It seems like a that-can’t-be-right stat, but indeed it is true: Honda’s last World Superbike win came in May of 2016, when American Nicky Hayden won Race Two at Sepang. He took victory in wet conditions and was overjoyed to join the select club of riders who, in their careers, have won in AMA Superbike, MotoGP, and WorldSBK.

But a little over a year later, Hayden was killed in a bicycle accident in Italy.

Since then, Honda has invested millions into its World Superbike program, now fielding an official HRC team with new bikes and top-level riders. Incredibly, Honda hasn’t won a single WSBK race since Hayden’s popular win. Entire seasons have gone by with the might of Honda and HRC broadly humbled by Ducati, Yamaha, and BMW. Ten Kate Honda—Honda’s longtime partner in WorldSBK—was pushed out as the factory took over, but the HRC-run CBR1000RR proved even less competitive than the Ten Kate machine.

Ironically, HRC can still build a race-winning CBR1000RR capable of conquering the exalted Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race but in WSBK they are out to lunch.

It’s well known that, in the final months of his life, Hayden was deeply frustrated with the Honda motorcycle he was forced to ride in WSBK. His final race for the Honda team in Italy was a disaster, the throttle sticking wide open several times as he tried to go fast. Hayden had been promised a new Superbike for the 2017 season, but what emerged was just an updated Ten Kate Honda. This did not sit well with Hayden to say the least.

In last weekend's WSBK races at Jerez, the factory Honda was between six and nine seconds back at the checkered flag.

Ten years on, Honda still hasn’t stood atop a World Superbike podium. The drought remains, the excuses change, and Nicky Hayden’s Sepang win grows more mythic with every passing season—a final, rain-soaked reminder of what both rider and factory were once capable of.