ROUND 12/SEPTEMBER 28-29, 2013
MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA/MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
WORLD SUPERBIKE
P60
WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
The Fixi Cresent
Suzuki team were
happy with Blake
Young's pair of 12th
place finishes on
the weekend.
HOME, HOME
ON THE
STRANGE
Now, let's not kid ourselves, Laguna as a race facility is still a random
collection of buildings, with some
small modern garages at the end. The
media center is still in a tent after all
For most people, Laguna Seca is
these years, which is charming in one
World Superbike in America.
way but awful in another. Earplugs
That said, we couldn't go on
required.
without sending best wishes to all
You can forgive a circuit a lot when
at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.
Wayne Rainey lives across the valley,
They built a great track layout, a
and when names like Kenny Roberts,
great facility, and had great people
Eddie Lawson and Rainey himself adorn
working for them. But as a viable
the 'legends' wall in the paddock.
World Superbike venture, only the
Short and intense and a bit faster
people, Salt Lake City itself and the
through the corners than many imagmost dedicated World Superbikeine, Laguna's layout is a roller-coaster
heads were able to go to the Utah
of asphalt, with questionable run off
rounds. Seems you could not build
space counterpointed by acres of aira global enough future on these
fence. To be punctured too easily, as
The current crop of
assets alone.
was shown on Saturday.
World Superbike riders
But back at Laguna, back in California,
It is also home to the famous, infamous,
had never seen the
World Superbike felt right at home.
unique, Corkscrew corner. This butt-puckerCorkscrew until this
No wonder.
ing dive off a cliff comes up just as the riders
past weekend.
California is the epicenter of American momake a blind flick to the left. It must feel like
torcycle racing; the place the industry lives
plunging out a three-story window first time
and breathes. To run around the old dry lake once again
you do it. It is the bike-racing equivalent of Alice falling
feels like coming home.
down a rabbit hole. Sur-real man!
