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How could it have been better?

• Hayden could have won. Instead Rossi relentlessly closed the lead and made his move on the wounded American rider (broken foot — thanks to the X Games) just past the halfway mark. Until then Hayden had looked unassailable, setting “fast lap” time after time.

• It could have been dry. Racers and fans alike were challenged by the capricious weather. Thank goodness the track was wet enough at the start to compel teams to run full rain tires, because the skies opened up again just as the track was starting to dry out. Tires didn’t determine the outcome — at least no more than usual.

Hayden looked like a man on a mission all weekend, just as he has in years past at the other U.S. round of the MotoGP, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. You got the strong impression watching this wounded warrior that he was giving 110 percent all the time — his body language on the bike was unmistakable.

That raises an interesting issue in regard to our expectations from athletes in general, and racers in particular.

We love professional sports because it presents the best athletes in the world going head-to-head against each other. We expect that these guys are always doing their very best — yet we know that this can’t really be true. If it were, how could you explain a lowly team (think Detroit Lions) occasionally knocking off a really good team?

So this weekend, we had Nicky Hayden riding like a man possessed. That’s very cool from the fan perspective — we love to see that extreme passion combined with extreme talent.

But who else was giving their all?

Clearly Rossi — he has a pattern of raising his game whenever something big is on the line. That’s the champion in him — greatness that won’t be denied.

But sometimes Rossi’s definition of “something big on the line” isn’t obvious.

This weekend, it seemed to be the chance to become the first MotoGP winner at Indianapolis — another spot in the history books. The first Indy motorcycle winner in nearly 100 years. Also now he becomes the most successful GP rider ever in terms of premier class victories, ahead of Giacomo Agostini. Rossi loves to make history.

Ben Spies was another rider rising to the occasion. He vowed he would be among the top-eight all weekend (corresponding to the critical first two rows of qualifying), and he delivered, earning fifth on the grid and finishing the race in sixth position. Well done — and worthy of a MotoGP ride next year.

Racing is full of colorful, meaningful truisms. One is that you only go fast enough to win. That means there’s no reason to push your own and the machine’s limits unreasonably — just do enough to beat the second-fastest guy.

Usain Bolt showed that this translates to foot races as well as motor races when he coasted across the finish line to victory in the Olympic 100-meters. Yes he could have gone faster — he probably will. But he won, end of story.

So by extension, as a racer do you push the limits when you know you can’t win — when the machine (or the tires, electronics, etc.) isn’t up to the task? One extreme is the “win or crash trying” school, where you don’t accept tenth place or whatever the machine deserves on that day, and “over-ride” in order to try for a better result, to the point of exceeding the limits of physics.

But there is another old racing saying — “There are old riders, and there are bold riders, but there is a great shortage of old, bold riders.” The overly bold don’t last.

Behind Rossi and Hayden and perhaps Spies, were there riders exceeding the limits of their machines? Were there riders just happy to get out of Indy in one piece. Yes to both I’d say.

Hayden put it this way in his post-race news conference — he had worn down his rain tires so much when the track was drying that when it started raining again, he was in real trouble. “I had no tread left on part of the left side of the tire. When it started to rain heavy again, it was so gnarly. But I held on. Sure, home race, you think, sure, you dream about winning but, honestly I shouldn’t be too greedy with how things have went, take this second and enjoy it. … I can’t say I left much on the table today. That’s how it’s supposed to be.”

Hayden’s drive comes in part from the fact he loves to perform for his fans — he has a red-white-and-blue streak a mile wide. He truly is the “people’s champion” here at home, and now you can buy gear that says so (http://nickyhaden.com).

Case in point: Hayden could and probably should have been resting his broken foot on Saturday night. All day he had been limiting the amount of pressure he put on the injury by parking his motorcycle and his chair close to each other in pit lane.

But instead he was at the revived Indy Mile — one American legend honoring another — where the dirt track elite performed before a massive crowd of appreciative fans.

It was pure Americana, and there was Hayden, on crutches, his big child-like smile belying his 27 years, speaking to the crowd about his love for the sport, and his love for the fans.

This was a big deal, and “King” Kenny Roberts was on hand too, along with Jay Springsteen (and his little dog, too), and new AMA dirt track boss Mike Kidd.

Perhaps Hayden also was inspired by 41-year-old legend Chris Carr, who fed off the crowd and led the field of younger, fitter, perhaps even faster riders to the finish line for a very well-earned victory.

Many in the grandstands were dirt track first-timers, in town for the big MotoGP show. For others, the chance to see two top-flight events made Indianapolis the must-do town this weekend.

They sat shoulder-to-shoulder with dirt-track diehards and caught the fever. Expect them all to be back next year, as organizers announced the dream matchup of MotoGP and Indy Mile has already been confirmed for 2009.

Book your tickets — and your hotel rooms — now!

Random points of interest from the weekend:

• The first Hayden from Owensboro, KY, to lead a race this weekend was Hayden Callum, in the 125cc Red Bull Rookies Cup international challenge. This young Hayden was upholding American honor against the up-and-coming international stars until he crashed out of second place exiting Turn 8. It was a fine effort and the crowd showed its appreciation.

• The Speedway is an interesting venue for MotoGP. Overall the track layout gets high marks, although Rossi noted some safety changes will be “needed” for next year. Expect them to happen, such is the power of this one man. Compared with Mazda Raceway, Indy has far more “infrastructure” — meaning grandstands, viewing mounds, permanent buildings for the vendors, etc. At MRLS, the “tent city” section is where you find all the action — but at IMS the vendors with big, expensive tents were essentially a bit of a backwater for fans.

• Speaking of tents, the Yamaha display — which must have been well over 100 feet long — was devastated by the Sunday afternoon winds. Big aluminum poles were topped, fabric ripped apart. An ambulance pulled alongside; hopefully any injuries were minor.

• Women are starting to break into flat track — a very welcome development. Both made the main event of their classes, but both crashed out. Nicole Cheza in particular looked and sounded like this sport’s version of Danica Patrick — a breakout star in the making. Check out her page at http://www.nicholecheza.com.

• The 21-year-old Cheza — like about half the field it seems — is from Michigan. Year after year the 100-mile region around Lapeer churns out great racers.

• Flat track is a great show — with only a few obstacles standing in the way of success. Some are easily solved — like moving the announcer’s platform so it doesn’t block of the view of the big (and expensive) TV screen. Others — like spreading the word — are going to require a fresh approach. For my money, this show is twice as entertaining as NASCAR — at least.

• Throngs were lined up outside the Indiana State Fair box office as late as 9 p.m. trying to get in. It looked like they all made it … but the opening ceremonies were at 6:30 and the main classes started racing at 7.

• Nicky Hayden is talking publicly now about leaving Honda, where he won a World Championship just two short years ago but has never been treated as Number One. He can’t yet say where he’s going, but all the money is on Ducati. As America is Ducati’s most important market, could they possibly do better than America’s most popular sportbike racer? Not likely. If someone isn’t already penning a Nicky Hayden Replica bike, I’d be shocked.

• Just a day after the USGP, Ducati broke the silence, announcing Hayden will line up next to current World Champ Casey Stoner on the factory team. They will test together Oct. 27, right after the season-ending Valencia GP.

• The difference between 125 bikes on the small extreme and MotoGP bikes on the large appears to be huge. And not just in the ways I expected. The wet track showed off the fact that while MotoGP bikes have enormously more acceleration than the little bikes, they also seem to corner better. Give some credit to the traction control — you could hear the Ducatis particularly sputtering the engine as they kept the rear wheel from spinning, and the electronics on the satellite Ducatis seemed more intrusive than the factory bikes — but also give credit to the suspension and especially to the riders. These guys are magic.

• The Hayden family was well represented at the track. In addition to Nicky, his father Earl and mother Rose were working the family’s gift shop and Earl in particular was working the crowd.

• Hayden sported an Indianapolis Colts horseshoe logo on his helmet for the weekend. Growing up, he played youth football and Indianapolis was the closest NFL team, so he’s a fan.