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JULY 26, 2006 • C Y C L E N E W S 12 I t comes as no surprise that Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden is looking forward to returning to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The famed Monterey circuit is the site of his stirring, first MotoGP win in last year's inaugural Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. "I'm definitely looking forward to it," he said before hedging his bets on the track work. "I mean, I'm sure it's going to be a lot different. We'll see how the track is sort of thing. I'm going to try to go win. I mean, it's pretty simple. It is still early. Like I've said in the past, as far as points, I feel like I got to give it... I can't afford to rest. I've got to try to get as many points as I can there - that'd be a good way to try to get 25 of them [points] at Laguna. That's my plan, pretty much. Sure I hope I wouldn't do anything too crazy and let my pride get in the way to try to win one race. Obviously, the champi- onship means everything to me - more so than winning my home race. But still I'm going to go there definitely trying to win." The home-field advantage Hayden enjoyed last year was gone by the end of the race last year. Camel Yamaha's Valentino Rossi closed right up on team- mate Colin Edwards and will be more of a threat this year when he comes to the race needing points. "He knows the track," Hayden said. "I mean, he's trying to win races now, he's got to be in that position. He'd be tough. You pretty well know on Sunday Valentino's going to be tough regardless where you're at - parking lot, racetrack, wherever. The guy's going to be bring it. We're prepared for that." Hayden got the lowdown on the new track bits from family friend Doug Chandler. The repave was welcome, but the change on the run to the Corkscrew wasn't. "I've seen pictures of that - side by side it just looks like a different corner," he said. "It's still the same sort of thing, but it's got a different curve to it. Now you just go straight up to the Corkscrew and can see it. I guess in Rainey Curve there used to be big bump there and they tried to get rid of that and repaved it. So, yeah, sounds quite a lot different, actually." Hayden agreed that the change had taken some of the character out of Laguna Seca. "The thing to me that made the Corkscrew half of what it was, is not so much the drop-away, it was that approach," he said. "How it was blind and the bike was loose and was really technical getting up to it. The thing that separated that corner to me more than anything was just getting into it. As you come over the hill you go right and left and the bike would be really loose. I mean I don't want to say until I see it, but yeah." Camel Yamaha's Colin Edwards agreed. "I'm upset that they changed it anyway, but whatever," he said. "I guess its politics. I stay out of that crap. I think it's a shame, honestly. I haven't even ridden it yet. It's like Mugello or this place [Sachsenring] - there's little tricks that some people clue up to and some people don't, and now they just change it so everybody can see the Corkscrew before you get there. Whatever. I'm not an advocate of the change for sure." Team Roberts Kenny Roberts Jr. is a mem- ber of the GP Rider Safety Commission that requested the changes. He'd only seen pho- tos of the work, but was pleased that it had been done. "They've done everything we've asked them to on the safety side of it," he said. Roberts Jr. wasn't concerned with wind in the turn-six run-out. "Someone said he [Chandler] said it was windy, because there's f---ing walls and you're in a f---ing tunnel before," he said. "And the riders and me and everybody said this is f---ing dangerous. So now, there's wind. Well, I'm not a weatherman so I don't give a f---. I just don't want walls. I don't care if I get blown around all day." When told that neither Edwards nor Hayden liked the change, Roberts Jr. said, "I don't care. Wind and a different circuit feels better than walls. That's all I care about. Other than that, maybe I'm a little bit non- nostalgic or whatever." The commission also asked that six to eight inches be taken off the crown over turn one. "The jump, we took that out," Roberts said. "I would have loved another three feet." Edwards is in a precarious position job- wise. Yamaha is clamoring for young Australian Casey Stoner, which may put Edwards out of work. But that doesn't mean he's not a team player and helping Rossi is an option. "Obviously, if you're running for the win, you go for the win, that way you take five points away from anybody," he said. "If it comes down to it, for sure, I'm going do what I can to help the team - I mean, that's unspo- ken. That's just what you do as a team." Edwards chased Hayden for the duration last year, having to pass teammate Rossi for second. Rossi was in the comfortable posi- tion of not having to fight for every point. The World Champion came to Laguna with a 63-point lead on Marco Melandri and left with a 79-point cushion. This year he'll arrive needing to scrape for every point. "Last year for sure was a different situa- tion, especially in the championship," Rossi said. "I had a lot of advantage. But anyway, especially Nicky [Hayden] and also Colin [Edwards] last year make the difference. And Laguna is a difficult track, different than nor- mal, something special, so it was hard to arrive at the right. Was difficult to arrive at the top. I was the first of the European riders and during the race I improve and learn a lot fol- lowing Nicky and at the end following Colin, I was able to make my best lap at the last lap. So now I have a better experience. This year Laguna is an important race for sure." Rossi will arrive at Laguna Seca still strug- gling to adapt to Michelin's newest tires. He qualified on the fourth row in Germany and didn't expect a miracle for Monterey. "Once again we have another race straight away and it's quite worrying because we don't have the time to work or find a solution before Laguna Seca," he said. Rossi is fighting his way back into a cham- pionship led by Hayden with his teammate, Dani Pedrosa, a resurgent second. Pedrosa will arrive in Monterey with the disadvantage of never having been there. "I cannot prepare so much because I've never been there and really all I can do is try to watch in the TV," Pedrosa said. "But any- way, until you are not there you don't know what you have and what is your possibility. So let's wait and get there." The race is the 11th of 17 rounds of the MotoGP World Championship. Pedrosa was strong during preseason testing, but has had some up and down moments. The ups were wins in China and Donington, the downs a DNF in Spain and 14th in Turkey when he crashed while challenging for the lead on the final lap. Still, he's made his mark, something Rossi has noticed. "I say that [Dani] Pedrosa is very strong from the second and third test of MotoGP for sure," he said. "And Donington [where he won by nearly four seconds] was impres- sive. I think now, yes, more or less, I give the same percentage [as championship chal- lengers] between Nicky and Dani, more or less. Because anyway, Nicky have more experience, but when Pedrosa is okay, he's very fast, like in Donington. So Dani make a very good race and he make the normal evo- lution that you make if the bike is okay and you are able to use the new tires and you ride very strong because you make a good lap time in the practice a little bit faster than my pole position, good lap time in the race. Pedrosa in Donington make a 100-percent race, unfortunately us, we are not at 100 percent and we are not able to make the same rhythm. So we need to understand and improve our problem." Rossi was asked why he felt Hayden hadn't been more successful; he has only two wins in more than three and half years. "Every rider is different I think. Nicky has his good points and his bad points. I think Pedrosa has a great, great talent. Another big difference between Nicky and Dani, Nicky come from American Championship of Superbike - this means he always rides a Superbike and in American-style tracks. So for him, it's a bigger jump to the World Championship compared to Dani, who always use 125 or 250, knows all the tracks, so the jump is smaller. Also the Superbike is a big bike and four-stroke, but now these MotoGP are more similar to two-stroke 250, than Superbike, for sure." Fortuna Honda's Marco Melandri was advocating a rider boycott before he even turned a wheel on the track. He admits his attitude was a mistake and promises better this year. "For sure I made the biggest mistake has been like my approach to the race," he said. "It's been too negative. I'm going to change this year because I think they change the track a lot. The safety's so much more. But in the end, I really liked the track. We had for sure not so good setting. We made so much confusion for the practice. But during the warmup, we find out quite a good set- ting and I was sixth or seventh, but not so far from the first. Just .3 slower than the qualifying tire, so I was happy. I start too aggressive and I went down immediately. So I think it's been... I learned a lot I think that week. But we'll see. I think the track looks good - it's nice. I know that America must give me back what I lost last year, so I go there happy." Roberts Jr. is looking forward to being on a competitive motorcycle for his home Grand Prix. "For me to go there, as long as I have a safe race and I give it my 100 percent and the team gives it 100 percent, I'm happy with that," he said. "I think that that's what I did last year and I rode around in 80th or whatever it was. This year we're going to try to have a shot at the podium or the vic- tory. It doesn't change the outlook or my preparations for it." Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins also comes to his home race with plenty of motivation. "As far as Laguna, it's quite interesting because the tires improved a lot and from last year's bike to this year's bike's been a tremendous difference. On top of that my motivation going into the race is going to be higher than going into anyplace else. We're looking for a good race. We're going to go for a podium - we go for one every race. We're definitely going for the podium at Laguna and there's no reason why we shouldn't even go for the top of the podi- um. I think the package is strong, but you know at the end of the day we're there to race and we're there to win. We're not there to screw around. And going into Laguna, my motivation is going to take me up as high as I can and I believe my bike and tires can do it." Henny Ray Abrams Bring On Laguna! PHOTO BY GOLD & GOOSE Nicky Hayden comes to Laguna Seca leading the World Championship.