Riders

Top riders travel the world to compete in the annual FIM World Championship series. The championship is perhaps most closely followed in Italy and Spain, home of many of the more successful riders early in the 21st century. But in recent years more riders from the USA have been competing. This resulted in the reintroduction in 2005 of the US Grand Prix (albeit just for the MotoGP class, not 125cc & 250cc), an event staged at Laguna Seca where the American Nicky Hayden took his maiden MotoGP victory. Another American, Colin Edwards, gained second place in that race. In 2006, Hayden repeated his winning performance at Laguna Seca, despite serious difficulties with the track that—though repaved in June 2006, and incorporating improved safety features—exhibited serious problems with surface deterioration under conditions of severely warm weather. Hayden went on to win the 2006 MotoGP championship, with the winner of the previous five titles, Valentino Rossi, second. The Laguna Seca track was resurfaced for the 2007 event, leading to concerns about tyre choice on an entirely new racing surface.

The premier class in the early 21st-century seasons was dominated by Italian Valentino Rossi, winner of the 2001-2005 and later the 2008 titles. In an effort to beat Valentino's amazing consecutive victories on the 500-cc two-strokes and then the 990-cc four-stroke machines, other companies signed younger riders on newly-designed 800-cc machines. Honda in particular took this approach, with their 2006 racing plans focused on winning with 'next-generation' teams, signing Toni Elías, Marco Melandri, Dani Pedrosa, and Nicky Hayden, all of whom were then under 25. Ducati successfully employed a similar strategy for the 2007 season when they signed 21-year-old Casey Stoner of Australia. After a string of victories and podiums the highly consistent Stoner earned Ducati and Bridgestone their first World Championship title at the Motegi round of the 2007 calendar. Despite excellent performances early in the 2008 season, Stoner eventually found himself behind Rossi in points and was unable to recover, losing to Rossi dramatically in the Laguna Seca round and later being hampered by an old wrist injury (broken scaphoid, which never fully healed in 5 years). Stoner underwent surgery at seasons end to resolve this problem.

The 2006 championship was the first in 14 years to be decided at the final race. Valentino Rossi started the race with a eight-point lead. Hayden finished third with Rossi finishing 13th after crashing on lap five, giving Nicky Hayden his maiden MotoGP World Championship title. For 2009 Hayden moves to Ducati after having ridden Hondas virtually throughout his road-racing career. In early tests on the 09 Ducati during winter testing he pronounced himself pleased with the move.