USGP!

It looks as if Laguna is going to get the race, finally. Also appears that
Murphy and RPM are out even though it's rumored he still holds the mortgage
on the place. Anyway, all right!!
T3

 

More details here (one might think this was big news, eh?):

http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=6542

and

http://www.crash.net/uk/en/news_view.asp?cid=6&nid=97781

and

http://venus.13x.com/roadracingworld/index.html

and

http://superbikeplanet.com/2004/Aug/040819jk.htm

 

Big (good) news indeed. It looks like L/S found someone with deep pockets
also. Murphy gets bought out, Red Bull is ready to kick a couple of mil. for
improvements, really good news for the US. Love or hate him, Murphy pulled
rabbits out of hats more than once, getting SBK racing at R/A was a major
coup in itself, sorta sad to see him go. Reports are, he'll "go" happy as he
made a bundle today.
T3

 

I was REALLY REALLY hoping Barber would get it though. That's just a
two easy day ride for me but Laguna is about five. Or several hundred $
in plane tickets.

So where does WSB go? Or won't they come to the States any more?

 

Nobody's for sure at this point, I'd imagine L/S will try hard to keep it,
though Bhm sounds good to me. Evidently, L/S will try to continue with WSBK,
though it's unclear who'll actually go out on the limb (financially) to
promote it. We'll see...
T3

 

I agree, with all the bucks they're going to drop on MGP, keeping WSB would
be like shooting yourself in the foot... I believe that once the euphoria of
self promotion wears thin some reality will appear. I always thought the
spec tire rule was the death knell for WSB in this country. If you can't
have a "dog in the fight," why bother? It makes for good TV but until some
homeboys are involved, it'll be a "money hole."
Also, I don't look for many 'merkans in WSB, at least until the factories
decide to return and I don't see that happening anytime soon, do you? The
win on Sunday sell on Monday thing seems to have been put on hold of late.
Go look for a new R1 or ZX-10, they're pretty much all sold! There isn't a
whole bunch of incentive, if you get my drift. Especially now that the
premiere event in this country is attempting to regulate SB to a side show
status, sorry, "sprint race."
I was waiting up tonight to check FP1 at Brno but can't keep my eyes open
any longer.

T3

 

So what happens to the AMA race at Laguna?

There's been nothing more about Dorna's interest in BSB or that BSB
might take in a few European tracks.

Big question for me is the support races. Will Laguna take the normal
package including 125 and 250? Or will they want to screw with the
format?

 

I was REALLY REALLY hoping Barber would get it though. That's just a

Maybe Barber will get that one. If it does, go.

 

Perhaps WSBK at Indy? They already hold F1 , and are making the track over
with an eye to AMA SB.
Run the same program as Laguna. The F1 race at Indy is one of the year's
best attended.
Get the factories back and you might get big interest. Draw a 750 mile
circle around the track and see how many people are in it. Hell of alot
more than Barber.
The only snag is the weather...

 

Bollox. But you knew I'd say that. Apparently "It's different in
America." Again.

Actually I'd like to see the 125s at Laguna. I suspect it would be quite
entertaining. There's a couple of longish, straightish bits where
slipstreaming would work well.

Then there's the BMW boxer cup. I reckon they would be entertaining down
the corkscrew. Maybe they could get some of Randy's contemporaries to
join in.

The other big question is what Laguna will have to do to get FIM
approval. There's quite a few places where the barriers are awfully
close to the track.

 

I hope not, but Julian, Mark's got a few valid points. #1, ring-dings(two
strokes) are irrelevant, I've been to a few MGP's since the return of the
four strokes and once you've heard and felt their heat, well, it really
makes the rest look like the glorified chain saws that they are. #2, Closed
paddocks may be necessary in Europe but I don't think they'll fly too long
here. #3, never doubt for a second, that it's not all about money....
Oh yeah, the pre-calendar is out and it's not really clear if they're saying
only the MotoGP class or only MotoGP races? If it's just the MGP class,
conventional wisdom would conclude that a joint weekend(AMA) is in the
offing, let's hope so.

T3

BTW-Mark, I thought the castor oil analogy was pretty damn funny, true
too...

 

Barber didn't get it because the idiots in B'ham wouldn't play.
It's probably the safest, most modern venue in the US. (Laguna
is very nearby for me, though -- some consolation).

 

I imagine for the same reason we didn't get the World Supersport Round
either.

Back In The Day, we at one point got a sidecar round with the GP, but I
don't even remember if the 125's ran here or not. Maybe they ran one year,
and we got sidecars the next, I don't recall. (The sidecars were fun to
watch through the corkscrew). I can certainly say that if they DID run, they
obviously didn't leave an impression on me. The only time I distinctly
remember seeing 125's race was back when the AMA was running around a
parking lot in Pomona, but that obviously wasn't GP. I'm sure Mark can fill
in the gaps (and the 125 lap times...;-)).

Does WSB run a national series combined with the WSB series at any other
venue on the schedule? I don't know, but it's an interesting question.

I can easily see Saturday dominated by GP pracitce, and AMA races, and
having them running 250GP, GP and, say, FX on Sunday.

The hard part about bringing over the entire GP card AND combining with the
AMA is simply running out of practice time and such. WSB weekend is a
crowded weekend to begin with, and it was only one class (but two races),
while the AMA had four classes. Add in 3 classes from GP and the schedule
gets REALLY tight REALLY fast, or it becomes a 4 Day event...and that won't
happen.

And I think it can be readily argued that being jingoistic nationalistic
hillbillies, we're really only interested in GP because of Nicky, Colin,
KR2, KR3(4?), and John Hopkins...and Valentino, of course.

Also, this is a big enough of a money sink for LS, that they REALLY want
folks to fill the place up on Sat AND Sun. If they just ran the GP card,
Saturday would be half filled compared to Sunday. With the WSB weekend,
there were actually quite a few that only showed up on Sat to watch AMA and
didn't come back for Sundays WSB round. Running AMA and GP on Sat and Sun
gives us two, two, two series in one! And LS runs off, coins and bills
flying out of the wheelbarrow, to the bank.

Oh, and finally, Boxer Cup is dead. BMW pulled the plug.

Regards,

Will Hartung
()

 

Like I said "It's different in America". Tell me again why the US round
of the GP should be the one round in the entire championship that
*doesn't* have 125 and 250 and has to have a national 4 stroke round on
the same weekend at the same track. Tell me again why the teams and
sponsors who put significant amounts of money into 125 and 250 should be
denied access to the USA round.

Would you like some fish with those chips?

Quite a lot then. Is Suzuka significantly more dangerous than Laguna?
Probably not. But Suzuka is off the schedule. As you say, presumably
this has been factored into Dorna's plans and the circuit's budget.

What I really hope is that the circuit invests some money in the TV
system. This year's WSB coverage was better than usual but still quite a
bit short of the quality of most other international races. Some of this
is NTSC to PAL conversion that makes everything look fuzzy and washed
out. I guess we're stuck with that. Some of it is that the cameras are a
long way from the track. And in previous years it's been that the TV
controller needed a clue.

 

MotoGP.com states it will be the MotoGP class only:

http://motogp.tiscali.com/en/motogp/news_info/news_info_12658_1.htm?menu=home

or http://tinyurl.com/3jn65 if it wraps.

 

I don't believe so. But I can't say for sure. It always used to be that
wild cards added some local colour and that's really hard to do if
you've got a national race at the same weekend (Ask Mladin).

 

Running off coming into the corner, it's pretty darn short there. You can
ask Chandler and Yanagawa about the runout at the top there.

Obviously the bikes should be braking there, but I think they want to avoid
the potential if what happened to Lawson between 1 and 2 when he lost his
front brake happens pretty much anywhere else.

Regards,

Will Hartung
()

 

Why not just run WSBK at Barber?

 

Because the few American motorcycle racing fans probably don't give a
flying fudge about the two-stroke classes with no American riders.
Also, it may have something to do with Laguna only having a few dates
available to run races, and AMA probably has a contract to race there.

 

Southern politics...

Also, it's suppose to be quite fan friendly. You're suppose to be able
to see most, if not all, of the track from anywhere around the track.
There's supposedly no infield to speak of.