Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128339
The U.S. Grand Prix Is Back! ark your calendars, boo k your flights, M reserve your hotel roo ms... because the United States Grand Prix has been set fo r July 10, 200 S at Mazda Racewa y Laguna Seca in Mo nterey, California. The race will be round nine of the MotoGP World Championship and falls on the weekend in July tha t is the traditio nal date of the AMNWorld Superbike combined weekend. The U.S. GP will be MotoGP only, and the su ppo rt classes have yet to be annou nced . The track also needs to go through the FIMho mo logatio n procedures, though that won't happen until the completion of extensive improvements. The Sports Car Racing Associat ion of the Monterey Peninsula (SCRAMP) and Dorna Sports, th e Spanish-based company that holds the commercial and TV rights to the FIM MotoGP World Championship, inked a five-year deal for the Grand Prix to return to Laguna. Laguna hosted the U.S. GP from 1988 to 1994 - prior to the MotoGP era. "The support from fans and spo nsors has bee n of great e ncouragement in th is de cision," Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca ge ne ral manager Gill Campbell said in a facility fo r the next seven years. Laguna opted to buy him out, paying over do uble for the note that Murphy had purch ased just pr ior to the World Superbike weekend. "Let' s just say they bought the note at a significant number," Murphy said last week. "They wanted to promote in t he worst way . It's disappointing because I really enjoyed doing it, and we built it up fo r 10 years ," Now Murphy focuses his attention on his Cycle Fest event in Colorado, the event playing host to the opening ro und of the AMA Supermoto Championship, August 27 through 29. "T hat' s our focus for now ," Murphy said. ':After that, we 'll probably look toward doing more events like Cycle Fest . You wo rk really hard to build an event at a trac k like Laguna or Road Atlanta, and then the track takes you r event if it does well. I'm not sure a tre mendous amount of po tential. W e con- that 's a business I want to be in right now. But who know s... I may change my mind and want to go run a World Superbike race so mew here . Right now, I'm off to buy a new set of golf clubs," Wh ile Murphy plays golf, work at the racetrack will be o ngoing, and the process co uld be a difficult one. Altho ugh it's fairly unanimou s that the riders want a U.S. GP and that Laguna is the place to have it, there tinue to produce world -class events at is con cern over several sections of the track Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and that's what we 're all about." "Do m a has always bee n loo king into the possibility of co ming back with MotoG P to the USA," said Camnelo Ezpe leta, CEO managing directo r of Dorna Sports . "N ow, th anks to the great coope ration amo ng all the part ies concerned and to the mod ifications being mad e at Mazd a Raceway Laguna Seca . we are ve ry happ y that we have found the ideal opportunity to do so. The United States is an interesting mark et for MotoGP and certainly all the partne rs, manufacturers and sponsors involved will - most notab ly the high-speed tum one that crests th e hill after the start/finish-line bridge . Former World Superbike champion Colin Edwards is o ne of those concerned about the hill. "Shit yeah:' Edwards said when asked if tum one wo uld be a prob lem. " My Superb ike was a handful. It really would n't matter now, but they moved tum I I back. It was actually better when it was closer because you could kind of go pinned, but now you're just carrying that much more speed - especially on these bikes. These bikes we 're going to be running 20k, 30k [ 12 to 18 mph) higher coming up to there. Yeah, it'll be interesting. And especially now. Tum one's kind of like a tabletop D ump]. It's not actually a ro lling hill. It kind of goe s up, flat, and then over. I think everybody will have to adjust, but maybe as dangerous as it sounds , I've never in my however many years of going there seen anybody crash there. It's just one of those comers that I think a rider, a racer being a racer, you just know this is not the place to crash . So you don't ," One of the riders thrilled to have the o p po rt unity to race at home is Re pso l Honda's Nicky Hayden. "It's awesome," Hayden said at the Czech GP. " Now it's on the schedule, I'm already exc ited about it, to be honest wit h you. I think a lot of people worked hard, especially Doma, Camnelo and those guys wanted it and made all the right things happen. And Laguna, I know they 've got a lot of changes they 're going to have to make to the track. As long as they live up to it, I know that I'm e xcited . I've talked to a lot of U.S. fans and statement. "Corpora te sponsorships are vital for th e track impr ovem ents that will need to be made to satisfy FIM reg ulations. We feel that we have a great prod uct with be very positive about returning there ." The Grand Prix will be sponsored by Red Bull. with the energy drink reportedly kicking in the mo ney for the track improvement s - an amount that has been budgeted at $ 1.9 million, according to sources. The race will be named the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. O ne man who was left out in the cold by th e anno uncement that SCRAMP had cut a deal directly with Dorna was RPM's Dan Murphy, the man who has promoted World Superbike races at Laguna for the past 10 years . Still, Murphy won 't go empty handed. Prio r to the World Superbike/AMA weekend at Laguna in July, Murphy purchased a note from a bank • a loan that Laguna Seca still owed on , money that was borrowed by the racetrack to make the im provements over recent years, including the garage/hospitality pit late structure. Since Murphy basically became the landlord at the po int, Laguna had two o ptions: buy him out or let him become the exclustve motorcycle racing promoter at the 6 SEPTEMBER 1,2004 • CYCLE NEWS they're all beh ind it. So hopefully the track gets the right changes and everybody co me s out and it goes off big. It's a good deal. I th ink it's important for our championship." Hayden is another wh o has ridden a Supe rbike at Laguna. He 's not overly concerned with turn one. "It' s go ing to be a bit loose, but as long as they get a little room o n the right," Hayden said. "There' s other co mers in GP that are loose. That's part of riding a bike. It's go ing to be a tricky comer and not going to be easy, esp ecially if you're no t comfortable and got the setu p right. It's no differ ent o n a Sup erbike . It can be miserable o n a Superbike too when you' re no t com fort able. I think so me guys will rea lly like it and som e guys are go ing to hate it," Turn six could also be a prob lem ar ea . "O n the way in on the outs ide is o kay," Hayden said. "But on the way out, they'll have to move stuff on the way out. There's corners on our calendar too that need work so it's not like it's just Laguna or whatever. There's corners even on some of our tracks that cou ld use work," O verall, the attitude of the Ame rican rider was summed up bes t by Edwa rds. "It's about freakin' time ," the Texan said. "It' s the G P place . It' s like freakin' Hollywood. Y u've got the best food and the o best weather in the worl d. And nice people. With the five Americans [riders currently in MotoGP) , they should draw 100 ,000, I would th ink. They had 92,000 [for three days) In 2002 with Superbike. ' The rest of the 200S World Champio nship calendar features very few changes, with the U.S. and Chinese events leading those changes. The season will beg in in Spain on April 10 before a long haul fly. away the next weekend , either to South Africa or Brazil. Both tracks have been operating under financial duress, and one will not survive . After that , it's a two-week break to the first Grand Prix in China, at the new Shanghai circu it on May I. 40th Anniversary The heart of the European schedule follows - five races in seven weeks - wi th Mugello in Italy the week after the Fre nch Grand Prix at Le Mans. A two-week bre ak ends with the British GP mo ving to a much earlier date , now July 19, with the Dutch Gr and Prix at Assen o n the following Saturday. Then the re' s anot he r two wee ks befo re the stand-alone U.S. GP and tw o more to get back to Europe for the Gemnan GP at Sachse nring. A four-w eek summe r break comes next, e nding with the Czech GP at Bmo, the n thre e more weeks before the second ro und of flyaways - first to Motegi, nort h of Tokyo. The seco nd Qatar GP is nex t and is th e first of th ree in a ro w. Malaysia and Phillip Island are next up before the series mo ves to its European roo ts for the final two races, first in Esto ril on October 30 and Valencia, Spain, for the season-ender on November 6. The prov isional calendar is as follows : April 10 Spain, Jerez de la Frontera Aprll 17 Rio or South Africa, Jacarepagua or Welkom (1 be confirmed) 0 May 1 China. Shanghai May 15 France, Le Mans May 29 lIaly, Mugello June 5 Calalunya, Catalunya J une 19 Great Britain, Donington Park June 25 Netherlands. Assen (Sa turday race) J uly 10 United States, l aguna Seca (MotoGP Only) J uly 24 Germany, Sachsenring August 28 Czech Republic. Srno September 18 Jap~n. Motegi October 1 Qatar, Qatar (Saturday race) October 9 Malays Sapang ia, Octobe r 16 Austr alia, Phillip Island October 30 Portugal, Estoril November6 Valencia, RicardoTormo