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: Repsol Honda.
Segera setelah memenangkan kejuaraan AMA Superbike-nya, Hayden 'disadap' untuk bergabung kepada bukan sekedar tim Honda MotoGP biasa, tetapi apa yang bisa dibilang tim utama di balapan MotoGP: Repsol Honda.