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Motorcycle Racing Champion and Owensboro Native Nicky Hayden Dies after Accident in Italy

Nicky Hayden
Nicky Hayden Facebook.com
Nicky Hayden
Nicky Hayden
Credit Nicky Hayden Facebook.com
Nicky Hayden

Champion motorcycle racer and Owensboro native Nicky Hayden has died following injuries from a bicycle accident in Italy.

Thirty-five-year-old  Hayden died May 22, five days after he was hit by a car while training on his bicycle.

Hayden, who was known as ‘The Kentucky Kid,’ won the MotoGP championship, a motorcycle road racing competition, in 2006.

He was in Italy competing in the Superbike World Championship in just days before the fatal accident.  

Hayden was 13th in this season's Superbike standings, riding for the Red Bull Honda team. Several family members had reportedly flown to Italy, including Hayden's mother and brother.

Copyright 2017 WKU Public Radio

Rhonda Miller began as reporter and host for All Things Considered on WKU Public Radio in 2015. She has worked as Gulf Coast reporter for Mississippi Public Broadcasting, where she won Associated Press, Edward R. Murrow and Green Eyeshade awards for stories on dead sea turtles, health and legal issues arising from the 2010 BP oil spill and homeless veterans. She has worked at Rhode Island Public Radio, as an intern at WVTF Public Radio in Roanoke, Virginia, and at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Rhonda’s freelance work called Writing Into Sound includes stories for Voice of America, WSHU Public Radio in Fairfield, Conn., NPR and AARP Prime Time Radio. She has a master’s degree in media studies from Rhode Island College and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University. Rhonda enjoys quiet water kayaking, riding her bicycle and folk music. She was a volunteer DJ for Root-N-Branch at WUMD community radio in Dartmouth, Mass.
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