Stoner wins again, blah blah blah...

Let's face it, Stoner is kicking everyone's butt so bad in the premier class that the race is over before it starts. If he doesn't go down in a turn one melee in each race, it's game over. At least Hayden and Hopper at getting some airtime. Poor old Rossi doesn't look like his old self since the cavalry, i.e. the Michelin custom tyre truck doesn't bring his magic rubber anymore.

Speaking of World Superbike...

It's coming back to the U.S. at our finest desert racing facility at Miller Motorsports Park. Will anyone show up? Can we party like rock stars in Utah?
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2007/Aug/070822mmp.htm

You snooze, you lose, or at least get some rest.

The AMA Superbike races at VIR gave me an excellent chance to catch up on my naptime. Watching Spies protect his championship lead while riding around the course like he was made of glass really inspired me to drift off to the land of nod. Mladin deserves the Suzuki cup championship hands down unless Spies can find his lost balls and actually put it on the line.

Hopefully someday the factories will actually put for the effort we see at the World Superbike Level where they actually care about winning. Although until AMA gets it together I can't imagine they will.

Not enough Subs!

It looks like the AMA Free Subway sandwich giveaway fell short. Although, we did get to enjoy the overanxious corner worker sprint across the track like a boy trying to save his dog. It was on turn one of the first lap when a rider went down and this guy timed his crosstrack dash to just mist the last place rider. It was no less than heroic.

Unfortunately he must have been all tuckered out and sitting at the wrong corner when Josh Herrin went straight across the grass and into the tire barrier. We got to sit at home and watch him pound on the bike while it burned his leg for the usual agonizingly painful eternity before anyone got there. Mercifully for us viewers they cut to commercial.

VIR claims to be world class on their logo. They should change it to "World Class My Ass". The backside of the track looks like it was laid out by a kid with a crayon. Are those turns or did the asphalt guy have one too many? The runoff areas are vast. Unfortunately they are also grass covered. Ever try to ride one out at 100mph on grass only to find a comfy and cozy tire barrier waiting to snap your spine in two. Bikes don't stop or turn so well while on slicks. Trust me!

I knew T-12 was bad news.

Miguel Duhamel got fairly messed up today at Road Atlanta. Not surprisingly it was in the infamous Turn 12. Have you ever watched a race there and thought "Man I sure hope nobody goes wide there...". Maybe you haven't, but I sure as heck have. Watching the bikes round that corner after the downhill and sprint for the checkered flag you can't help but notice the cement wall waiting for someone to make the smallest mistake. Sure they try to make it safe by putting up an airfence among other things, but it's just not enough. There's just no runoff and no time to slow down if you run it wide. It's a good think Duhamel is alive.

To paraphrase from Ronny Reagan "Road Atlanta, tear down that wall! Or at least move it."

AMA does it again, again...

I just watched race one at Mid-Ohio. Good thing: they repaved the track and it appears it was not done by someone from California.

Bad things: It's still a dangerous place to race. They don't race in the rain there because there would be lots of dead people. Speaking of dead people. I can't remember the racer who crashed in race one but did anyone notice him crawling off the track on his hands and knees after a serious highside? Anyone? Hey you guys trying to pick up that motorcycle! There's a rider crawling for his life to get out of harms way and not one of you morons came to help. I guess that's what happens when you've got two safety marshals per corner. At least they got to the bike in time to offer CPR. They're complete incompetence brought out the red flag as well, thus completely altering the race for no good reason except that they're incompetent.

Have you ever seen what happens when someone crashes outside of the U.S? An army of people come to assist the rider and clear the debris to make sure the race continues and that the downed rider is ok and off the track quickly and safely. Maybe the AMA can offer some people free tickets and a Subway sandwich with a large beverage of their choice to man the corners. If it rains they can throw in the umbrella while they wait for it to clear up.

How about Laguna Suca?

This year's round of MotoGP at the Laguna Seca circuit was nothing short of underwhelming. In fact, it sucked. The only things that were impressive being the performance of Casey Stoner who punished the field from start to finish. He flicked that Ducati through the corkscrew like he was on a bmx bike. Flawless.

Tough guy award goes to Marco Melandri who raced into a podium position with a broken ankle. The x-rays didn't show it immediately but follow up x-rays confirmed it after the race. Nice one Kurtis!

Did anyone notice the giant red, white, and blue bowling ball that wiped out nearly the entire field of American riders? I think there must have been twenty or so on the grid and the last man standing was Roger Lee Hayden (a wild card rider racing a very unfamiliar bike nonetheless). At least he got tenth. He went on to win his Supersport race too.

Nicky Hayden took care of himself and Hopkins on the first hairpin at turn two of the first lap. He first blew the turn trying to make up too many places off the start and then he abruptly hooked right back into Hopper who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'll bet Hayden's off Hopper's xmas card list this year. Cross them off the list of top finishers too.

Edwards had his usual backwards run through the field. Tires? Maybe. Whatever. See ya!

Miguel "My pussy hurts" Duhamel said his head just wasn't in the game. He took a tumble earlier in the weekend and he just wasn't into it. He said he'd like more time on the bike next time. Guess what? There isn't going to be a next time. If he would've just stuck it out he probably could've finished second in the American contingent. It wouldn't have been hard.

The fool me twice award goes to this years resurfacing of the track. They used every technology available to them and still managed to put plenty of bumps into a brand new surface. I guess the bikes didn't have enough chatter so they added some in. Did they have an army tank race earlier in the month?

I almost forgot to mention the ridiculous amount of advertising and continuous interruption to the racing courtesy of Speedvision. Thanks, dickheads!

LAGUNA SECA REWIND (Part 1)

So much to talk about, and all the time in the world in which to do it. First let me say how glad I was watching from home. No hassles to speak of. No endless lines, no water shortages during triple digit heat in a treeless landscape. Just some delicious snacks and a clear view of the race.

Now to the dark side. Having to watch this thing on American T.V. is a miserable experience. Sure, they aired qualifying, which is remarkable for Speedvision, but I'd have to say that we got to see about one third of qualifying action due to the absurd amount of commercials and the useless Greg White "insider" features. I've recorded it on my DVR and if I'm bored, I'm going to keep track of how much time was used up due to advertising. It was not pretty. Speaking of qualifying...
A major thumbs up the arse to Kurtis Roberts for his "I'm just going to ride around at about 30mph on the racing line and hope that nobody hits me". Oops! Marco Melandri, apparently not used to American unprofessionalism, caught his handle bar while attempting to avoid completely smashing into Roberts. Who was just cruising around the track during green flag qualifying. Luckily Melandri wasn't hurt too bad considering the runoff area is a big as a shoe box in most areas. He was able to do quite well in the race and was one of the fastest all weekend. Well done Marco.

Another notable event in qualifying was the Carlos Checa/John Hopkins incident on the uphill out of turn six. Checa was supposedly slowing for a waving yellow flag and Hopper came right up his tailpipe at full pace and decided that offering a karate kick, instead of trying to avoid him and continuing on, would be the best thing to do. Regardless it screwed Hopkins out of good hot lap during the waning seconds of qualifying. Who's fault? I'm not sure. Ultimately, it wouldn't matter.

Speaking of incidents...
This month's Dani Pedrosa award must go to Sylvain Guintoli for nearly killing Alex Hoffman in the first free practice. Guintoli forgot to look at his track map ahead of time and went straight at the corkscrew. Unfortunately Hoffman didn't and he paid a heavy price. His hand is messed up and he was completely knocked unconscious. Lucky to be walking around I hear.