Toby Moody and Neil Spalding take themselves back to the remarkable 2006 MotoGP season, when Nicky Hayden and Honda defeated the seemingly unstoppable Valentino Rossi/Yamaha combination. They recall why Hayden was on a 'special' development Honda that year, and how it ended up being a 'patchwork' bike. They also look at what caused the chatter problems that derailed Rossi's season, and the non-scores that proved so costly for The Doctor. Ducati was in the mix with Loris Capirossi until the horror shunt at Barcelona, which also effectively ended Sete Gibernau's career as a top-line rider. The Michelin v Bridgestone tyre war was in full effect by this point, and the two companies went about MotoGP in very different ways. The year reached a conclusion with Hayden and Honda seemingly throwing it away as Rossi hacked away at the points deficit, culminating in the implosion that was Dani Pedrosa taking Hayden out in the penultimate round - one of MotoGP's greatest races at Estoril. But the drama wasn't done there, and Toby and Neil recall their memories of being in Valencia when Hayden was crowned, Rossi fell, and Troy Bayliss blew everyone away on a one-off return to Ducati. And finally, Neil tells us what it was like to ride Hayden's bike the following day!

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