Special Correspondent David Mandell covers Laguna Seca for MotoGPBlog this weekend from the circuit itself. You can catch up with David on Twitter (@dgmandell) or on his blog Bluerant (like an ant, only bluer). Thanks very much for the trackside viewpoint, David. Awesome job.
UPDATE: David also took a host of pictures through the weekend.
While qualifying sessions for a MotoGP race are always exciting, they also usually provide a good glimpse into what to expect for the race itself. A statement made in qualifying can usually be backed up in the race, and riders having trouble rarely make a significant improvement prior to the race. Qualifying at this year’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca however, left everyone with more questions than answers. Eugene Laverty summed it up fairly well in his tweet on Saturday, “@eugenelaverty: 800s decided they’d had enough & acted like 500s tonight.”
While it started off fairly tame with a sole crash from Talmacsi, by the end of the session, there were MotoGP bikes flying everywhere. Lorenzo, apparently not satisfied with his first off in turn 10, took a spectacular flight through the air in the exact same spot after setting the fastest lap so far, and catapulted himself a good distance down the road landing very hard on the pavement in a very scary crash. Stoner, having been off the track at least once before in the session, managed to follow Lorenzo into the air a few minutes later in turn three. Both men were carried off in stretchers – Lorenzo in obvious agony as he tried to walk away and then failed, and Stoner simply not trying to get up.
When the checkers flew for the session, two of the top three qualifiers, including the pole man Jorge Lorenzo, were highly questionable for the race. Valentino Rossi, who was strong all weekend so far, aside from changing bikes at least four times during qualifying, held second position over Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, who set quiet but fast laps all session, ended in fourth.
The two Americans were fairly grumpy. Colin Edwards, coming off a very strong showing in Assen, couldn’t get the front end of his bike to work and ended in seventh and Nicky Hayden who was visibly angry on Friday, managed to get up to eighth, but you could see he expected more. He still found time to work hard for the fans, however.
No one was sure whether or not Lorenzo or Stoner would be able to start the race. And, if they did, what kind of shape would they be in? Questions.
Race day showed the fortitude of both front-row starters who went down on Saturday, with Jorge being almost literally carried to his bike. Many were understandably predicting a repeat of the “Rossi Show” from Assen. Little Dani had other ideas however.
When the lights went out, Dani rocketed to the front leaving Rossi, Stoner, Lorenzo and Dovizioso chasing hard. Also notable, were Elias and Hayden, who managed to get away with the leaders. Elias was right there behind Dovi and Lorenzo with a small gap back to Hayden.
Rossi and Stoner would change places a few times on the first few laps trying to hunt down Dani, as would Lorenzo and Dovizioso. Hayden stayed consistent and slowly made up the ground to the lead pack.
With 26 laps to go, the Repsol Honda front end issues that had plagued both Dani and Dovi in previous races reared it’s ugly head again when Dovi threw it away in turn six ending his race. Following the race, Dovi admitted that he had damaged his clutch lever on the cones n the front straight trying to pass Valentino early in the race which made it hard for him to manage the engine braking. Another question added to the list: “Would Dani’s front end last the race?”
On the next lap, Gibernau ended his somewhat lackluster effort at Laguna losing the front end at turn eleven and Capirossi also called it a day with mechanical problems. Attrition was mounting.
With Dovi out of the way, Lorenzo started to focus on Rossi and Stoner in front of him, slowly closing the gap, and Hayden, showing his best form of the season, got around Elias for fifth. Meanwhile, Dani kept building a gap at the front.
Eight laps in, it was Pedrosa, followed by a small gap back to Stoner and Rossi, another gap of about three seconds back to Lorenzo, then another few seconds back to Hayden and Elias. Rossi would wait another two laps before making a nice move inside Stoner at turn six to take second and start to try and close the almost four second gap to Pedrosa.
Meanwhile, back in the pits, Toseland was black flagged for a jump-start followed by failing to take his ride-through penalty within three laps. Riders out so far: Talmcsi, Dovizioso, Gibernau, Capirossi and Toseland.
With twelve laps to go, Stoner’s “Phantom Menace” would start to show again while, at the same time, whatever go-fast juice Dr. Costa injected into Lorenzo started kicking in and Jorge closed the gap to Stoner and threw a nice pass on him at turn eleven taking third place. Jorge was on fire. Once past Stoner, he wasted no time closing several tenths per lap on Rossi. With five to go, Lorenzo was right on Rossi’s tail and, waiting very late on the brakes going into turn eleven, tried a misjudged pass and almost went down in the attempt. Rossi waited for Lorenzo’s bucking bike to slide by then turned under him and left him back in third place. Lorenzo had made his move and blew it. He would have to settle for third.
With three to go, Pedrosa had a two second gap on Rossi, followed by Lorenzo, a fading Stoner and then a consistent Hayden and Elias. It would seem all was done, except for the fact that somehow, Pedrosa grossly overestimated his gap and backed way off on the last lap. Rossi sensed the mistake, hit the afterburners down the hill following the corkscrew, managed to almost close the gap by turn ten and came into the last corner right on his tail, leg off and waving wildly as he tried to make it work in the last corner and do to Dani what he had done to Jorge in Catalunya. He came up about a foot short and a surprised Dani Pedrosa managed to hold on for the win just ahead of Rossi.
Following the race, it looked as if Stoner was closer to death than he had been the prior day following the crash and Lorenzo couldn’t even hold the bottle of champagne on the podium. In stark contrast however, Nicky Hayden had a smile as big as the carbon fiber swing arm on his Ducati and for once Dani Pedrosa cracked a grin.
Final Results:
1. Dani Pedrosa - Honda
2. Valentino Rossi – Yamaha
3. Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha
4. Casey Stoner – Ducati
5. Nicky Hayden – Ducati
6. Tony Elias – Honda
7. Colin Edwards – Yamaha
8. Chris Vermeulen – Suzuki
9. Randy De Puniet – Honda
10. Marco Melandri – Kawasaki
11. Alex De Angelis – Honda
12. Niccolo Canepa – Ducati
13. Andrea Dovizioso – Honda (DNF)
14. Sete Gibernau – Ducati (DNF)
15. Loris Capirossi – Suzuki (DNF)
16. Gabor Talmacsi – Honda (DNF)
17. James Toseland – Yamaha (DQ)
The MotoGPBlog Man of the Weekend is a real tough one for Laguna Seca. Local emotion would dictate Nicky Hayden for his best race of the season and first real competitive race since starting his ride with Ducati. The heart of the racer would force one to lean towards Jorge Lorenzo for getting back on his bike and putting in a seriously competitive race in the face of obviously serious and painful injuries. However, the real Man of the Weekend, as difficult as it is for me to admit, has to go to Dani Pedrosa. Not because he won the race, but because he dominated the race in the face of his recent front-end woes and after being almost completely ignored by both the media and the pundits for his chances this weekend. He even managed to ignore a very distracting manager who did his best to climb out onto the track in the middle of the race to help his little friend along (We were taking up a collection in the suite for the man who had the guts to go out there and “help” Puig onto the track before the race ended.)
So, all the questions were answered. Yes, both Jorge and Casey managed to race, but neither managed to grab one of the top two spots. Nicky managed to get a much better grip on his Ducati and put in a very respectable race. Edwards never really managed to get a grip in the front end of his Yamaha. Rossi could not repeat the go-show from Assen. And, yes boys and girls, the front end of the Honda managed to hang in there and help propel Dani Pedrosa to an impressive and well-deserved victory at Laguna Seca.
The Championship points are still very close with only 16 points separating the top three. Any one of the three top men still has a good chance of pulling it off. Next up: German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.
While the weather had produced torrential downpours thoughout the preamble to this GP, it stayed dry for the action in Germany. As the riders lined up on the grid, there was a real feeling of anticipation as Rossi and Lorenzo, so close through practice until that awesome final qualifying lap from Valentino, pulled up next to each other. Stoner drew up next to Lorenzo, recovering from his mystery ailment and in a position to challenge at the front again. Back on the third row, Pedrosa was in position early, but with his lightening starts, this was the equivalent of a front row grid position for the diminutive Spaniard.
It was not a thriller, this Dutch TT, but it was a landmark race for a certain Valentino Rossi. His hundredth win, ridden from the front was uncharacteristic of many of his other victories where he seemed to play cat and mouse with the opposition. Such is the close battle this year that there were no games. It was head down, arse up and ride at 100% for the duration of the race.
