Since I can’t actually read the web, less I find out the results of the tape delayed World Superbike races from Brno, Czech Republic, I’ll take some time this evening to talk some more about last week’s USGP.

First, I think there are two different groups that demand, or at least expect, some changes to be made before the 2006 USGP. First, the riders want additional efforts made to improve security around the track, specifically by moving the wall along side Turn 1 further back into the hillside and also expanding the run-off in Turn 6 further into that hillside. Yamaha ponied up the big bucks for the track improvements this year as part of their 50th year anniversary marketing/PR campaign but I doubt they’ll be quite so free with their cash next year. Unless someone else opens up a real fat checkbook, making these safety changes will be difficult. (Needless to say, I’m sure more that one person is trying to drum up some serious intra-corporate rivalry between Yamaha and Honda right now!)

Second, the spectators seem to be pretty clear in condemning Laguna Seca for being unable to cope with the sheer volume of people that showed up this year. Parking, and thus traffic in general, was very poorly organized. I waited two hours on Saturday to get into the track and ended up parked about a mile from turn 2 where I eventually watched the races. Even when we took the free bus on Sunday, we ended up walking in from the main entrance because the bus was stuck in a traffic jam. I probably did as much hiking at the MotoGP races than I do hiking in Colorado! Traffic wasn’t the only thing backing up…the bathroom facilities, the food vendors and the souvenir booths were all insufficient to deal with 60,000 fans. I spent an hour in line for an event T-shirt on Friday and that was when lines were relatively short and all the merchandise was in stock. By Sunday the lines were hours long and many items were sold out. Food was another frustrating issue. As a vegetarian, I’m used to limited choices but the lengthy lines combined with price gouging meant my wife and I just packed snacks on Sunday saving both time and money. I’d originally read that the track improvements would include terracing the turn 2 hillside but instead it was just a steep, hot and dusty incline. The viewing was great but it wasn’t an ideal location to sit or to slide down. I think that Laguna needs to address at least some of these issues in order to keep up attendance. Otherwise, like in the early 90s, a great event will continually decline until it is no longer financially viable.

If, as rumored, Laguna got a break on the normal Dorna fees for the first two years of the five year contract then the SCRAMP officials need to spend some of that extra profit on improvements. If they can get a corporate donor to help then perhaps they can address the issues from both the riders *and* the fans. If not, they’ll need to carefully balance their future improvements so that both groups continue to come back year after year. I’ve read many suggestions on various web sites with suggestions on making next year’s event go more smoothly. I don’t pretend to know all the constraints that SCRAMP and Laguna Seca are up against but I do know they’ve been burned once before (’88 - ‘94) and hope they are smart enough to work hard to prevent it happening again.

[image from my photo collection.]

Racing this weekend comes courtesy of the country that is short on vowels but long on motorcycle enthusiasm: Brno, Czech Republic. The World Superbike regulars are returning from a three week break but its been nine year gap the track last saw racing from the world class production bikes. As a result, only two riders have any previous experience racing Superbikes at the track: Chili and Corser. However, quite a few other riders raced there more recently in the Grand Prix series: Abe, Haga, Laconi, Walker, Nieto, McCoy, Cardoso and Pitt. As a result, this could be a place were some unexpected riders move to the front early and get a better setup than some of the traditionally fast riders who may have to learn the track in the early practice sessions.

The track itself is a great one. The 3.4 mile long circuit has two particularly impressive features. First, the track is very fast and flowing. Of the 15 turns on the track, all are taken in second, third or even forth gear. Expect this constant series of high speed bends, not unlike Assen, to favor riders who have the huevos grande necessary to keep the throttle cranked while rubbing fairings with other riders. The second feature is that the track is very wide. This allows multiple lines through corners so both the brave and the foolhardy can try to make passes which wouldn’t be available on other courses. There are four short straights at the Brno circuit so while top speed can’t win the race, raw horsepower can certainly be useful when it delivers strong acceleration between corners. Finally, it is a bumpy circuit so it will take excellent front end setup to deal with the hard braking for the various turns without upsetting the chassis and ruining the high corner speed that will be so important for a good lap.

I think the biggest story of the weekend will again be Troy Corser. He knows the track, in fact he was the double winner at the last WSBK race at Brno in 1996, so shouldn’t have too much difficulty getting the GSXR setup out of the way in the early practice sessions. However off the bike he now has a 73 point lead in the championship over Vermeulen so he doesn’t need to stick his neck out for a win. That said, the Hondas and Ducatis have been coming on strong lately with five straight non-Corser wins, the last four of those being won by the big red Italian v-twins. With twelve races left in the season and 25 points per win, Corser can’t relax too much too soon. It would take a miracle or a mistake for someone to catch Troy in the points battle but as 2002 proved the unexpected can happen.

The second thing to watch are whether crashes determine the outcome rather than fast laps. Given the aggressiveness that Vermeulen, Toseland and Laconi have shown over the past few races, Brno should provide them with ample opportunities to generate some mid-corner excitement. Throw in some nothing-to-lose riders like Haga, Neukirchner, Walker or Muggeridge and plan on some over-the-top passes…some of which may end in the gravel traps.

Finally, I hope that the Czech race will reveal that Yamaha and Kawasaki have finally decided to join the championship party. The WSBK series has made a remarkable rebound in popularity and excitement compared to the past two seasons when it was dominated by a single marque. With Suzuki, Honda and Ducati all showing competitiveness in the first half of the season, all that remains are for the other players (well, except the perpetually slow Petronas) to make the leap to the front. If there were really 10 or 12 evenly equipped factory riders duking it out for the WSBK title, World Superbike would easily surpass MotoGP as the most popular form of motorcycle racing in the world. Lets hope we get to check out a little of that progress from Yamaha and Kawasaki at Brno.

Oh, and my bitch-of-the-week: I won’t be checking out that progress on Sunday as SpeedTV has again decided to tape delay the World Superbike races until Tuesday. Looks like Champ Cars and Touring Cars are what get the air time on Sunday. Sigh.

[image from the Suzuki web site.]

I’m not a particularly patriotic type. Over the past few years I’ve come to associate a lot of flag waving and proclamations of American pride with bullheaded moralizing and blind support of an power mad government. But this past weekend I was genuinely happy to see Nicky Hayden riding a victory lap of Laguna Seca while flying the Stars-n-Stripes.

I had the good fortune of going to California this past weekend to watch the first running of a Grand Prix race in the US in eleven years. The event was huge, drawing over 40,000 on Friday for practice and selling out with nearly 60,000 showing up on both Saturday and Sunday. Cramming in practice, qualifying and races for the MotoGP stars, the AMA series and the SuperKarts made for a busy weekend. Adding in demo laps for the fans, a few laps of honor for the Motoczysz C1, Randy Mamola’s two-up rides and some stunt shows by Christian Pfeiffer meant every minute had something for the fans to enjoy.

Getting to see and hear the MotoGP bikes live was definitely the highlight of the weekend. The races could have been more closely fought but were interesting nonetheless. Likewise, the track experience could have been more enjoyable as the Laguna Seca staff seemed completely overwhelmed by the turn-out: hours long traffic delays, hours long lines for the souvenir booths, insufficient seating, insufficient food and overloaded bathroom facilities. To that add in $4 sodas, limited access to the MotoGP paddock with pit passes and embarrassing goofs during the national anthem to really challenge the fans. Having laid out all those complaints, it might seem I didn’t enjoy the MotoGP weekend. Fortunately, the thrill of experiencing the MotoGP race in person more than made up for the negatives and hopefully the Laguna staff will be working to improve these issues for future races.

As it turned out the race was Nicky Hayden’s to lose. From the first time he turned a wheel on the track on Friday he was fastest. In the first practice sessions, his closest rivals were the other riders with prior experience at Laguna Seca: Troy Bayliss, Colin Edwards, John Hopkins, Alex Barros and Max Biaggi. Seven different riders broke the Laguna Seca motorcycle track record in the first practice session giving some further evidence to explain why Suzuki isn’t just running their GSXR in MotoGP. This trend continued in Saturday’s qualifying session where Nicky was the only rider to break into the 1:22 lap times turning not just one but three different twenty twos with a best of 1:22.670 earning him his first pole position.

The race was the final opportunity for Hayden to strut his stuff and strut he did, leading from flag to flag. Nicky pulled a two second gap in the first three laps then maintained it for the next 29 for the win. Each time Rossi or Edwards tried to close the distance Nicky would crank up his lap times in response. It seemed the entire audience of 60,000 fans were urging the #69 Honda on and the final lap was one continuous explosion of noise. Needless to say, it was a popular win and was made all the more emotional when Nicky came around on the victory lap with his father on the back. We fans had all that much more to cheer about during the podium presentation because Edwards held on for second place with Rossi filling out the roster.

Equally interesting was to see how the various riders responded to the Laguna Seca track. Rossi was vocal about lack of safety at various points around the track particularly in turns one and six. Marco Melandri was even more vocal but less specific. Considering he had never been to the track, Rossi qualified second and finished third. Not bad. Melandri, on the other hand, had very different weekend by qualifying eleventh and then crashing out of the race resulting in his first result outside the top four this season. Another promising young rider who struggled at the Monterey circuit was Yamaha’s Tony Elias who started outside the top 15 and finished 13th while still healing from a broken wrist. Most disappointing was Alex Barros who started on the first row but was then taken out in Melandri’s crash. Likewise, wildly popular Troy Bayliss looked like he was going to return to front running form but then ran sixth for the entire race. John Hopkins rode much harder than his eighth place finish would indicate, regularly harassing the faster Hondas and eventually finishing as the top Bridgestone rider. His Suzuki teammate Roberts, Jr had an opposite experience fading lap after lap until he took the checkers a sad 14th.

All these stories are just sidelines though. The day was all about the young American Nicky Hayden and his maiden GP win…hopefully the first of many to come.

[image from my photo collection.]

There won’t be any new postings on the blog for the next few days as I’m doing the motorcycle geek equivalent of running away to join the circus. However, in my case I’m jumping on a plane and heading for Laguna Seca for the upcoming MotoGP races. While I’d love to have ridden out, I don’t have the vacation time at work necessary to turn a four hour flight into a two day ride. I chewed up most of my leave on our two week motorcycle trip to Spain earlier this spring. As a result, I’ll be arriving at the track each day in a car rather than on a bike.

Usually I post a race preview on the blog at the end of each week. Well, I wrote one up for the USGP and was thrilled when Roadracer X magazine agreed to post it on their website. Just follow the link and read my preview there. This is the second time they’ve printed one of my articles so I’d love it if you’d support them. Chris and his crew print an awesome publication and I’m honored to be associated with them, even if its only in their electronic format. If you like roadracing and enjoy what you read on the web site then you should subscribe…you’ll love it.

I’m really looking forward to being at Laguna Seca for the return of GP racing to this country. I’ll be there Friday collecting swag, checking out the track and watching practice. I’ll be back again on Saturday to watch qualifying and the support races. Then my wife and I will both be there on Sunday for the main event. I’ll probably be walking around in a moto-gasm induced stupor but will hopefully remember enough to do some write-ups next week about my experiences.

I’ll probably be wearing a floppy green hat, a yellow “Rossi” T-shirt and babbling incoherently. If you see me, feel free to say “hi’. If you have any suggestions on best places for spectating, I’d love to hear ‘em too. Thanks for reading and I hope you too will have the opportunity to be at Laguna Seca this coming weekend.

[image from Laguna Seca Raceway web site.]

Since there isn’t any road racing going on this weekend, I’ll take a second to catch up on some other motorcycle related news. Specifically, last week’s 83rd running of the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. This event pits racers against a 12.5 mile course laid out on the road which goes to the top of 14,110 ft Pikes Peak. The road is a mix of asphalt and dirt making it the ultimate Supermoto race. The race as been run since 1916 so its got plenty of history behind it…second only to Indy when it comes to organized motorsports competition in the US. With vehicles hurtling up through the incredible scenery its a thrilling spectator sport with all the action of rally racing but with a wider variety of vehicles involved.

While the cages (cars, trucks, SUVs, semis, buggies, etc, etc…all with four wheels. Blech!) get the top billing, there are also numerous motorcycle classes. The five classes for two-wheelers are: 750cc Pro, 500cc Pro, 250cc Pro, Supermoto and Vintage. There are also sidecar and quad classes, though I’ll leave it up to the reader to decide whether they fall into the motorcycle or car catagories. (I’d split the two saying the sidecars are motorcycles with an extra wheel and the quads are small open wheel cars…Damned cagers!)

I’m sure that sliding a bike up the Pikes Peak road is a hoot, no matter what you’re on but the ones that interested me the most were the 750cc Pro and the Supermoto classes. In particular, I thought it was cool to see that Supermoto racer Micky Dymond won the 750 class with a time of 12:12.614, the fastest of any bike during the event and a new class record. Thats averaging roughly 60 mph…pretty impressive to do when broadsliding around switchbacks with 200 ft drops for your run-off. The Supermoto class was new this year and features an actual race style start with 5 riders going up at a time rather than the single rider timed stages used in the other classes. The winner Gary Trachy put down a time of 12:18.735 which is flat out hauling for a 450cc bike that isn’t using knobbies and is dicing with four other riders. Its made all the more impressive by the fact that this time was faster than the 500cc Pro class where Davey Durelle turned in a 12:22.491. The 250cc class was topped by Nathan Conley with a time of 13:00.651. Mickey Alzola is a vintage rider, having first competed in the Pikes Peak Hillclimb in 1975. This year he was also the top vintage bike thanks to a 14:28.140 time.

Another nice thing about this year’s Hillclimb was that the purse for the motorcycle classes was increased to $12,000 spread over the five classes. Lets hope that trend continues to fly skyward as well.

[image from the Big West Racing web site.]

Once again, I find that I have a backlog of things I wanted to post on the blog but not enough time to do long postings on each one. Presented here is my second installment of “Odds and Ends”.

A month ago, I did a blog posting about some Dunlop posters that were being offered for sale with the proceeds going to a good cause. Well, if you have more money to spend and want an even cooler thing to show for it, there is an auction of signed motorcycle gear being hosted by RPM with all the money earned from the sale going to help injured motorcycle racer Vincent Haskovec. The list of stuff up for sale is amazing and its guilt free since you’re helping someone in need. Bid soon and bid often.

Another news item which raised my eyebrows was an announcement from the AMA that the Daytona 200 would again be a Formula Xtreme race in 2006 but that the Superbike race would again be promoted as the premier race. My first problem with this is that it implies that the AMA has the luxury of determining what is or isn’t the premier class. I’d say that the fans determine that. If the fans feel let down by the Superbikes being removed from the 200 then Superbikes aren’t the premier class. My second issue with this is that it doesn’t really clarify anything. The AMA seems unable to make up their minds about the how to continue their recent commitment to Superbikes through 2008 while at the same time promoting their vision of Formula Xtreme as the direction the series should be going. Looks to me like they are tabling this whole issue for another year by sticking with a confusing class structure and confusing priorities at Daytona for another year.

I did a blog posting back in April about TV viewership of MotoGP races in Europe. Well, another report came out showing 50% viewership of the Catalunya MotoGP race in Italy and 33% viewership in Spain. 50 - freaking- percent!?!? Is that amazing or what? Obviously I’ve got Italian blood somewhere in my past. Maybe I should move to Italy and see if it feels like home?

Rossi makes bank according to the Forbes annual survey. No real surprise there but this is probably the first time a motorcycle racer has shown up near the top of a salary survey since the days of Barry Sheene. Just another sign of both how professional the MotoGP series has become and just how valued as a rider Rossi really is. We’ll have to see if Yamaha can afford to keep Valentino on the payroll when his two year contract comes to an end this year.

During the MotoGP weekend at Assen a press release hit the air waves saying that HRC and Repsol have agreed to terms that will continue to see Honda’s MotoGP team sponsored by the Argentinean oil giant through 2007. What is interesting about this is that earlier this year, it appeared that Honda was in a tight spot with Spaniard Sete Gibernau being the Honda rider that earned full factory support but having a Repsol contract that prevented a full factory bike from being handed out to any team except the one in the Respol HRC factory garage. Some agreement was apparently reached which allowed Sete to get a full factory bike and now the Honda/Repsol contract has been renewed. There isn’t any indication of whether the new contract contains the same restrictions as the previous one. Could Marco Melandri now be the next rider to get full factory support without being on a Respol bike?

I saw somewhere, and unfortunately I’ve forgotten exactly where, that the Australian postal service issued a set of five postage stamps last year to honor Australia’s Grand Prix motorcycle racers. I couldn’t google up any good links but the stamps were printed for Mick Doohan, Wayne Gardner, Daryl Beattie, Garry McCoy and Troy Bayliss. Damn, now I can’t decide if I should move to Italy or Australia!

My favorite news item, though, were the details about the British Superbike “R6 Cup” series. At first, it looks just like any other spec bike race class. Lots of riders racing on identically prepared bikes. However, there are two things that make this one particularly interesting. First, all the bikes are prepared by the same crew (sort of like the International Suzuki Cup series bikes). Riders are randomly assigned a bike at the beginning of the race and the bikes are returned immediately after the checkered flag. No monkeying around with the bikes allowed. The riders pay a flat rate to lease the bike for the race season. The second, and biggest difference, is the prize. At the end of the season the rider that wins the series gets a full factory Superbike ride the following year with the Virgin Yamaha team. Sweet! What a dream deal for a young rider. Last year’s winner, Tommy Hill, has performed well this year in his factory debut and is rumored to have the same ride next year along side the winner of the 2005 R6 Cup championship. Bravo to Virgin Mobile for helping bootstrap the British Superbike series.

[image from the Fast Dates Calendar web site.]

Misano is a Ducati circuit. Every race run at the San Marino circuit for the past four years has been won by a booming v-twin from nearby Bolgona. In fact, of the 28 races run at the Misano track before this past weekend, Ducati have won 22 of them. Its also a track which tends to produce double wins during the World Superbike race weekend. Of the 14 previous double headers, 9 of them have been had the same winner. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that a Ducati rider won both events on the series latest visit to the track. But given the trend so far this season, predictions for a Ducati double were few and far between. Troy Corser has won 6 of the 10 races leading up to Misano. However, the last three races have been won by three different riders showing the winds of change may have finally started blowing.

It was Frenchman Regis Laconi that blew them away at Misano this past weekend. I appears that Laconi’s race one win at Silverstone, combined with a re-emergence of Ducati competitiveness after the Italian races at Monza, re-ignited his desire to win a World Superbike title. Laconi was the favorite to win the championship last season but crashes handed the #1 plate to his teammate Toseland. Laconi started out this season with good finishes but then suffered for a couple of rounds before returning to the lead pack at Monza. That early season “dip” has hurt his chances of winning the title this season as he is currently 92 points behind championship leader Corser. However, with the past five races going to someone other than the Suzuki rider, the door may yet be open for a fantastic comeback from one of the other riders. Laconi certainly looked confident at Misano and hopes to be that miracle story…

Another rider that looked strong on Sunday was Honda mounted Chris Vermeulen. Just as Laconi did a double win, Vermeulen was the double runner-up. Those finishes earned the young Aussie enough points to jump into second place in the championship. Vermeulen continues to look strong and got the better of Corser after a ferocious battle in race 2. The Ten Kate Honda also showed incredible speed indicating that Vermeulen’s CBR is now on equal footing with the Corona Suzuki of Corser. Vermeulen is 73 points behind his countryman in the title run so, like Laconi, he’ll have to make up a lot of points over the final 12 races to have any hope of hoisting that WSBK #1 plate.

Despite two third place finishes, Corser was still the big winner at Misano. Coming into the race weekend, teammate Kagayama was the most likely challenger to Corser for the WSBK trophy. With a DNF in race one, Kagayama lost major points and may have taken himself out of contention. While Vermeulen and Laconi gained points on Corser they were coming from well back so aren’t an immediate threat. If Corser can continue to finish on the podium for the rest of the season he will win his second WSBK title and as a result he doesn’t have to go all out for the win in individual races. That wasn’t obvious in race one as he battled with James Toseland for third on the track (a red flag split the race into two segments and Corser had a three second lead over Toseland based on aggregate time. The battle for position was strictly for honor). I think this tussle with the Brit was just so Corser could get a little experience battling with other riders after winning most of the early races this season by large margins. Expect Troy to play a strategic points game for the remainder of the year.

Keeping the repeat finish trend going, James Toseland was forth in both races, his fifth and sixth top five finishes over the last six races. The Ducati rider looked very strong in his battles with Corser, Haga and Chili during the weekend so he definitely has re-gained the confidence that earned him 3 wins and the title last season. He is currently fifth in the championship race but 130 points down on Corser so it is unlikely he will be a repeat WSBK champion.

Finally, my personal favorite rider is Klaffi Honda’s Pierfrancesco Chili who had another strong weekend with seventh and fifth place finishes. This moves him up to eighth in the title fight, one point behind Chris Walker and two points behind Noriyuki Haga. Considering he is 40 years old, and that he missed both Phillip Island races due to a broken collarbone, the Italian continues to defy expectations and thrill his fans.

Less thrilling was Chili’s teammate Max Neukirchner who crashed out of both races. Max was a revelation in the first few races with strong finishes but has since suffered DNFs. The German rider needs to rebuilt his confidence with some decent finishes in the remainder of the series. He is young and has plenty of time to make a name for himself without going into “Win it or bin it” mode this season.

Finally, the Yamahas inexplicably continue to struggle. Haga was the top Yamaha finisher this weekend with double sixth place finishes. But Pitt, Abe and Cardoso all finished outside the top 10. With Ducati and Honda both stepping up to challenge Suzuki, it is now time for Yamaha to do the same. It seems unlikely that riders like Haga and Abe are to blame for the poor finishes as both are spectacular riders. Lets hope we can see Haga capable doing another double at Brands Hatch later this season, as that appears to be a track whose history favors him.

[image from MotoGranPrix.it web site.]

Since I’m avoiding reading the web today (so that I don’t learn the results of the Misano World Superbike races before they are televised Tuesday afternoon) I thought I’d do a follow-up to my blog entry from a couple of weeks ago which touched on the 250GP class.

The 250 race this past weekend at Assen was fantastic. Unlike many of the early races of the season during which championship points leader Dani Pedrosa ran away from everyone, this was a tight battle which wasn’t decided until the last lap. In fact it wasn’t won by Pedrosa at all which gives us the hope that there may yet be some challengers to keep Pedrosa honest in his quest for a second straight 250GP title. Finally, it held that extra bit of excitement which comes from watching a rider fight through injury to card a good finish. Throw all those ingredients together in the incredible Assen TT circuit and you have an exciting race indeed.

The winner of this mighty battle was the Aprilia mounted Argentinean Sebastian Porto. In my preview for the first race of the season, I picked Porto as one of my favorites for the season. Two DNFs in Catalunya and France have basically taken him out of the championship fight. All he can hope for now is to earn some wins and show he is still a force in 250GP. His strategically run race in Assen was a good way to send this message. His double pass for the lead was the best move of the race and perhaps the bets of the season. With silly season underway, he needs more of these moves to justify his ride.

For second place Dani Pedrosa, Assen was all about maintaining his points lead. With Porto basically out of the points chase, Pedrosa only needed to worry about Stoner and Dovisioso. With them coming in 6th and 7th in Holland Pedrosa continued to build on his points lead which is now up to 37 points over Stoner. I think Pedrosa had a brief thought of pushing for the win but when Porto pushed under him and upped the pace Dani was satisfied to bring his Honda home in second. Champions know when to go for the win and when to get the points that are available.

I think that third place finisher Jorge Lorenzo was the best story of the Dutch weekend. The 18 year old Spaniard was involved in a crash with Alex de Angelis at Catalunya which resulted in a broken collarbone. He immediately went to a hospital in Barcelona and had the broken clavicle pinned and plated. A mere 12 days later he showed up in Assen to race. Most presumed he was there just to collect some points but he thrilled everyone by taking pole position. He then leap off the line at the green light and lead the race. He didn’t just lead the race for one or two laps but instead the entire thing until both Porto and Pedrosa passed him with on lap to go. Despite the injured shoulder, Lorenzo appeared to be the most physical rider in the 250 class. When transitioning the bike through the chicane at Assen, Lorenzo was throwing his body off the side of the bike with such violence I thought surely he would wash out the front tire. This dramatic style, combined with his recent surgery, made him the center of attention. While its unfortunate he couldn’t hold on for the win, his podium finish is a Cinderella story not unlike those that Marco Melandri put on during his 2002 season in the 250 class. Keep your eye on this kid!

Disappointing at Assen were both Aprila mounted Casey Stoner and Honda mounted Andrea Dovizioso. Both have emerged this season as Pedrosa’s primary challengers but neither was able to hold the pace of the front runners at the TT circuit. They need to keep pressure on the young Spaniard if either one have any hope of winning the 250 championship this year and 6th/7th place finishes aren’t going to accomplish that. Since the 250s aren’t racing at Laguna Seca, their next race will be July 24th at Donington Park in England. Lets hope the one month break helps them return to their competitive ways. Then again, if Lorenzo is healthy by then he may become the primary threat to Pedrosa. If he gets third with a broken collarbone, what will he do when he’s healthy?

[image from Jorge Lorenzo web site.]

This weekend MotoGP championship leader Valentino Rossi put on yet another masterful display of racing around the 3.75 mile long Assen circuit. As I guessed in my race preview on Friday the Assen circuit definitely suited the Yamaha. Not only did Valentino win convincingly, his teammate Colin Edwards made his second podium appearance of the year with a strong third place. While the Yamaha may not be the most powerful bike on the grid is definitely handles the best. The Yamaha engineers should be proud of their accomplishments on that front.

But its Marco Melandri who should be standing tall this weekend. The 22 year old Italian has been the revelation of the year having scored top four finishes at ever race. He has proven to be the main title contender to Rossi and the top Honda rider…a position which was assumed to be held by Max Biaggi or Sete Gibernau at the start of the season. This weekend in particular was a performance for which Melandri can be proud. First, he lead the race for nine laps and was hounded by Rossi for two long laps without making a mistake before the inevitable pass for the lead. After the pass, Marco was able to step up his pace and hang with Rossi for the remaining ten laps of the race. The result was a 1.5 second gap at the stripe, easily on par with the gap to Rossi that more experience MotoGP racers like Gibernau and Biaggi have had in their races with the dominant Yamaha rider. Additionally, his second place finish was the best of the year for Melandri so he continues to improve with each race.

Another improving rider is Honda’s Nicky Hayden. Over the past four races, Hayden has had two sixth place finishes, then a fifth and now a fourth in Assen. The 10 second gap from winner Rossi looks discouraging but he continues to show that he is learning. In the early laps, he was the most aggressive rider on the track pushing his way through to second place on the first lap. Hayden seems to have improved with both his qualifying and bike setup at the beginning of this year and aggressiveness was the one skill he seemed to lack, even as recently as Mugello. At Catalunya the rider from Owensboro, Kentucky seemed to pick that up with some tough riding in the early laps against Melandri, Gibernau, Rossi and Barros. He then picked that up even more at Assen, showing he is improving at each race. If he can just find that extra tenth of a second per lap, Nicky will be fighting it out with Valentino and Marco. Easier said that I done, I know.

For Rossi, it was another crushing victory, his sixth of the seven races run so far this year. Rossi can win no matter what: Fast tracks, slow tracks, wet, dry, running away or fighting till the last lap. This race used a different approach with Vale getting a poor start and having to charge through over the first few laps to join the front runners. He made it look easy has he carved his way to the front, then stalked Melandri before taking the lead. I think he wanted to pull a bait and switch on his Honda riding countryman by running Marco’s pace for a few laps after going to the front, then picking up the pace to crush Melandri’s confidence. Fortunately, Marco upped his pace as well which gives us hope that Rossi’s reign may yet be challenged. There are still two issues that need to be resolved. First, given Rossi and Melandri’s friendship, did Valentino really push Marco has hard has he was capable? Second, if Melandri does start to pressure Rossi for the championship will their friendship dissolve just as the Gibernau-Rossi relationship went sour after Qatar in 2004?

Edwards took advantage of the sweet handling Yamaha to run the pace of his teammate. In the middle stages of the race, the Texan was actually the fastest rider on the track. With open track ahead of him, it was clear that Edwards was comfortable. However, it took him a couple of laps to get past both Gibernau and Hayden showing he still has to develop the aggressiveness that the younger Honda mounted American is just now learning. Had Edwards been able to cut through slower riders sooner he appeared capable of running the same pace as the two Italians in front of him. His fine podium finish, along with the fourth by Hayden, bodes well for us American fans getting a great show at Laguna Seca in a couple of weeks.

Another big news item was Max Biaggi. He celebrated his 34th birthday at Assen but also earned a $6,000 fine due to careless riding. He ran into both Battaini and Melandri during the weekend. This was amplified when Biaggi’s uncle, a visitor in the Honda pits, physically assaulted Melandri in the paddock. The final insult for the Roman was the race itself. As with other recent races Biaggi sucked in the early laps before charging through to an eventual sixth place. With 250GP championship leader Pedrosa supposedly guaranteed a Repsol Honda seat in 2006, Biaggi better step it up if he wants to keep his factory position.

One thing that definitely isn’t looking up are the Bridgestone tires. Just like at Catalunya, the Ducati, Kawasaki and Suzuki riders all suffered miserable results at Assen. Over the first few laps, the Kawasaki of Nakano and the Ducati of Capirossi both ran in the top five. Both slid backwards as the race progressed to eventually get eighth and tenth place finishes. The Suzukis had a double whammy with both their crappy motor and the crappy tires conspiring to put them nearly a minute behind the leader, finishing in 13th and 16th respectively.

Finally, next year will be an interesting watershed for the Assen track. This year a chicane was added to the track but this winter a drastic modification to the circuit will cut nearly a mile out of the current layout. All the riders have expressed disappointment with the proposed changes as it will ruin the flowing character that has defined this course for the past 75 years. Assen also has a decade long history of drawing crowds of 90,000+ fans. Lets hope that the rider’s lack of enthusiasm for the changes doesn’t affect the ticket buying public or the world stands to loose a great race track based on both layout and attendance…

[image from the Team Gresini web site.]