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MOTOGP LAGUNA SECA

by Closersooner

Any MotoGP in the world.

Pick one. Go on.

Which one would you choose?

This is the dilemma I was faced with, after winning a MotoGP fantasy league on another motorcycle website last year. Casey Stoner's good form was my good fortune...

First prize was 3 nights accommodation, track transfers and grandstand tickets for 2 people. All Sabrina (she who must be obeyed) and I had to do was get there. And pick an event.

Assen. Misano. Mugello. So many to choose from in Europe. But having been to Europe a few years ago, I wanted to see another part of the world. Being down here in Oz, we are so far away from the rest of the world, so if we were going to go that far, we may as well make a holiday out of it as well. The US was almost an obvious choice for us on that count. We have friends and family there that we had been threatening to come and see for a while, so the decision was made. Laguna Seca it would be.

Long haul flights aren't fun. Especially in cattle class. But, if that's what had to be done then so be it. But to get off at the end and find that your connecting flight has been cancelled, and there are none available until the next day, didn't impress me one bit. Luckily some charm and an Aussie accent help in these situations, and I found myself on a direct flight straight to Monterey. Unfortunately my bags didn't take the same route.

Did I mention the hotel we were staying at was a 5 star? Not too shabby at all, right on Cannery Row, where all the action is of an evening. It was akin to staying on the main drag in Cowes. I had been in the room for all of 10 minutes when the phone rang. It was the managing director of the company that supplied the prize package, Pole Position Travel. He was at the bar in the hotel, and wanted to catch up for a drink. I had a few shouts to buy this bloke, I thought...

A few beers later, we decided to head to Knuckles, which is the sports bar at the Hyatt hotel. We walked in the joint and it was what you imagine a real Yank sports bar to be.

TV screens on every wall, showing almost every sport you could imagine. I say almost, because there was no MotoGP. Anyway that was made up for as we sat down on the table that had been reserved for us. Already there were a few people who had paid for packages (the poor suckers!). It was awesome, because no matter where we were all from, there was the common theme of motorcycles. Mainly Americans, a couple of Poms, and my missus and I, the lone Aussies. I think you can guess who everyone wanted to speak to! And what did most of them want to speak about? Phillip Island of course. The amount of respect the track has internationally among regular punters is up there with the best of them. We've got a legend on our doorstep, which is something I think we take for granted sometimes.

Speaking of legends, there happened to be a couple present at the bar that night. The Kawasaki team, complete with riders Ant West and John Hopkins were there having a beer or two. More than happy to talk too, the both of them. They were able to mingle easily in the bar too, which surprised us because I'm not sure they would get off so lightly in the Isle of Wight Hotel on Phillip Island.

I woke up at 5am Friday morning with a headache and jetlag. I had to get some aspirin, so I took a stroll to the 24 hour drugstore. It was a bloody supermarket! I ended up walking out of there with aspirin, jocks, socks, (remember I was still without a change of clothes), a jumper, cigarettes, 2 bottles of coke and a bottle of Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey. Quite an eclectic shopping list for 5:30 in the morning. I proceeded to get back to the room, pop a couple of pills and get stuck into the whiskey... that'll fix the headache...
 

Heading out to the track there was a noticeable lack of bikes on the road with us. I wondered whether we were going to be going to an event that was poorly patronized. I have this impression of Americans as ignorant to anything that is not home grown, so maybe they would be apathetic to MotoGP and view it as a bunch of mainly Europeans riding around on Jap bikes. I needn't have worried, because arriving at the track we found ourselves surrounded by much the same crowd you find at the Australian GP. Bikes from every manufacturer, every style, to suit just about every taste. As I said about the people I met last night, motorcyclists are motorcyclists, no matter where they come from.

As an extra bonus in my prize, we were thrown a couple of tickets to the hospitality tent on Turn 5. Things just kept getting better. We could have stayed in the tent and been quite happy, what with beer, wine and food supplied. But that would have been a sterile environment, and not at all what we came for.

Assuming that everywhere was like Phillip Island we thought we were going to have to walk around the outside of the whole track to get to Turn 11.When you consider that the elevation changes 91 metres from the highest to the lowest parts of the track this seemed pretty daunting. This is why there are 3 different pedestrian bridges across the track, making access to any part of it a breeze. Crossing to the infield is an awesome experience. There's a food and drink area with more choices than you can poke a corn-dog at. There's a display area that would cover the MCG. The merchandise tent was twice as big as the AMCN expo. They seriously do not do things by halves there.

Alcohol prices were similar to the OzGP, with a 500ml Corona costing about $7. Not that I bought too many, because you were able to BYO into the track. There were eskies all over the place! We took Crown Royal in plastic bottles, and mixed it with the free Coke at the hospitality tent. Yep, we're all class, us.

In the middle of the track there is a lake, and in the middle of the lake there is an island. Ducati had taken over the island, and called it... wait for it... "Ducati Island".

 Upon presentation of your registration papers which showed your enforced slavery ownership of a Ducati, you could enter. This was presumably to prevent the Ducati owners from being taunted by the riders of faster and more refined motorcycles. Or it could have been to restrict access to the latte machine. I'm not sure.

This is where I have to eat my words, because in practice there was one bike that couldn't be matched: the Ducati of Stoner. He dominated practice like no one before him. He broke lap record after lap record. The trackside commentators were in awe of his consistent pace, and I think there were a few other riders who were scratching their heads as to how to keep up. The downside was that walking around with an Aussie flag around your neck made people think I was a Stoner fan...

As a bonus, when I got back to the hotel, my bag had arrived. At last, a change of clothes! That night we were taken to a room at the Hyatt, where we were in for a bit of a treat. And I'm not talking about more free food and grog. Mark Neale, the writer and director of the movies 'Faster' and 'The Doctor, the Texas Tornado and The Kentucky Kid', was going to be there and talking about his experience making the films. He was a great speaker, with some pretty cool subject matter too. I could have listened to him for hours, explaining what the riders were like, how much of a pain in the arse Dorna was, and what an arrogant prick Max Biaggi is.

The Saturday morning practice was postponed due to fog. You couldn't see 10 metres in front of you up the top of the track, so they waited an hour. It burnt off pretty quickly, and before long we were back where we left off yesterday watching the world's best go at it, drinking beer and getting sun burnt.

As you probably know, the 125s and 250s don't race at Laguna, but that doesn't mean there are any lulls in the action on track. The AMA superbikes are pretty much the support category, with the supersports as well. I watched the AMA guys as intently as I did the MotoGP guys, as it's not a category you get to see live every day. Riders such as Mladin, Zemke, Bostrom and DuHamel we have all heard of, so it was good to see their form live. Then there is the Red Bull Rookies Cup. This is a one make series with teenagers getting behind the bars of KTM RC125's to battle it out and ultimately progress their racing careers. Dylan Mavin, a 15 year old from the Gold Coast is the only Aussie in a very multicultural field. This must have been an awesome buzz for these guys, racing in front of such a big crowd. And the crowd was pretty appreciative and respectful of their efforts. I don't mind one-make series; I think you get a real feel for who the best riders are.

Another event they had on Saturday was what I called the Punter's Cup. Basically, for a fee, anyone could ride on the track for two laps. It was on around lunchtime, and there were all sorts of bikes out there, from Harleys to scooters. There was obviously some sort of set of rules, but the minute everyone set off they got forgotten. One of the highlights of the weekend for me: watching the furious flag marshal trying to get everyone to slow down, to no effect at all. Definitely a crowd pleaser.

 

 

MotoGP was more of the same as Friday. Stoner had his setup right, and earned pole position for his efforts. Rossi was second, nearly half a second behind.

Cannery Row in Monterey on Saturday night was a pretty busy place, bustling and moving with bikes, bikers and onlookers. There were more extended swingarms, LED lights, DVD screens and bling bling than there is in the whole of Australia. Customising your motorcycle is almost a must in the US. It was the 2 wheeled version of The Fast and the Furious. I like individuality, but the degree to which some of them took it was way over the top. But as I said before, nothing is done by halves over there.

Race day. Again, we started at the hospitality tent and loaded up on the free Coke, then headed over to grandstand to watch practice. By this stage I still hadn't done the one thing I wanted to do at the track and that is to go and see the corkscrew. We trekked up the hill (and quite a steep hill it was too), and found ourselves at the top of it. There were all the amenities you could want up there. Obviously people get up there and camp there for the day. There was even a stage with a band playing in between on track activities.

But none of that mattered after looking at the track. You all know what it looks like from seeing it on TV, but it is something else to see in person. We watched the AMA guys go through there, braking on the left side of the tyre, flipping right on the decline, and getting hard on the gas. It was awesome to watch, and a highlight of the event for me.

Back to the grandstand to watch the race with thousands of others, and what a race it was. We had a pretty good vantage spot because we had a superscreen in front of us, as well as being on the start/finish line. There were cheers, oohs and aahhs every time Stoner and Rossi swapped positions. Everyone appreciated the skill and commitment of the two of them, and despite not being a Stoner fan, I was disappointed when he came off because it robbed us of the climactic finish that would have befitted such a race. But every time that blue number 7 Suzuki came past I cheered myself hoarse, urging BIKE ME!'s own Chris Vermeulen onto the podium.

After 32 laps it was confirmed. Rossi is still the master. Stoner had fought well, but all his record breaking antics of Friday and Saturday counted for nowt. And third? CV had finished clear of Dovisioso and home town hero Hayden. We didn't get to hear the Aussie national anthem, but it didn't really matter after being thoroughly entertained for the previous 3 days.

Did I choose the right event? Bloody oath. Would I recommend the Red Bull US MotoGP at Laguna Seca to anyone else? You betcha.

Now, I just need to get my fantasy league predictions right for 2009...

 

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