Here comes the U.S GP!!!!!

This will be the thread i post all the GP stuff in!

They have some really cool after hours events which i will photo share...

I am gonna see about getting video only camera,they are pretty fair priced,if not this yr then for sure next, and start learing how to post clips...my nikon will take video but it is hit and miss on quality and it picks up side noise and slight winds too much.


this years qualifying and track events are 8 am---8 pm pretty much and we wanna stay and catch the later stuff ,as we hear that Wayne,Eddie,Kenny and some others will be there and that is the best chance to get cool stuff that is not handed out elsewhere.

We drove up to the track and by our seat of the bike estimates ,the event is back to pre-downturn size!!!
Lots of big top tents and added seating in turn one and turn 5....

We got to ride around through the vendor areas and pit lanes,as no one was around on a sunday at 5 pm and the few folks we saw just waved at us...as the event prepares it will be harder to get in on the bike...but we have a secret inroads/ path to park right under the grandstands and walk right out into the event,it is actually not a secret ,we just drive right past the dude standing guard and nodd like we own the place..ala el jimmy rockford...saves 50 bucks for a paved areas parking pass or saves parking on these giant dirt lots and risking a tip over while away..plus the bike gets about 1/4 of dust parked out in the "sand bowls"

see if this link works to see the special events ect.. www.mazdaraceway.com/pages/Red_Bull_US_Grand_Prix

later...

rossi will ride.....pedrossa won in germany and he kind of a is a streaky winner so he may be up to a repeat of last years run away win.....
Laguna Seca seems to be a confidence and set up track from what i've read....i remeber reading ben bostrom saying that he would keep the set up he ran to win here before...even with a different makers bike....and he would be fast right away in testing....

i also read rossi team amnager say recently that seca was tough trck because it made you run the short gear....????

nother

I'm super jealous. I wish I could go this year, but it's not in the cards. Maybe next year. Hmmm!

It's awesome that Rossi made it back in time. He rode well for a first race back. Not bad for a guy who used a cane to get out to the bike. Hopefully Ben and Collin are competitive, they sucked in Germany.

it was great to see tiny Dani Pedrosa win one yesrday in sachsenring germany...good for the season,the sport and the points chase,good for rossi ,good for stoner...ect...ect..plus it was maybe the only real race so far this year...fun to watch and action packed...not a run away-....he is a quiet guy and has a great sense of humility...he does not shoot off fireworks or do the moonwalk in the sand traps when he wins one...his manager...not so much..


plus it means Jorge Lorenzo wont just win hands down...


last yr at seca we watched as stoner and rossi dominated and switched top spots on the qualifying time tower all day fri and sat the buzz was about them really.....then in the race when all eyes were on them....Dani grabbed a holeshot and shut the whole track up.....there were rossi fans and groupies all over the place just being loud and stuck up... really loud and rude and just bump right into amy ect..euro fans standing up in the stands unravelling banners for the t.v and blocking about thirty people sitting behind em from watching the race,and ignoring people asking em to please sit down...lots of stuff like that.....but Dani put em back in their chairs from the first to last lap...


also great that rossi will ride because it really hurts the crowd numbers if he is not there...even thought his fans can be pushy, they bring a bag a euros with em... and pretty girls sometimes too....lol.....


edit...batteries...just my shopping list...batteries ,,,batteries,,,

California Highway Patrol officers this weekend will flood the roads leading to
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.


Officer Robert Lehman said the influx of traffic, with thousands of spectators and motorcycles coming through Monterey County, makes it necessary to have additional officers out in search of careless drivers and riders.

"We step-up our enforcement (and) we step-up the amount of officers we have out there just to try and keep everybody safe and make sure folks are following the rules as they need to be everyday," Lehman said.

The CHP patrols will include officers on police motorcycles.

The motorcycles, Lehman said, allow the officers to get through congested traffic with ease not afforded to an officer in a patrol car.

Anyone tempted to take the speed and thrills of the race track to the road, will likely come away with a hefty traffic ticket.

"We want to be out there and have the presence that will hopefully subdue some of that activity," Lehman said.

The basic fine for driving up to 15 mph above a 55 or 65 mph posted speed limit is $146. With additional court imposed penalties, that fine increases to $212 and $271 for the option to attended traffic school.

Drive faster than 15 mph above the limit and the basic fine is nearly double.

But officers won't be looking out just for speeders.

"We are going to be looking for basic unsafe driving," Lehman

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said.
That includes talking on cell phones while driving, not wearing seat belts and possible drunken drivers.

"We are going to try to be a visible presence to keep everybody calm and everybody safe," Lehman said.

The major highways in the county, 1, 68, 101 and 156 are expected to have increased traffic congestion during the weekend because of the motorcycle races and other events. Traffic may be especially slow Saturday and Sunday on Highway 101 because of the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival.

And Sunday is the 40th Annual Moss Landing Antique Street Fair.

"There's going to be a lot of extra traffic," and drivers should plan for delays, Lehman said.

On the Peninsula, South Boundary Road and Gen. Jim Moore Boulevard between Canyon Del Rey Road and Broadway Avenue will be closed Friday through Sunday because of the race traffic.

Spectators arriving on motorcycles, who are heading to the track, should enter from Reservation Road. Lehman said the Highway 68 entrance will be closed to spectators.

All drivers traveling this weekend should be extra cautious because of the thousands of motorcycles, Lehman said.

"Everybody needs to pay a little more attention, obviously motorcycles are hard to see most of the time and a lot of people can be surprised by them showing up so quick," he said.

One rule of thumb for drivers should be to double check blind spots before making lane changes on the freeway and motorcycle drivers should ride under the assumption that other drivers won't see them, Lehman said.


Daniel Lopez can be reached at d.lopez@monterey herald. com

Wayne Rainey offers thoughts on recovering Rossi..monterey herald news

Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix
Jul 19:
Motorcycles not just at Laguna SecaPeninsula hotels filling up for Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix weekendJul 20:
Pit crew's heavy work comes before raceIf there is a better man in the world to comment on Valentino Rossi's comeback effort after his serious injuries just six-plus weeks ago than Wayne Rainey of Monterey, I don't know who it is.
As previously chronicled in Pitstop a few days ago, Rossi was cleared to resume competition this past weekend at the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring following a horrific "high-side" accident in the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello June 5. He fractured his right tibia and suffered a shoulder injury in the crash and, remarkably, was back on his M1 Fiat Yamaha in Germany.

Fortunately for us locally, that also means the nine-time World champion (seven in the premier MotoGP class) will be at next weekend's (July 23-25) Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Rossi qualified fifth behind pole winner and Fiat Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo of Spain Saturday and finished fourth in the red-flag shortened 21-lap race (scheduled for 30) Sunday.

Spaniard Dani Pedrosa won the race on his Repsol Honda by a little over 3.3 seconds over MotoGP championship leader Lorenzo with 2007 World champion Casey Stoner of Australia (Ducati Team) taking third after a great duel with the surprising Rossi. For several laps toward the end, the two raced side-by-side and Stoner made a strong move in the final corner to take the podium spot.

The original race was red-flagged when Frenchman Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) went down had in Turn 4 on the ninth lap,

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collecting two other riders as his bike burst into flames. It was confirmed after the race that de Puniet fractured both the tibia and fibula in his left leg.
Rainey had told me after Saturday's qualifying that both Sachsenring and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca favor left-hand turns, which takes some pressure off the right leg and could be of benefit to Rossi (who qualified fifth) in his quick comeback. He also said that just having his two-time reigning champion teammate back on the grid could help Lorenzo be even sharper.

He was right on both counts. Rossi was competitive after missing four races and Lorenzo, after doing battle with Pedrosa in the early going, rode smart and backed off some to ensure second-place points (20) and maintain a solid 47-point lead over Pedrosa (185-138) heading into Monterey next weekend. Lorenzo had won three straight races after Rossi went down and has finished no worse than second thus far this year.

Was Rainey surprised at Rossi's strong race?

"Not really," he said from his Monterey home. "For Rossi, this is really his first broken bone and (period on the) sidelines."

Rainey explained that where the tibia was broken — the bone itself — it's easy to put it back together and a shorter recovery time. With a break in the joint — such as the ankle or knee — "It has to be pinned and it's tougher to come back," he said.

There are no roll cages or reinforced cockpits on a motorcycle, so there is no protection. "You're always going to have guys racing with broken bones," Rainey added. "It's the nature of the beast."

For the casual fan or those of you who might not remember, Rainey won three consecutive 500cc World Championships from 1990-'92 and was the points leader the next season when he had a career-ending crash while running up front in the Italian Grand Prix at Misano that left him paralyzed from the chest down.

"I had fractured two vertebrae in my back two races before my final race and my back was weak," Rainey said. "When you get separated from your bike, there is nothing to protect you and the best thing is not to try to stand up. You're going (sliding) 70 miles and hour and you're not going to get up and run 70 (mph)."

The charismatic Rossi, who is now 31, surprised himself with his own display.

"I didn't expect this," Rossi said at the press conference in Germany. "I thought it was maybe possible to make fourth or fifth place, but I thought it would be very difficult. In the end, I was fourth, but I had a great battle with Casey and I was so close to the podium, so this is a fantastic result after missing four races."

Despite just missing the podium, Rossi was satisfied. "I need some more kilometers to really recover the feeling and feel completely okay with the bike again," he said. "But, I think I did a great job and this was a very good comeback, better than we could wish for. I felt a bit of pain in my shoulder, but at the end, the battle with Casey was such fun that I didn't think about it. Unfortunately, though, he just got the better of me on the last corner."

Rainey explained to me that when the race is red-flagged, unless it's reached about 70 percent completion or so (in which case, it becomes an official race), when it is restarted, it's a whole new race and the previous laps are just counted down. That's different from when he was racing when there was a formula for figuring in those laps in the restart that became very confusing for the fans (and even the riders in some cases).

With respect to Lorenzo, Rainey noted, "This is where the experience of racing for a world championship (which the 23-year-old had done — though not winning any prior titles) helps. He was battling Rossi and then he (Valentino) was injured and Lorenzo won the next three races. If he had made it four in a row, he would really have opened things up (in the points).

"What you have to think first of is the points lead. "He did by far the best think he could do. He didn't do anything stupid by trying for the win (the way Pedrosa was riding) and he got the 20 points for second." First place is worth 25 points in MotoGP.

The way Rossi ran at Germany, watch out for him at Mazda Raceway, where he finished second last year and won in 2008.

Americans Nicky Hayden of Kentucky, the 2006 World champ (Ducati Team), and Texan Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), the 2009 World Superbike champ, finished seventh and eighth, respectively. Colin Edwards (Spies' teammate) of Texas crashed out after two laps in the original start of the race.

I'll have more on Hayden and Spies from my conversation with Rainey later in another Pitstop.

Pit crew's heavy work comes before race


are not what you would normally think of when you hear the words "pit crew."
Motorcycle races last about 100 kilometers, or roughly 28 laps at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. So pit crew members there this week don't worry about changing tires or topping off the fuel tank in less than a minute like a pit crew in a NASCAR race.

Instead, Superbike racer Aaron Yates, who rides for Michael Jordan Motor Sports, depends on team manager Pete Mauhar, mechanic Boyd Bruner and other mechanics to get his Suzuki motorcycle dialed in well before the race.

The team's four race bikes were trucked from West Allis, Wis.-based Gemini Racing to the track Tuesday. Bruner, who arrived Wednesday with the rest of the team, helped put up bike stands and set out tools in the paddock to get ready for the real work.

Bruner, Yates' chassis-and-tire tech, gets the primary and backup bikes ready by replacing temporary tires and setting the bikes' suspensions for test runs. Technicians from another contractor, Bazzaz Performance, tune the engine electronics and calibrate the suspensions after each practice session.

A lot on a racing motorcycle gets changed after each session — brake pads, tires, shocks — and suspension settings are readjusted.

"We change the geometry to make it handle," Bruner said.

A suspension technician rebuilds the forks and shocks after almost every session with input from riders, he said.

Bruner, 41, has been a professional mechanic for five

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years and spends the offseason working at his motorcycle shop in Chicago. He was once a racer. He said he raced against Yates before he became a mechanic.
Mauhar, the team manager, makes sure everything goes smoothly.

The team gets its hands on the next season's motorcycles in December and spends three months in research and development to prepare for the first race in Daytona, Fla., in March. Everything from electronics to rods and pistons are tested before the race, Mauhar said.

A technician spends three days to build a race engine. It is driven 700 miles, or several races, before being rebuilt, Mauhar said. It puts out more than 205 horsepower on a 370-pound Superbike. Just in case, the team has four extra engines in the truck.

Mauhar said the four-member pit crew's goal is to ensure the bike runs well throughout a race. During a race, all they can do is watch.

Motorcycles are getting more sophisticated. Today's traction-control systems made their entrance about four years ago.

Mauhar spends the offseason, from October to early December, in negotiations with sponsors. Typically, mechanics are on annual contracts that start at $35,000 a year.

It's hard to get long-term help because of the single-year contracts, he said.

Mauhar started in the business in 1995. He has worked with riders as young as 21 and as old as 37 years old.


Ryan Panlilio can be reached at rpanlilio@montereyherald.com or 646-4487.

the local morning no-news went for about ten minutes before they remebered to mention the u.s grand prix...

had to get all the little muder and mayhem covered first...then they talked about some local events...and ..oh yes there is a world class motogp this weekend at our famous local track ...that brings in....get this....about 100 million dollars to the local economy...yes they said 100 million...i am not sure but that figure seems high to my caveman mind....but i guess so...they interviewed a local resturaunter who spoke on camera saying they wait all year for this and that it is by far the biggest event for them buisness wise....and props em up to make it through the off season??

and we have quit a few other big deals too, sports car series, and pebble beach and monterey historic races and such ...concourse d'elagance,,,big time car auction...ect..ect...pro am....so it must really draw some funds to pass the big golf and car events..

anyways i'm gonna look around and see if 100 million iis even a number...lol

see if i can sleep a few hrs after my final night ,for the next 8 days im a free man agian...bikes and bbq...for a while now...no word from the chicago twins...maybe just family to deal with this yr.....but they could still be planning to attend and just not called either way..tip touchers.....if i can get some sleep today i wanna put the dyna 111 and carbs and a pipe on the MKII and see if it will run for bike nights ect...later today i'll start on it...

couple of pics of seca display bikes from previous yrs to sign out


a look inside a modern triumph

nother...anyones guess???

Don't know, but reminded of H-D Blast (jug and top of case).

Good Fortune!