In Turn 6, on the 5th lap of the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril, the race, Nicky Hayden's title hopes, and a large part of the world's motorcycling fans exploded. Seconds after Dani Pedrosa's impetuous passing attempt on Hayden, taking both riders

.A Twist In The TailIts sinuous course, and the fact that it runs anti-clockwise, unlike most of the other race tracks around the world, means it has few fans among MotoGP riders. With one notable exception: Nicky Hayden, the man who, until last week

's Repsol Honda team mate Nicky Hayden, but Hayden had the outside line at Turn 1, and as they flicked left to head towards Turn 2, Lorenzo had the better line, and was back up to 3rd. Hayden's choice of line into the first corner would cost him more dearly

Interviewed on the grid at Valencia, before the start of the final race of 2006, where the championship seemed to have slipped out of his hands, Nicky Hayden said "This is MotoGP, anything can happen. That's why we line up."  Every race weekend

, with his crash at Le Mans the current low point. But with his home GP at Donington fast approaching, JT's confidence will be building. He'll need all the confidence he can get at Mugello this weekend.Hot AirConfidence is something Nicky Hayden

on the grid in his wake, Casey Stoner launching his Ducati past Valentino Rossi and Loris Capirossi into 2nd spot as they headed towards San Donato, the first glorious turn of this glorious track. Capirossi stood his ground in 3rd, while Nicky Hayden

has battled with all season long, was on pole. Once again, Rossi was going to need a little help from the other front row men Jorge Lorenzo and Nicky Hayden, or maybe a rocket start from Dani Pedrosa down in 6th. If the men nearer the front could get

rear as he sat up for Turn 1, while behind him, the rest of the field jostled for position four abreast into the turn. Pedrosa's current team mate Nicky Hayden held the line on one side of the track, while his future team mate Andrea Dovizioso flanked

exhaustion, the riders were now dismounting drenched by the rain, and approaching hypothermia.It seemed like Nicky Hayden was the only rider to enjoy the conditions, leading all three rain-drenched free practice sessions by a comfortable margin. Valencia

, all he had to was finish a couple of places behind Nicky Hayden, but it wasn't to be. On the day, Rossi cracked under the pressure and crashed early on, rejoining too far behind to make up the places he had lost, handing the American the title on a