Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

MotoGP World Champi.onshlp After his win, Hayden pulled this track is a little bit dangerous, but in the into the pits, picked up his race you don't think about nothing. This is the father Earl and took him for problem about the safety," he deadpanned. one of the most historic Hayden wasn't bothered. celebration rides in U.S. "This is the type of circuit we grew up on," Grand Prix histo • The final two finishers were the Blata WCM's of James Ellison and Franco Battaini. The nonfinishers included Carlos Checa, who crashed on the ninth lap, and Robbie Rolfo, who ran out of gas on the final lap. MOTOGP Rossi wasn't a fan of the track. Too dangerous in too many places, he said. But in the heat of the race, the walls disappeared. "The problem is for all the riders: During the practice you think maybe some place Nicky DOE!!i 11:! The lap time was so good that even Valentino Rossi was impressed. R.epsol Honda's Nicky Hayden laid down a scorcher in Saturday qualifying at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, a track he knows well. The time was a new record, of course. More than that, it was a signaJ that he was unwilling to cede the home-fiekl advantage. "When I stop after my first qualifying tire, I see the lap time of Nicky [HaydenI was I second and . I fastest of everybody. I say, 'Yeah, is not so bad,''' Rossi admitted. With under 12 minutes to go, Hayden held I. 125 seconds on fellow American John Hopkins, and on Rossi he held 1.15S - an eternity in the combative premier class. Hopkins knows the intricacies of the up-and-down, tight, twisty and bumpy road course. Not so for Rossi, who said It felt alien. For Hayden, it was a perfect fit. And though he lost much of the advantage, he bettered the time that Rossi saw to take his first-ever pole position in his 38th MotoGP with a comfortable .354 of a second on the championship leader after lapping the 2.23S-mile road course in 1:22.670. "I've bMn waiting to do It here in front of my home fans," said Hayden, a past 5uperblke winner here. He'd been fastest In the two previous practice sessions and second in Friday's first session. "It just felt good all weekend," he said. "Obviously, Laguna is a track I like. In the session I was fastest, and I came around after my first qualifying iap, and I seen 23.5. And I was like, 'Dang.' I knew that wasn't going to get me much. I was like, 'Dude, don't choke now. You know you've been fastest the whole session.' I put my head down, and I seen 22.6." The contingent from his hometown of Owensboro, Kentucky, was only about 25 strong, but It was clear Saturday's crowd of 59,000 was on his side. "Obviously, the fans here, you see them cheering on the sides of the hills after I set the best lap," he said. "Just awesome feeling, I mean. I can't even tell you how cool It is to see ali the flags and banners. The last couple of years I seen all these guys at their home track and I think man how cool that must be. lOday to finally have It happen to me is a great feeling, and I just want to thank all the fans for making me feel so good." Second place was uncharacteristic for Rossi, but the performance was nearly the equal of Hayden's pole. "I'm very happy and very proud because I am in second place, and the other ones are far away thai: are the rookies of this track. But it means we work very well and we are fast," he 24 JULY 20,2005 • CYCLE NEWS he said. "Tight, kind of bumpy, things are happening, you've got to get over the hills without raising the front end. We didn't really grow up at Mugello on 125s and stuff. We learned riding four-strokes around here." His best chance was to take a flyer and hope no one could keep up. With Rossi in the field, it wasn't likely. Jetting away from his first-ever pole position, Hayden was gone. The lead was over a second on the first lap and nearly three at one point. Atthe end, it was 1.941. "Last night, I was sitting in the motor home talking to my brothers, and I was like, 'Dude, I really think I can get away tomorrow if I get the holeshot,'" he said. "I got the holeshot like said, pointing out the fact thai: the top eight riders, with the exception of himself, all had experience at Laguna 5eca, lM!I'l though for some it was from the last U.S. GP - II years ago. "This track is diffICUlt, is very strange, and I think It will be hard to overtake, so It's Important to start from the front." Rossi said. "This track is difficult because is a different type of track compared to all the other tracks. Have a lot of strange points like the Corkscrew. I think here experience, making a lot of laps is important. I tried to make the maximum of laps dUring this practice. We try to Improve a little bit also tomorrow. We have some problem that I think is possible to make better. But tomorrow, I follow Nicky, and he give me the secret." To which Hayden replied: "For the whole race, that'd be okay." Camel Honda's Alex Barros rode a lucky Strike Suzuki RGV-500 in the 1994 500cc U.S. GP. That experience was worth less than his enthusiasm for the track. But combined It earned him third overall, the end of the front row. "I know some people say I have experience on this track; the experience is a completely different machine, the surface changed a little bit," the 34-year-old Brazilian said. Now It Is bumpy. But the lines are the same, as is the character, which Barros finds refreshing. "Consistently you must me putting the machine on the ground, and it's lumping and you have hard braking and defend yourself, and it's spinning entering the corner and outside, so it's really tough," he said. "I like this kind of challenge. It's different than other tracks. New tracks that come out now are a little bit boring for me, I like very old styles." Experience showed on row two. Camel Honda's Troy Bayliss was fourth fastest after crashing for the second day in a row. "We lust had a little problem: Something went wrong with the rear brake this afternoon, maybe due to this m0rning's crash," the Australian said. Prior to this weekend, no one had lapped Laguna Seca faster than the I:24.833 Bayliss had run in World Superbike I said. I definitely didn't want to be battling with anybody, just tried to get into my rhythm. It just all came together today. It's nice. "I hope that this will take my GP career to a new level, just the whole weekend," he said. "Just get to that next level. I can't wait till Donington to try to go prove it's no fluke. I really hope that this here, like you say, sometimes it's hard; once you get that first win, sometimes they come easier." Rossi settled into second, while Edwards worked through early traffic. By the fourth lap, Edwards was in third, but at a gap of nearly four seconds to his teammate. Patiently, he whittled away and made a bold inside pass entering the Corkscrew on lap 16. "I don't expect and I lost a little bit," Rossi said. Now it was Edwards being haunted by the specter of Rossi. We'd seen this before. Follow, wait, pounce. Only Edwards had other ideas. "I wasn't even thinking about conservation of qualifying in 2002. Now his best lap was a I:23.358 and only .046 of a second off the front row. Yamaha's Colin Edwards was fifth, .111 of a second behind his fellow World Superbike race winner at Laguna Seca. "It took a big effort to set that lap, and I'm actually quite lucky to be on the second row," said pre-race favorite Edwards, referring to the fact that he'd been steered wrong on the front tire choice. John Hopkins was a scant .024 of a second behind Edwards on the Suzuki, backed by Red Bull for this one race. The young Californian had been third with just over two minutes to go before being pushed down the grid. "I'm definitely disappointed," he said. "I don't want to be sitting on the second row, I want to be on the front. I gave It my all and did everything I could, but unfortunately, I ended up sixth." Max Blaggi and Carlos Checa, who both raced in the final 250cc GP in 1994, were on row three. The first of the nonveterans, aside from Rossi, was Makoto Tamada in ninth. "Starting with the seventh-best time from the third row surely disappoints me and my team," Blaggi said. Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano, another Iirst-timer, was 10th, in front of the struggling Marco Melandrl. Kenny Roberts was the last of the Americans in 12th. His worst qualifying performance of the year netted Sete Gibemau 13th, back on row fove. "I'm f---ed," was his comment. "I can laIk longer, but not more dear." The problem was his motorcycle. "It's just the whole package is not working," he said. "The thing is, It looks like we're off in a big way in one area from all the others. I was doing 24.8 or 24.7 the first day, and today with the qualifier, I was doing 24.2." Ducati Marlboro's Loris Capirossi was hit early in the weekend by a bout of gastroenteritis that plagued him through qualifying. He was 14th. The end of the fifth row was where a disgruntled Alex Hofmann on his Kawasaki ended up. "The American riders can do It blindfolded," but he was struggling with the drcult.

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