'm only thinking about my recovery so no pity party for me.

"Of course I will still be in Indy for the complete event - I love everything they do in Indy to make it such a cool weekend, there really is something for everybody to do there so I look forward to seeing it all and meeting up with the fans."

The 2006 world champion added that his recovery time is still unknown, but wished Camier - who will be making his MotoGP debut this weekend - all the best.

"I seem to be healing on course but it was no small surgery so I'm not sure when I'll be back and probably won't know until after my next doctor check-up," he said. "Until then good luck to Leon - of course it won't be the easiest situation but I am happy the team was able to find such an experienced rider with his credibility to hold the fort until I get back."

Camier, who has raced in WSBK since winning the 2009 BSB title, has no prior experience of MotoGP or the Indianapolis circuit.

"I am excited to have the chance to ride a MotoGP bike with the Drive M7 Aspar Team," he said. "It will be a tough weekend, with a lot of learning to do because everything will be new to me - the bike, the tyres... I am going to have to adapt to a lot of things in a short space of time.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for me though, with a very experienced team and I am sure it will be an interesting weekend. I am looking forward to getting out on track at Indianapolis and learning the track as quickly as possible, starting with some laps on the scooter on Thursday.

"We're not going to start targeting results just now, I think the most important thing is to learn and to adapt."

Camier will be riding alongside Hiroshi Aoyama.