YOUNG NICKY!!!!

[big J]

Fair play, Nicky well done.Now get your finger out and do it on the European circuits, Vale needs competition.

[gthyni]

Congrats to Nicky Hayden,

he needed this to keep his place in the HRC team for next year.

 

At least I got 2 of 3 podium standers right.

My tip for the podium:

1. Rossi

2. Barros

3. Edwards

 

.. and my no 2 was knocked out of the race by the no 2 of v50man

[supertwin1]

Oh man-can I pick 'em? :

[v50man]

 

Nice pic, eh?

 

Not if your name is Marco or Max.

 

Maybe this will buoy young Nicky's confidence and he can at least give Rossi something to think about. Max and Sete have nothing for Rossi -- maybe Nicky will.

 

Hurts to say this, as I've been a Biaggi fan for a decade, but I can now actually see him going an entire season without a MotoGP victory. That being said, when Danni Pedrosa shows up at the Repsol team HQ next year, it'll probably be Max who is sent packing.

 

'Til then, I guess we'll have to be happy to watch The Doctor duke it out with Melandri and Hayden. Ahh, racing...

[jrt]

Well, I THINK it was a fine race. Freakin' Fox-SpeedChannel-Epithet-Curse-Tarnation kept cutting out to commercial every 2.5 minutes. Damn that was the WORST coverage of an otherwise exciting race.

From what I could see- it looked like some of the major players were unfamiliar with the track- lots of sketchy cornering out there. The track itself looked like it had a very different character from the European races.

[soloNH]

Great race for Laguna, Nicky and Colin. Nick rode like he was in a trance, total focus.

 

Question? Valentino got 2nd best qualifying time.

Valentino is... well Valentino.

Seeing he couldn't catch Nicky......

 

Did he let Colin take 2nd.????

 

Don't get me wrong I love to watch Colin race and have watched him struggle for years in GP hoping he would get a brake with one of the majors. He has a great friendship with Valentino and Val. has the championship in his sights and with his lead in the pionts 3rd. works. He didn't ride with fire like usual, we didn't see any of the magic we usually see.

 

No sour grapes here, just a thought.

 

Oh, I almost forgot who give's a shit about texas hardtales.

[jihem]

He didn't ride with fire like usual, we didn't see any of the magic we usually see.

 

well, when he tried to have a go at Colin, seconds after the Tornado passed him, his lines went amok and wouldn't lead him nowhere. I think Nick and Colin were just too fast for him yesterday and he probably didn't feel much like falling after Melandri was out...

 

Laguna is a very strange circuit who doesn't allow mistakes...Most of the corners are deceptive in the way that they rarely finish how they started: a straight that goes up while curving up left , then down while turning even more on the left but the real entrance of the corner is waaaay later, a S (corkscrew) that's blind to start with, has a weird built-in camber in it, and if you gas too fast coming out of it, you miss the point of the next left, and this hairpin before the straight is, imho, very annoying cos there is no way you can smooth it up: it's a real stop and go corner.

 

it's a wonderful track and knowing it is a definitive advantage: I wouldn't then bet too much its podium will repeat itself this season...

[jrt]

and this hairpin before the straight is, imho, very annoying cos there is no way you can smooth it up: it's a real stop and go corner.

55939[/snapback]

 

Testify!

[badmotogoozer]

Val does not take anything off... ever. He is a competitor at very heart - competitors never give anything away. Having said that, he did not look himself yesterday. Maybe the bike wasn't right on or he wasn't right on... but he definitely didn't look himself out there.

 

Nicky deserves his propers - nobody was going to catch him, he decided that days before and went out and did it.

 

Can he keep doing it? Only if he can find that kind of motivation on a regular basis, and even if he does, ROSSI WILL BE RIGHT BESIDE HIM.

 

Next race please!!

 

Rj

[Guest philbo]

Val does not take anything off... ever.  He is a competitor at very heart - competitors never give anything away.  Having said that, he did not look himself yesterday.  Maybe the bike wasn't right on or he wasn't right on... but he definitely didn't look himself out there.

 

Nicky deserves his propers - nobody was going to catch him, he decided that days before and went out and did it.

 

Can he keep doing it?  Only if he can find that kind of motivation on a regular basis, and even if he does, ROSSI WILL BE RIGHT BESIDE HIM.

 

Next race please!!

 

Rj

55970[/snapback]

 

I thought the same thing - normally when he sits back a bit it's only so he can watch whoever he's chasing and take them in the last lap or two but I don't think he ever got closer than 2 seconds to Nicky. Maybe we've all become used to his super human performances - maybe he's only a mortal after all. It will certainly make Donington an interesting race (probably on a wet track Maybe Ellison or Byrne will take the day.

[v50man]

Biaggi classless?

 

 

Repsol Honda’s Max Biaggi took fourth at Laguna Seca yesterday after an intense race which saw him battling with Honda factory colleagues Sete Gibernau and Troy Bayliss.

 

“It was a good race. Surely we could have stepped on the podium this time, but it took me too long to pass Bayliss, who was slowing me down,” explained Biaggi, who had stepped on the podium at Laguna Seca back in 1994, but in the 250cc class.

 

“So I lost the touch with the head of the race. I’m sorry because I got a good start, going from seventh to fourth place. I also liked the duel with Gibernau, tough but always fair. Well, I had fun. Today I really want to congratulate my team-mate Nicky and his guys. He was simply perfect throughout the weekend. Bravo Nicky!”

 

[Steve G.]

I just got back from the Moto GP Tuesday night. An interesting time. More on the 1 week ride later. But on Laguna Seca. First off, I'm glad Hayden won. He's a likeable little guy, and stardom does not seem to have gotten to him [yet]. Nicky and Colin on the podium is good for Laguna Seca, it will drum up some needed exposure to keep GP's in North America.

OK, the bad stuff. Maybe not on tv, but Moto GP sucks live compared to WSB. What is it with this "hot paddock, everybody out stuff?". What for? There's nothing to see, just a bunch of shipping crates piled up so you can't see anything. I want to see stuff up close the way WSB was. You need binoculars now. The new paddocks building has buggered the view of the final turn before the straight. They really need to do something about those bloody stupid bridges. It took 1/2 hr to get from the paddocks to my seat at 11a. The entry to the track through Fort Ord was an absolute comedy show. Picture 5 miles of stopped lineup trying to get into the track, bikes over heating, constable Bob ticketing any bike that ventures over the yellow line. Finally we get to the 'gate', where get this, 3,THREE, people are checking tickets. A total joke! And not a funny one. Almost as bad was the exit exodus, where everyone, bike, car, all traffic were sent west towards Seaside. Great if you are staying at Seaside, but what about the 55,000 other people? It took me 2 1/4 hrs to get back to my hotel in Salinas. Meanwhile, the exit road through Fort Ord was empty, not used. The local police are a bunch of idiots, not the CHP, but the Monteray and Seaside boys. Rude, bullying, I swear they act as though they are in the military or something.

Oh, and the race? Pretty boring actually, and maybe kind of predictable. I can't prove it, but it's happened before, with F1 and team orders. Clearly Hayden and Edwards were pushing it as hard as the could, while Rossi seemed quite casual about the ride. When they took thrie helmets off, Rossi's hair wasn't even sweaty, while the other 2 looked totally knackered.

Will I go back next year? NO.

Ciao, Steve G.

[Guest Dave Pott]

Damn, Steve!! Did you actually just tuck yourself in with the cages going in and out of the track

 

My wife(on her Duc) and I lane split and/or rode on the paved shoulder with dozens of other bikes for 6 miles going in on Sunday and rode in the opposite lane almost the same distance during departure.....I would have absolutely hated doing otherwise

 

We passed police both times w/o even a nasty look from them I mean, really, what if all the riders would have gone in cars & such!?!? The bikers really helped the situation.

 

By the way, this was my first motorcycle race of any kind....and am now totally, completely, & irreversibly fooking hooked

 

Oh man those GP bike are loud

 

My brain is now furiously trying to figure out a way to set up a business trip to Malaysia in late September

[Steve G.]

Hi Dave,

No, I have never gone to a motorcycle race on anything except a bike, including the Isle of Man, which is a bit difficult and expensive if you look at what the Canadian dollar is worth against the UK pound. No I was there, on my old airhead GS, and my brother on his Dakar, [sorry guys, but the V11 just can't pack a weeks worth of gear and free track stuff like these things], and lane splitting [or as the Californians say "lane sharing"] was the order of the day. But the road out of Fort Ord going towards the track gets quite skinny, so much so that we had trouble riding in the ditch along side, we were forced up onto the road and left at the mercy of car drivers to let us sneak in along them. And another thing, some guys were in cars and vans were going out of their way to block bikes from going along the side, to the point of one moron actually driving his minivan right across the road so no-one could go forward, all the while yelling that he was a motorcyclist also, and he knew how we felt! Can you believe it? One constable/deputy on his old Kawasaki police bike noticed us doing this, zoomed down the hill nearly whacking headon into our now stopped bikes, and said "where the hell do you think you are going?", to which my buddy said, "sorry boss, I'm from Canada and don't know how the laws work down hear", to which he demanded we get on the other side of the centre line or he'd fine us on the spot.

Heading out, was not such an issue with the lane splitting, just the fact that we were sent out on the other side of Laguna.

The GP bikes themselves are very loud indeed. It's funny how I notice things. Did you happen to mention how each bike acts when pit speed activator is applied? The Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki all chug that unforgettable BRAP,BRAP,BRAP sound, but the bike resonds very smoothly. The Kawasaki however reacts by bucking the rider violently, head shaking, legs flailing. The sound of the Proton with KTM power sounded absolutely lovely, too bad it's got no power. Like it has been mentioned, the inline 4 bikes [Yamaha, Kawasaki] are clearly playing around with crank/piston timing, with these engine sounding nothing like the normal 180 degree crank engines you hear on the street or in WSB. Ducati is going with the "Big Bang" crank set up with their v4, compared with the banshee wail of the previous early set up.

Not sure if you had the chance to hear the old GP bikes from Honda being fired up. The 500cc 4 pot bike was great sounding, and WAY louder than the new 990cc GP bikes. But the show was clearly stolen by the sound, the sonic shreek of the 250cc inline 6, the RC 166. This little engine must have been a shock to the gp paddock back in 1966, with big old Manx Nortons booming around at barely 7000rpm. This little Honda idled at 8500rpm, as the one did this past weekend at Laguna. The operator of this particular machine, on loan from the Honda museum in Japan, one of just 8 made, is the actual bike that Mike Hailwood road to several championships. This bike, in the interest of preservation, was only blipped up to 18,500rpm. When I first heard these things, at Del Mar in 1997, when Team Obsolete brought them out, both Jim Redmond and Knobby Clark riding and tuning respectfully, Mr. Redmond told me he would regularly run it in the old GPs to 22,000rpm late in the race, but was given a scolding by Japanese engineers when they would check the tachometer, as they would say only to run at 19,000. Guys, if you get the chance, you must hear these things, the sound so intense it makes your eyes water like teargas. The Honda people on hand last weekend would hand out 100's of ear plug free before each starting, so damaging the sound. You know where I was? Standing at the back of the bike of course.

Perhaps I was a bit rough on my previous entry. I may indeed go to another GP race. SCRAMP and Laguna Seca simply must learn from this first year, or it is doomed to failure. There were too many over heating crotch rockets parked along side the entrance roads, owners facing the prespect of getting the head gasket done.

Ciao, Steve G.

[helicopterjim R.I.P.]

You know where I was? Standing at the back of the bike of course.

Been there, done that - at Eastern Creek and it was the best place to be!! Tried to get a clip on my digital camera but the sound overpowered it. Jim redmond is a Class A bloke!

 

P.S. I should be shot for not being at Laguna when I was stuck in the oil patch in Alberta! Waiting to hear from my freinds if they could pimp my tickets!