James Haydon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Haydon is a British motorcycle racer, although he currently lives in Andorra. Having already won 4 British 250cc races, he competed in the 1993 British 500cc Grand Prix, finishing 11th to become the youngest ever British points-scorer in a top-division international race. Having won a British Superbike race in 1994, he raced full-time in the 500cc world championship class in 1995-1996 for WCM, taking a few top 10 results, and in WSBK in 1997, again with a best result of 9th.

For 1998 he returned home, to the British Superbike championship, and had 4 years of regular success including twice finishing 4th in the standings, and a total of 10 wins. In 2002 he joined Carl Fogarty's Foggy Petronas in WSBK, developing the bike for a year before an unsuccessful year racing it in 2003.

He started 2004 without a ride, but stood in on a Virgin Mobile Yamaha in the British Superbike series for several rounds, taking the bike's only win of the year in the series. He should have spent 2005 on an Airwaves Ducati, but a pre-season injury saw Gregorio Lavilla take over the ride, keeping it after a promising start (and eventually winning the championship on it).

By mid-season James had a new ride, returning to Suzuki alongside John Reynolds, and spent 2006 with the team with 2003 champion Shane Byrne for 2006. However, the first half of his season has included several crashes. After he missed round 6 through injury, he returned in round 7, and after running off the track he failed to see Dean Thomas taking the normal racing line behidn him, causing a huge crash which left Thomas in intensive care. James missed several races before returning, and he ends 2006 with no 2007 ride signed.