Before he went to MotoGP, Nicky Hayden won the 2002 AMA Superbike Championship. Asked to comment on Internet denizens who now claim that Hayden somehow did not deserve to win or lucked into winning the 2002 AMA Superbike Championship and/or the 2006 MotoGP World Championship, six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin told roadracingworld.com the following: Regarding Hayden’s 2006 MotoGP World Championship: “It doesn’t matter how he did it, he did it. That’s pretty much how it is. I’ve heard at all before as AMA Superbike Champion. It doesn’t matter in the slightest how you did it, just that he’s done it. He has that big Number One on his bike next year and that’s what matters. Anybody who says he doesn’t deserve it is full of sh-t. “He’s worked for it his whole life. He put a good solid year together and won the Championship and now he can build on that.” Regarding Hayden winning the 2002 AMA Superbike Championship, a season in which Mladin started out with an injury: “That’s besides the point. Nicky won the 2002 AMA Superbike Championship. It really doesn’t matter. The bottom line is, I didn’t win the Championship. “You won the Championship, that’s great. If you didn’t, you have another go at it the next year. He won the 2002 AMA Superbike Championship and that’s all that matters, bottom line.”