40 points of winning the championship, finishing behind only champion Mat Mladin and runner-up Eric Bostrom. In the 2002 season, he won the Daytona 200 on a Honda Superbike en route to becoming the youngest ever AMA Superbike Champion, defeating reigning triple champion Mat Mladin, among others. He also entered the World Superbike round at Laguna Seca, making a solid fourth in the first race before colliding with Noriyuki Haga in the second which ended in a 13th place finish. Hayden was one of a long line of American road racers to come from the American dirt-track scene. In 1999, Hayden won his first Grand National Championship race (Hagerstown Half Mile) and took Rookie of the Year honors. He was also declared the AMA's athlete of the Year. In 2000, Hayden won the Springfield Short Track. In 2002, despite racing in just a handful of dirt-track events, Hayden won four races: Springfield Short Track (twice), Springfield TT, and Peoria TT. At the Springfield TT race, the three Hayden brothers took the first three places (Nicky first, Tommy second, and Roger Lee third). The win at the 2002 Peoria TT came after beating 13-time Peoria winner, Chris Carr, despite starting from the penalty line. Hayden only lacked a win at a mile track to join Dick Mann, Kenny Roberts, Bubba Shobert, and Doug Chandler in the prestigious "Grand Slam Club." MotoGP World Championship Honda (2003–2008) 2003 Immediately after winning his AMA Superbike championship, Hayden was tapped to join not only Honda's MotoGP racing efforts, but what was arguably the premier team in MotoGP racing: The Factory Repsol Honda team. In his rookie year of MotoGP, Hayden would be overshadowed by his teammate Valentino Rossi, who was the defending series champion of the year, but would still score consistent points. At the opening round in Japan, Hayden finished seventh while Rossi won the race. But the race was marred by the death of Japanese rider Daijiro Kato who crashed at the 130R and hit the barrier at high speed in the ensuing Casio Triangle. At the next race in South Africa, Hayden would once more finish in seventh position while his teammate scored second place. Hayden's only retirement of the season came in Spain. He would score two 12th places at the next rounds in France and Italy and would finish ninth in Catalunya. Further points would arrive at the Dutch round