CESENA-- Fans on Tuesday were mourning the death of 35-year-old MotoGP champion, Nicky Hayden, who died from serious cerebral damage following a collision with a car the previous Wednesday. 

 Hayden, otherwise nicknamed the Kentucky Kid, was hit by a car while cycling along the Rimini coastline and died in the intensive care unit of the Maurizio Bufalini Hospital in Cesena five days later.

 The hospital released a statement on Monday afternoon confirming the young sportsman’s death.

 “The medical team has verified the death of the patient Nicholas Patrick Hayden, who has been undergoing care since last Wednesday May 17 in the intensive care unit of the Bufalini Hospital in Cesena following a very serious polytrauma which occurred the same day,” the hospital statement read.

 The Kentucky Kid last won the MotoGP Championship in 2006, making him the last American to win the premier class of motorcycle road racing. He was in Rimini competing from Red Bull Honda in the World Superbike Championship, and last raced on May 14.

 The 2006 MotoGP championship winner was a real personality in the sporting world, and will be sorely missed by friends and family.

 His sister Kathleen commented, “today I not only lost my big brother, but I lost a best friend,” and Red Bull Honda World Superbike said the racing world had said goodbye to “one of its dearest sons.”

 Valentino Rossi, Italy’s MotoGP star described his competitor as “one of the best friends I’ve ever had in the paddock.”

 Hayden held 13^th place in the World Superbike Championship standings following his race in Imola on May 14.

tm