Roger Hayden Says Getting Overlooked In The Pre-Season Hype Doesn’t Affect Him

Roger Hayden Says Getting Overlooked In The Pre-Season Hype Doesn’t Affect Him

© 2013, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

During the AMA Pro National Guard Superbike off-season most of the chatter has been centered around Martin Cardenas moving to the Yoshimura Suzuki factory team and Danny Eslick joining the Jordan Suzuki team and those riders’ chances of challenging three-time and defending Champion Josh Hayes for the title in 2013. Some of those discussions, however, have not mentioned other proven riders in the class, like Roger Hayden, a Superbike race winner in 2012 on his National Guard Suzuki GSX-R1000. But Hayden says being overlooked is nothing new and that it doesn’t even affect him anymore. “It doesn’t really bother me, I guess,” Hayden told Roadracingworld.com in the paddock at Daytona International Speedway. “Danny moving up to a competitive bike and Martin moving up as a strong rider, people should be excited about it. “Maybe people are overlooking me a little bit, but that happens, and it’s not the first time that has happened to me in my career. It doesn’t give me anymore motivation. I know who the main competitor is going to be this year, and that’s Josh [Hayes]. I know those other guys are going to be good, but week in, week out, Josh is always going to be there. “It doesn’t add or take away pressure or motivation. I put too much pressure on myself as it is. I don’t look at the outside stuff. I don’t know if it will help me or hurt me. I’ve been around so long now I don’t even look at that stuff. I know those guys will be competitive, so I don’t think it will be an advantage or disadvantage.”

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