Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Briefly... Tech 3 Yamaha's Jarnes Ellison was next, followed by Pramac d'Antin MotoGP's Alex Hofmann. The final two finishers were Fortuna Honda's Toni Elias and Hofmann's team- mate lose Luis Cardoso. Elias struggled with the heat and his still inlured shoulder, a reminder of his crash in Assen- On lap 15 he ran straight at the Corkscrew and fell back from l2th, recovering to get one point. The end of the weekend couldn't come soon enough. Between the heat and the crumbling track surface, the sum- mer break was more than welcome. Kenny Roberts lr. said the track was "Horrible. There were rock coming up and lwas hiding behind the screen like motocross, lt was horrible, They'll have to repave it, without a doubt. And it's not Laguna's fauh- lt's whoever paved this thing. They're responsible." The pothole thx developed in the h* dovmhill-left Rainey Curve was patched SatJrday sr'enirg. Race oflicials were so worrird that h would become unrideable dlat rhey banned all on-track activities between the moming MotoGP warmup and the 2 p.m. race. Two Al"lA practice sessiors and one race were moved to the aftemoon. "The fact thd we actlally had to come here and endure it for a year, this weekend, is in ny opinion riliculous," an obviously uFet Edwards said. "h iust shouldnt have haPpered. kf bu shit. But, yeah, just to actrully have to endure it icr a weekend is bullshit, honesdy, in rny oFinion. They can say, Oh, they have to repave it, and ),eeh, oka)4 we're goinS to rep6/e it' but to endure it for one $/eekend. lt's way, way, way... We never even had a talk about a boycott or anything like that, because, okay, it was bumpy. But it's the only American Grand Prix, and we can deal with the bumps. But to be brand-new repaved and to be coming up, the track coming apart, that's ,ust not accepable, not acceptable whasoever." The tradition of delaying the st rt of p6cti.e for the U.S. GP continued this ye3r. One year after last yeaa's extraordi narT session, originall), scheduled for two hourc, was delayed 25 minutes because of a conlusion arnong the corner marshals carne a slightly longer delay this year: The l0 a.m. first kiday session began at 10:30. The ini- tial explanation was oil on the tlack from a blown eddne in Sle earlier AMA Superbike practice s€ssion. But the tru$ was that it was again a problem wth radio communi- cations and flag8in8 among the com6r workers. A SCRAMP oflicial said the initial explanation from the AMA was oil on the raak, but the truth was that there wasn't enough slack in lhe time rable because the AMA requested all four championship class- es be squeezed into the weekend. The solution to dle horrible bumps that plagued the recently repaved aace t6ck rnay be yet another repave. Only this time it would be partial. That suggestion (ame out of the rE$lady schedsled GP Rider Sofety Commisrion meetinS on Saturday evening. Valentino Rossi said that those responsibl€ apoloSized for the bumps and laid that they would try to r€solve lhe crisis in time tor next year's race. The worst of the 2.238-mile road course w"s from the Corksoew, at the highest point orl the tr.ck, down to tfie liml left-haDd riSht onto the froflt stretch. "For sure, is difficuh to make good asphalt go down in the last part of the lap because a lot of downhill, banked, but maybe for next year is possible to make better in that sectioh," Rossl said, clarifying the point by sayinS that th€y would resur- face only that one area, not the wt6le track. "Now w€ checi and in the hext month we know the plan ,or next year." ln 2007 there will be the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup at seven European Grands Prix (Jerez, Mugello, Arsen, Donington, Sachsenring, Bmo, valencia), open to riders between 13 and 16. ln a few days deadline for appli.ations will be finished. So far 800 riders have +plied and 40O have been cho- sen for the final selection at Valencia (August 28-3 I ). Alberto PuiS will then cho6e a mini- mum of 20 riders for the cup. The Cup will be run for three years with KTM l25cc pro- duction bikes. All participants will be free to run in rBtional championships at the sarne time, o/en on difierent rnachinery such as Horda or Aprilia- For more in ofmatiorl, vrsk www.redbullrookiescup.com Marlboro Ducati's Loris C€pirorsi will t€st Du.?ti's 8OO ar th€ end of the summer break. The ltalian said there was a two-day t€st plahned at Brno following the Czech GP Ca$rossi wasn't allowed to ride it dur- ing $e initial shakedown tests much earlier in the year. And he wasn't at rull fitness for the mort re(ent tests, carried out by Pra- mac d'Antin Du€ati's Alex Hofmann. "Well I say not too bad," Capirossi said- "The bike is quite quick. But lthinking for me, my opinion, is after a couple o[ races the 8(X) is quicker like the l0@cc sure. Maybe fasrer- Because the bike i5 not liSlter b€calse the rules say the sarne weiSht- but is more easi- Conrinued on pdge 27 CYCLE NEWS . AUGUST 2,2006 21 couldn'r improve on thir morning's time." Rizla Suzuki'sJohn Hopkins was a mere .008 of a se(ond behind Pedrosa whil6 searching for a mce setup that wouldn't wilt in Sun- day's hear. "Basically, we were,ust findint the best setup that we could today," the Californian said. Ha),den ended up on the far end of row two following an alter- noon's struttle5 in the heat. "We've never seen that high a track tempemture, not Qatar, not Malaysia," he said. "Fifty-€ight, 36 Fl thaCs hot. Thas morning I did a 22.8. This afternoon I couldn't even be close. Especialt thar sealer srufi man thal stull was gaeasy." Safety renovations altered some of the passinS zones at Laguna Seca and Hayden knew he'd need to work last to 8et to the front. "The botlom line is we're startint sixth and we're goin8 to need an awesome s!art," he said. His smaller RCzl lV i! "not 8oin8 over the bumps and it's not tettint into the corner too well. I m definitely struggling. lt's really nervout over all the bumps. it s really twitah,,." LCR Honda's Case), Sroner. another Latuna Seca debutante, led off row three. Stoner was impressively [ast, but aa8ted, ar the condi- tions dictated. "There is !o much chatter round here that I have had to (ape up my hands ro try and stop them from blistering !p," he said. Eighth fasresr Shinya Nakano said Vermeulen's performance showed there wa3 more to be had from his Bridgestone qualifier. Fortuna Honda's Marco Melandra had vision problems in the afternoon after a promising morning session. "ln the qualifying ression lgor somethinS in my eyes that made them water and I had problemr seeing where I wa5 8oin8," he said after qualifyinS ninth. From that moment on eveD/thint seemed to go wrong and (he settings we used did not feel good at all.' Rorsiwas down an l0th and troubled by the T-4 segment, espe- cially wirh the added traction from rhe qualifier- "l lost aSility with the extra trip," he begah, "and too much weight on the front is difficuh !o control." ln the last part of the track there are too many bumps and lhe bike "is not able to absorb very well the bumps and is nervous and move roo much and is dilficult to stay on the line and ke€p the tood speed." Carlos Checa pur Tech 3 Yamaha with Dunlops in I lrh, one spot up on Fortuna Honda's Toni Elias. One row back was Marlboro Ducati's Loris Capirossi, with team- mare Sete Gib€rnau direclly behind him on row six. Neither could get much from their qualifiers and Capirossi was pushinS the front. "We are no! here to make up the numbers. we want to win but at the momen! we dont have what's required." he said. Said Giber- nau: "We can only improve from here." / I \ ,-- q\ ,.qr {* vcrm.ul.n hod thrm worricd Gor o whlh, cr hr rhol to thG ,ronl ond pullod owoy. By thr tima th6y gol b tho Corkr. C -l

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