Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

MOTOGP take 12th. "In the race. I was much more comfortable with the track; I now understand the Corkscrew." the German said. "I was able to run a consistent pace with good grip and I'm happy to get some points. The crowd was amazing today." Fortuna Yamaha's Toni Elias was a very close 13th while managing the pain in his still-injured wrist. "My hand was hurting so much," he said. Round 8 July 10, 2005 ~ MotoGP World Championship Suzuki's Kenny Roberts Jr. was the lowest scoring of the Americans in 14th. Roberts apologized to anyone who had to watch. "We couldn't put on a competitive performance whatsoever here, and I feel bad for family. friends and fans that had come to watch." he said. Shane "Shaky" Byrne scored the first point for the Proton KR powered by KTM. "It's been a long time coming, and I'm glad it's come." he said. Up in Arm§ "Personally when I arrive at tum six and go up to the Corkscrew and also arrive at tum one I always think, ·F-...• Those were the thoughts of World Champion Valentino Rossi on a lap of Mazda Raceway laguna Seca. And his weren't the most strident comments. Marco Melandri was more severe in his criticism before he even turned a wheel on the up-and-down, 2.238-mile road coune in the hills east of Monterey. California And certainly before his two crashes. The worthiness of the circuit as a MotoGP track dominated the weekend discoune. Every rider had an opinion and. surprisingly. many weren't negative. But it was Rossi's opinion that mattered most. and the World Champion wasn't happy. Lost in the hubbub was that it was partly his doing. After it was announced last year that the track would be holding its first Grand Prix in I I years. the rider safety commission. of which Rossi is a member. requested a number of enhancements. Because he lives close by. Kenny Roberts Jr.• another commission member. became the de facto monitor. He took in the combined World 5uperbike/AMA 5uperbike event and sought the advice of those who'd raced there most recently - Colin Edwards, Nicky Hayden and Troy Bayliss. "If it's anybody's fault. it's Bayliss, me. Nicky. We were the ones who were last here. and he called and asked us and asked what parts were dangerous." Edwards said. '~n, we were here on Superbikes and everything was honky dory. Everything was nice. We had a couple of bad accidents in maybe '99. but they changed the track and made it a lot better. In 200 I. 2002. everything was perfect. That was the experience we left here with. Then two years go by. and Kenny asks. 'How's the track?' 'It's all right. you know. We'lI move some dirt. we'll move this. Sounds all right. let's go racing: Then you come here and you've been spoiled so much in Europe. and you go, 'Wow: It is close, and the walls look pretty narrow, you know. n FIM safety boss Claude Danis said the safety commission. then comprised of Sete Gibemau. Rossi. Loris Capirossi and Roberts, made its initial requests for modifications based on drawings. "I homologated the circuit just to check if the requests of the commission were properly done or not. and it was the case." Danis said. "They did everything that the commission requested for the circuit, so there was not any problem for the homologation." The track spent $2 million on improvements. The funding came from Yamaha. the company celebrating its 50th anniversary at the race. Asked if Rossi knew what he was getting into, Danis said. "On a drawing. yes. But... it's different on a motorcycle." Rossi said the track was reminiscent of Europe circa 1995. "If we compare this track to all others in the championship, it is very dangerous." Rossi said. "We have some points where usually we race with a lot more runoff area and with more safety. This one is two steps down because in the last few years. we have made a lot of improvements for the safety." The inevitable comparison was to 5uzuka. the last track to be knocked off the calendar for safety reasons. "This track is not worse than 5uzuka:' Rossi said. "The biggest problem we have about safety for me is the speeds 22 JULY 20,2005 • CYCLE NEWS Edwards (5) fights oH this last-ditch eHort by Rassi (46) in the final corner on the final lap to take second place. these bikes do. If you have a tight corner with not a lot of runoff. then it's not very dangerous because the speed is not very high. The biggest problem is when you are going fast, and Suzuka. I think, is worse because it is much faster. Where Melandri crash. where [Alex] Barros crash and where I crashed, it is very fast and also have the wall. There are some other places as well. like the point where Daijiro [Kato] crashed." The rider safety commission met on Friday night. Rossi. Roberts and Caplrossi joined by John Hopkins and Melandri. Melandrl was the most outspoken when he arrived on Thursday, before he had ridden the track. He said that the danger of the track made it a "scandal" that it was hosting a Grand Prix. Teammate Gibemau took aim in a profanity-laced rebuke in the pre-race press conference. "It's easy for any rider now to corne and say. 'Why are we here?' Why didn't you come and tell something about what the f.-- you think about the racetrack?,' he asked. "It's so easy now to go. 'It's Kenny (Roberts], it's Colin [Edwards]. they're not doing their job: Well. whoever says that. he's not doing his f-ing job by going to the safety commission and talking about that. That's stupid. We're all here for safety. It's not Kenny or Colin or Nicky [Hayden] or none of us wanting to be here and getting hurt. Whoever says that is dumb. We're all here trying to do the best for the f.--ing sport, and if somebody has something to say about the safety commission or whatever, there's the safety commission every weekend you go there and you talk. There are many out there, the riders. who only complain and never go and talk to Kenny or say nothing. We're here and we're trying to the do the championship the safest and the best for us and for everybody:' Rossi noted that when it came time to put two hours into a track inspection, others seemed less willing. ''A lot of riders speak about safety with the journalists, saying the track is very dangerous. but at the end. nobody came to the meeting:' said Rossi. who was joined by Roberts in the inspection. "Melandri came to the meeting, but he didn't come out on the track because he said he had something else to do. So. I went as I always do. But I'm happy to do it. because it is very important for our sport. We need a new surface for the whole track, turn one and six need to be modified, and also before the Corkscrew, and also the exit from tum four." Turn one isn't so much a tum as a top-of-fifth-gear lefthand kink over a brow; Hayden and Biaggi both got airborne. Tum six is a daunting uphill left with little runoff that leads to a mildly undulating straight with elevation changes on the run to the Corkscrew. the track's signature comer. Approached blindly, the Corkscrew turns 90 degrees left. then immediately drops away and arcs right onto a short chute before Rainey Curve. a fast downhill left. "It's not possible to make Laguna as safe as some of the other tracks. but we have to do our best:· Rossi said. "There is 15 meters more on the outside of tum six to make it better, and we can use the pit exit to make more room at tum one. It's not perfect. but it's better. In some places, if something happen. this track doesn't even have enough runoff for a 125. As. tum one, with our bikes when you arrive there it is like you are flying." Fellow commission member Capirossi was equally critical of the track. "Jumping is a big problem on these bikes." he said, with the MotoGP machines getting very light in tum one and on the run to the Corkscrew. "We have to modify something forthat." The $2 million Yamaha spent "is nothing:' Capirossi felt. "Sure when you talk with normal people and you say $2 millions they go. 'Wow: but $2 million to have a safe track is not enough, especially when we are starting to work at a track like this. "I expected it to be better than it is:' he added. "I was a little surprised when I saw it. We have worked a lot to get safe tracks all around the world. and we have to do so here." For Capirossi, wrestling the Desmosedici would be a physical burden in the best of times, but he had the added discomfort of gastroenteritis. "Riding the Ducati around this track is not easy:' he said. "Sometimes it's like a supercross with a tabletop. Before the Corkscrew. both wheels leave the ground. On the approach. you just have to close the throttle. It is just a big dip. and when you land. the forks just bottom out, not because you are braking. just because the jump is so severe. That unsettles the bike for the Corkscrew making it very difficult. All the riders agree about the changes. The surface is not good; there are too many bumps:' The track is home for Hayden, but he's aware it needs to be improved. "I mean. I think place is sold out and they've sold a lot of tickets. and I know it wasn't cheap to hook up my motor home. so Laguna's doing all right:' he said. "They need to be ready to do some more work for next year. I think." One rider accustomed to wone is Brit Shane Byrne, the Proton rider having cut his teeth on the notorious British racetracks. "It's a f-ing racetrack, isn't it?" Byrne said. "I don't think there's too many issues to be honest. Over the top of that first tum is quite fast, and you wouldn't want to sort of tuck the front there. I think you'd end up sliding for like a while. I don't know what the track was like before. but I spoke to a couple of people. and they said it was a whole lot worse before. I don't think there was too many issues with it. But maybe if I was 2 1/2 seconds a lap quicker, it might feel a little bit f-king dangerous. I don't know."

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