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View Full Version : Spoilers for Laguna Seca & MotoGP


Tourmeister
07-14-2003, 12:56 PM
Howdy,

:tab I did not get to see all of the racing this weekend, but I think we got it all on tape. I did get to see the AMA Superbike racing on Saturday. Good stuff!! Matt Maladin is a freaking machine. Once he gets out front, he's gone. E Boz tried to give chase for a while but just could not maintain the same pace. There was a brief time during the race where riders were dropping like flies! It was a pretty exciting race. Watching those guys rail down through the corkscrew was amazing. I'd love to get a chance to ride that someday.

:tab Sunday I managed to watch the MotoGP. Rossi was his typical self. Biaggi ran out front for a short time while Rossi was passing everyone to catch up to Biaggi. Rossi really makes passing look easy. Once he got up on Biaggi's rear, he just pushed and pushed. Biaggi eventually blew a corner, Rossi made the pass and was gone. Sete ran a lonely third for most of the race. Honda swept the podium. The Ducatis hung out in the 4th-7th positions for most of the race. Edwards initally fell back from his starting position but then climbed up as high as 6th I think. I had hoped he'd do a little better. Hayden did pretty good this time out, finishing in 7th I think, ahead of Edwards. :( Most of the exciting racing was from 5th place back. I really get tired of listening to the announcers heap praise on ne'r do wrong Rossi and scorn on always do wrong Biaggi. You'd almost think Rossi has these guys on his payroll! Biaggi can't be all that bad, he consistently finishes at the top of the field. Anyway, much like the AMA superbike race, most of the exciting action was back around 5th-8th place.

:tab I got home early enough Sunday afternoon to catch the AMA Supersport. Now this was a really good race! Miguel and B Boz were in the mix for this one, but were not running up front. Jake Zemke was running Buckmaster hard and eventually got around him. However, Hacking was not to be denied. He made some incredible passes in the middle of the corkscrew for the lead and checked out. Zemke eventually took 2nd I think. All these races start blurring together after a while :oops: Curtis Roberts tried stuffing Jason Disalvo on the inside, lost his front end and took both of them out of 4th place!! A cool last lap, last corner outside pass put Texan Ben Spies ahead of Buckmaster for 3rd place. It was a great race!

:tab I have the 250 MotoGP on tape and both rounds of the WSB. Hopefully, I'll get to watch that in the next day or so. Kudos to SpeedTV for showing all this racing!

buck000
07-14-2003, 02:23 PM
I think the announcers were just noting that Biaggi buckles under the pressure, which he shouldn't be doing at this point in his career.

Anyway, note that he indeed won the race, since Rossi passed Capirossi (iirc) under a yellow flag and was penalized 10 secs., putting him in 3rd. Still, it's amazing to watch Rossi get through traffic (what was he, 8th after the start, and 1st by the 2nd or 3rd lap? ).

Another cool guy is Giovanni Bussei. He took over for Gobert on the Ducati Austin bike. I think he binned it this past race, but he finished well in WSB, and is giving Ducati Austin a bit more for their money than Gobert, imho.

The number of crashes was pretty scary, indeed. I hated seeing EBoz not able to get on the bike (separated shoulder). :(

Tourmeister
07-14-2003, 02:34 PM
:tab Wow! I did not see the after race stuff and did not realize the race was given to Biaggi! That should keep the championship race a little more interesting. I am disappointed to see that Colin has dropped out of the top ten in the points and that Hayden is now up there :-( Nothing against Nicky, he's riding his buns off. He got tossed into a tough place seeing as how many people were ticked at Big Red for their treatment of Colin. Can't really blame Nicky for that though. What happened to E Boz? He raced in the AMA Superbike race, did he not compete in the WSB races? I should I wait and go watch the tapes?

buck000
07-14-2003, 04:13 PM
Nicky: It's actually pretty cool that a fellow KY boy :) is hanging reasonably well with the Big Dogs his first year there...

Colin: Argh. This time he lost his right knee slider, which apparently is a big deal at the right-leanish Donnington.

EBoz: Hmmm, I didn't think he made the restart after Yates took him out big time. He separated his shoulder, they popped it in, but he's very sore, saving himself for Mid-Ohio...

The race interview with Chili was funny:

"What did you say to Yates before the restart?"

"Take it easy into Turn 1." :)

Kidder
09-26-2003, 03:37 PM
Did I mention that I was out @ Laguna Seca corner working on Saturday/Sunday? It was awesome. I even got to put out the fire when Gregorio Lavilla's Gixxer World Superbike caught on fire. The pic of his bike has the fire extinguisher yellow dust all over it. I have the vid of it, too. Lavilla was dinged up but he ended up racing in the second race and finished quite well. What happened was he went into a vicious high side and the bike landed hard in the gravel with the throttle pinned. Well, the bike was revving hard and I was trying to get to the kill switch but right when I got to the bike it flamed up.

Corner working is the best kept secret @ Laguna and any other track, here's why. You have to join USARM for $35. Then, they get you on the list to work the races. You get a STAFF pass that gives you access to basically anywhere except on the seat of the bikes! We had World SBK garage access, and pit lane access. These passes are free! And, they pay you $55/day to work and provide lunch! Oh, and you have a front row seat for the races!

Pics here: http://www.juddemerson.com/Laguna_Seca