The Only Event with Both MotoGP World Championship and AMA Races

Release from Laguna Seca.....


RED BULL U.S. GRAND PRIX SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED
The Only Event with Both MotoGP World Championship and AMA Races

MONTEREY, Calif., (April 27, 2009) -The fifth annual Red Bull U.S. Grand
Prix featuring the prestigious MotoGP World Championship is set for July
3-5. In addition to the MotoGP race, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca announced
today that the AMA American Superbike, AMA Daytona Sportbike and AMA
Supersport classes will join the action-packed weekend.

"We are showcasing the premier overseas and American motorcycle riders,"
said Gill Campbell CEO/general manager, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. "During
the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix you will be able to watch the amazing talents
of our U.S. riders - Nicky Hayden, Colin Edwards and Ben Bostrom."

"We are very excited to bring the Daytona SportBike division to the Monterey
Peninsula," said AMA Pro Racing President Roger Edmondson. "The Daytona
SportBike riders will round out the world-class talent already scheduled to
participate and the intense competition will provide the fans with as
thrilling an experience as you can get in motorsports."

An example of how impressive this will be - Yamaha will have the Yamaha
Factory Racing team in the AMA American Superbike with Ben Bostrom and Josh
Hayes, the Graves Motorsports Team in the AMA Daytona Sportbike with Josh
Herrin and Tommy Aquino, Fiat Yamaha Team in MotoGP with 'The Doctor"
Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo and Monster Yamaha Tech 3 in MotoGP with
Colin Edwards and James Toseland. In 2009, these eight Yamaha riders will
never be racing together on the same track on the same race weekend.

"Several years ago Yamaha was instrumental in helping us to bring MotoGP
back to the U.S. in providing a safe track for the riders," said Gill
Campbell CEO/general manager, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. "Both the MotoGP
and AMA riders benefit from the safety improvements Yamaha provided so that
once again, the riders can demonstrate their skills for the fans on this
dynamic track that we all know and love as Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca."

Please call the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca ticket office (800) 327-7322 for
more details or visit www.MazdaRaceway.com.

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was established in 1957. The world-renowned
raceway has been operated since its inception by the Sports Car Racing
Association of the Monterey Peninsula (SCRAMP), a not-for-profit 501C(4)
corporation. Each race season, SCRAMP donates its net proceeds to the
volunteer groups that help put on the races.

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca's world-class 2009 racing schedule includes the
Verizon Festival of Speed presented by SPEEDCOM featuring Rolex Grand-Am
Sports Car Series May 15-17, Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix featuring MotoGP World
Championship July 3-5, the 36th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races
August 14-16 and the Monterey Sports Car Championships featuring the
American Le Mans Series October 9-11.

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awesome

 

Bet that's going to wind up the MotoGP people. But then the reduced
practice perhaps leaves time for it all.

I guess we'll never see 250 and 125 at Laguna now. Shame.

 

you have a preference for Laguna over Monterey ? Laguna seems a much
more challenging curcuit

 

There's a world class track at Monterey? Who knew?

 

It's much more difficult.
There is a ton of traffic, lots of racers turn in their leathers for shorts
and t-shirts, etc.
There **is** actual female nudity, not just the motogp approved umbrella
girl spandex.
The Cannery Row straight is impossible to navigate, however if you do get a
decent drive, you can stuff people into the Aquarium bend.


--
Andrew
00 Daytona
00 Speed Triple
71 Kawi H1
05 Squiddo

 

Yup, it sucks, doesn't it. Maybe they should just have done with it, and
call it Red Bull Rookies 1, 2, 3. 125 Metrakit, 125 Aprilia (or perhaps
a 4 stroke 250 KTM) and 600 Honda-TenKate-Suter.

As for factory support, there won't be any factory support except from
Honda. Can you really imagine a Yamaha supported, Tech3-Honda in GP2?
However it is likely there'll be a few Repsol bikes run out the back of
HRC. I really wonder what's going to differentiate all the bikes apart
from colour scheme.

If they really are going to do this for 2010, then the engine supplier
is going to have to move awful fast. A couple of hundred engines from
scratch in 6 months? Can even Honda do that? What happens when
Simoncelli, Bautista or Barbera's engine blows up or is oddly slow?

 

They removed the classic Fisherman's Wharf parts of the circuit?
Shame.

 

What does this mean for national championships? How about this as a
replacement for Supersports.
- Moto2 Unlimited Chassis.
- Steel disks
- Slicks, with no spec tyre
- WSS or WSB level 600-4 engines from any manufacturer (And 675-3,
750-2)
- Unlimited electronics

The unlimited chassis and slicks would mean you'd learn lots about
setup. The WSS spec engines would stop the costs getting out of control.
No spec tyre would mean Michelin, Dunlop, Pirelli, Bridgestone could all
get involved. All the factories could produce Moto2 National bikes which
would double as track day bikes for the wealthy. Brembos, Ohlins, etc
etc are all available off the shelf. Ten Kate would have a sideline of
selling Honda engines and ECUs based on the Moto2 spec. All the other
ECU manufacturers (Marelli, Pectel etc) would have a bigger market and
hence a bigger pool of people who knew how to set them up.

But mainly if you won a National Moto2 championship you'd have lots of
options to move up. Not just National WSB, WSB and WSS but also Moto2.
People like Crutchlow or Rea could have moved straight into Moto2 as
easily as into WSS, dependent of course on how much sponsorship they
could bring to the team.

When I say National, I'm excluding the AMA. But, but, could that be a
replacement for ASB?

I do think it's really important that this stuff filters down to
National and Club racing. While I really want to see a Yamaha M2, I
don't really want to see another tuned CBR600RR that's indistinguishable
from every other racing CBR600RR. Even with making a stock chassis
optional instead of required, the easy option and maybe even the best
option would still be to use a stock chassis. And then we've effectively
got AMA FX. So did it actually achieve anything?