WORLD SUPERBIKE
WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 9/JULY 19, 2015
MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA/MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
P96
NATURE'S WAY
A tour around the top end of the
Laguna Seca facility shows any other
circuit in the World Superbike world
how to create a fan-based environ-
ment that connects the spectators to
the action.
Not only is the paddock more open
than any other circuit, but the fans can
rent an RV and camping pitches right
next to the furthest reaches racetrack,
looking out onto one of the most visu-
ally stunning landscapes you could
imagine any ribbon of tarmac weaving
its way through.
The person to thank for this
amazing series of vistas around the
2.238-mile circuit near Monterey is a
woman—Mother Nature.
Like many of the world's other can-
didates for best track design, it is all
down to the natural folds and undula-
tions of the earth's surface.
Owned by the county, the old dry
lake circuit lends itself to a variety of
corners and undulations that cannot
help but make for spectacular racing,
especially the remarkable Corkscrew.
It is almost impossible to walk up at its
steepest point—a true top 10 icon in all
of world racing.
Add in the courage-testing turn one
kink and you have a race place that is
worth coming back to year-after-year.
Let's hope we get the chance.
And being in one of the most sce-
nic and moneyed areas of California,
close to the sea and the legendary
Highway 1, doesn't hurt either.
In race two the Aprilia
Red Devils Roma
duo—Jordi Torres (81)
and Leon Haslam
(91)—duked it out for
fourth.
