Estenson Racing is pleased to announce that Roger Hayden will fill in for JD Beach this Saturday, June 1, at the Red Mile, in Lexington, Kentucky, the first Mile race of the 2019 American Flat Track Championship.
The youngest brother of the well-known Hayden family, Roger has been involved in racing his whole life. Growing up in Owensboro, Kentucky, the 35-year-old has strong dirt track roots. Like his brothers, Hayden eventually went on to road racing and established a successful professional career. He competed both here in the U.S. and abroad, taking 21 wins in the U.S. National road racing championship (now MotoAmerica), and winning the AMA Supersport title in 2007.
Hayden retired from Superbike racing at the end of last season. After some time off, he looks forward to returning to racing and back to his dirt track roots in his home state of Kentucky with his parents as the Grand Marshals of the event.
“I’m really excited because it’s going to be a special weekend for the family,” Hayden said. “My parents are Grand Marshals, and to have Tommy [Hayden] as my team manager is definitely really cool. I was going to be home this weekend, anyway, so I was going to go watch. I feel like it’s going to be a great weekend for the family with us back dirt track racing and a dollar from each ticket sale going to Nicky’s Memorial Foundation. More importantly I’m excited to get out and try to learn as fast as possible and get back to doing a little bit of racing. I’m also looking forward to getting there and racing in front of people in Kentucky, too. I’ve never raced a national in Kentucky, so it would be awesome to see all the Kentucky fans there. They’ll have a Kentucky boy to root for.”
“I’m so excited to have a rider of Roger Hayden’s caliber race for us this weekend,” Team Owner, Tim Estenson said. “I got to know Roger and the rest of the Hayden family in Austin during the MotoGP weekend when they retired Nicky’s number, and they are great people. I look forward to seeing him make his return to dirt track racing aboard our MT-07 DT in his home state of Kentucky.”