Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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VOL. 53 ISSUE 15 APRIL 19, 2016 P109 and winning three-straight U.S. GPs at Laguna Seca from 1989 to '91, attendance at the race inex- plicable fell and the race was taken off the calendar for the 1992 season. The industry rallied behind Kenny Roberts to bring the race back in 1993 and '94. John Kocinski won the race on a Cagiva in '93, but the shadow of Rainey's career-ending crash just a week earlier in Italy weighed heavily over that year's GP. Italian Luca Cadalora won the race in 1994, but motorcycle grand prix racing was starting to lose steam and World Superbike was rising rap- idly in popularity. So the U.S. GP again went away for another extended hiatus and it seemed interna- tional racing didn't miss a beat at Laguna Seca with the extremely popular World Superbike races of the mid-to-late 1990s. With AMA Superbike Champion Nicky Hayden going to MotoGP in 2003 and being joined by fellow Americans Colin Edwards, John Hopkins and Kenny Roberts Jr., MotoGP popularity was making a big resurgence in this country. In 2005 the Grand Prix returned to Laguna Seca. A movie producer couldn't have written a better script for the 2005 race. Hayden took an emotional first GP victory and the massive crowd loved it. Hayden became an instant American racing icon. He solidified that reputation even further by winning the U.S. GP at Laguna again in 2006, this time en route to upsetting Valentino Rossi to win the world championship. Things really began heating up in America by the end of the 2000s. Indianapolis came on board in 2008, and in spite of the remnants of Hurricane Ike making for a rain-soaked and windy debut, over 91,000 fans, the biggest crowd ever to see a motorcycle race in America, came out to watch the debut of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP with Rossi winning over Hayden in a race shortened by debris being blown nearly everywhere onto the track from high winds. America enjoyed two Grand Prix rounds per year then from 2008 to 2012. And then the high-water mark of 2013 when the awe-inspiring Circuit of The Americas joined the party and Americans delight in an embarrassment of riches with three GPs. But it couldn't last in a country where motorcycle racing is not all that popular in comparison to other sports and it didn't. Laguna Seca went away after the 2013 event and then Indianapolis went off the schedule after the 2015 race following a successful eight-year run. Now we are down again to just one event, but the race in Austin was very well attended this year and it looks solid, at least for the near future. If America had just a single GP every year since that first race in 1964, we'd be up 53 races now, but as it stands, with all the gaps, we have 29 American GPs. Still, it's enough history to consider some stats. Who has won the most U.S. GPs? That would be current MotoGP points leader Marc Mar- quez. The young Spaniard has won eight GPs in America and has won at three different tracks (Indy, COTA and Laguna). Casey Stoner is next with four wins—three at Laguna Seca and one at Indy. Dani Pedrosa and Wayne Rainey have three wins apiece. In terms of manufacturers, Honda is by far the most successful winning 16 of the 29 U.S. races. Yamaha is next with nine and MV Agusta third with two wins. Spanish riders, thanks to Marquez and Pe- drosa, have scored the most U.S. GP wins with 13. America is next with seven wins by Ameri- can riders and Australia is third with four (all by Stoner). And while it's nice that this country has finally built some history with Grands Prix, it would be even nicer if we could get some Americans back in the mix. This year's race at COTA was the first ever GP in America without an American rider. That's a stat we could all live without. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives