Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

On Wednesday, October 10, American Honda’s Nicky Hayden and Erion Honda’s Roger Lee Hayden both had surgery in both wrists to correct symptoms caused by Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Both Haydens traveled straight from the Del Mar dirt track event, held October 6-7 in Southern California, to San Francisco, where orthopedic surgeon Dr. Arthur Ting performed the relatively simple procedure. Both Haydens were resting in a Bay Area hotel on Thursday, October 11 and planned to travel back home to Owensboro, Kentucky on Friday, October 12.

“It’s been something that has been bothering me for a while,” said Nicky Hayden in a October 11 telephone call to Roadracing World. “You may have seen me on TV shaking my hand out on the straights at Mid-Ohio. (Nicky Hayden won the second Superbike race at Mid-Ohio, the first of his season-ending, four-race winning streak.) I almost thought about not getting it because it was only bad at some tracks and not others. But when it got bad I couldn’t really feel the brake lever and that’s kind of dangerous.

“We have both of our arms in slings. So we won’t be doing much for the next four weeks or so.” Nicky Hayden said that he would most likely miss a Honda test session scheduled to take place in Las Vegas later in October. Nicky Hayden said he still planned to take part in a live, online chat session scheduled for Wednesday, October 17 at 9:00 p.m. EDT on sponsor Joe Rocket’s website, www.joerocket.com.