MotoGP Star of the Year vote

10th – Nicky Hayden

Average score out of ten: 5.48

Team: Ducati Team

Bike: Desmosedici GP13 (Factory)

Wins: 0

Podiums: 0

Poles: 0

Fastest Laps: 0

Championship points: 126 (7 points per start average)

Championship position: 9th out of 27

Nicky Hayden kicks off Crash.net’s top ten countdown of 2013 MotoGP riders, having been voted in tenth place for the second year in succession.

You awarded the 2006 world champion an average score of 5.48 out of 10, slightly lower than the 5.67 he received last year. On the plus side, Hayden is the highest ranked of the Ducati riders in this year’s countdown.

With the Honda and Yamaha competitors often out of reach, Hayden’s final season with Ducati mostly revolved around a season-long duel with team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.

Evenly matched with the Italian, Hayden battled hard – highlighted by a last corner clash at Indianapolis – but the limitations of the GP13 saw Hayden occupy the lower end of the full prototype machines, with a best finish of fifth coming in the wet at Le Mans.

Hayden, frustrated not to try the latest GP13 modifications for the closing rounds, lost out on ninth in the world championship to Dovizioso by 14 points – not helped by an engine failure at Sepang.

The popular American will return to Honda in 2014, albeit on the new Open class RCV1000R, run by the Aspar team.

About the vote:

Over 30,000 votes were cast for the 2013 Crash.net MotoGP Star of the Year poll, where viewers were asked to award each of this year’s full-time participants – only Ben Spies and Karel Abraham, injured for large parts of the season, were not included – with a mark out of ten.

The average score for each rider was then used to determine the final ranking, which will be revealed in full once the winner is announced.

Voting instructions were as follows: “It’s your vote, which means the criterion is entirely up to you. If you feel results are all that matter in racing, vote according to the championship standings or race wins. However most will feel factors such as machinery, performance relative to a team-mate, riding style, experience, injuries, progress and personality should also be taken into account.

“Remember, it’s not just about who you want as the winner – often the most difficult decisions will be how highly to mark riders that finished lower down in the standings, on less competitive machinery.”

Last year was the first year that the reigning MotoGP world champion had not won the Crash.net vote, will that be repeated in 2013?

Crash.net’s MotoGP Star of the Year winners:

2013: ?

2012: Dani Pedrosa

2011: Casey Stoner

2010: Jorge Lorenzo

2009: Valentino Rossi

2008: Valentino Rossi

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