Bv H:rurv
Rav Aenar
s
CHICANEBY
Good
and
Bad
Red Bull
U.S. Grand Prix
was
a rousing success-
The
Red Bull
U,S- Grand Prix was
an embarrassment.
Both
statements are true,
but for
very different reasons.
The success
came out ofthe
problems
in
last
year's
race. The
2005 version
was
a mess from
top to
bottom, saved only by
Nicl1y
Hayden's
fairy-tale maiden
victory
on the Repsol Honda.
But that
would have
been little com-
fort while you
were sifting in
your
car for
hours or waiting in
line at
the conces-
sions/toiletysouvenir
standVtrack cross-
ings. Take your pick.
Given the
constraints
of the
geography
both leading
to
and inside Mazda Raceway
Laguna
Seca, and some
financial issues,
those
problems
were
mostly fixed. The
track
crossings
were ameliorated
some-
what
by using the track itself
But much
of
the time you
felt like
a sperm cell. wrig-
Sling
uncomfortabb/
among scores
ofyour
peers
in an ultimatety
failed
bid to be first
to the holy
land. A new
bridge across the
front straight
should be up in
time for
the
2007 race. And,
yes,
there
were still traf-
lic
delays. But it's
a linle like childbirth. lt's
bound
to be messy when
you
push
that
much through
that small
a space. And, like
childbirth,
you
forget
about the
pain
after
a while,
which is
why more than
51,000
race
fans endured record,
searing heat
to
watch Nicky
Hayden win yet
again.
Nicky's
measured
ride was brilliant,
and it
moved him closer
to his lifelong
goal
of becoming
the first American pre-
mier-class
champion
since Kenny Roberts
Jr.
won
the 500cc World
Championship
in
2000. With
much of Modesto,
Turlock,
l"lanreca,
Oakdale and Hickman looking
on,
Junior
continued his resurgence, prov-
ing wrong all
those who'd
written him off
after
his down
yea6
with the second-tier
Suzuki team.
Camel Yamaha's
Colin Edwards was
less
than his Lrsual
cheerful sell The
victim
of a flu brjg, the Texas struggled
in
the race,
losing a strip
of his rear Michelin
near the
end, but he
forged on to the end
to collect
a
handfulofpoins
for the
Conrovians (res-
idens of Conroe,
Texas) in
attendan
