The Doctor vs Casey Stonner

Wow, it's mid-July already and that can mean only one thing… Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix time! And unlike years past, temperatures aren't expected to be a 100 and hellish as weather forecasts call for mild yet sunny days. This weekend marks the fourth consecutive year of MotoGP and AMA Superbike series wedlock since reappearing together in 2005. It also marks the debut of MotorcycleUSA's new print magazine, MotoUSA. If you're going to be at the track this weekend, stop by Booth No. 93 inside Turn 3 and pick up a complimentary copy.

As opposed to last year when Marlboro Ducati's Casey Stoner already had a substantial points lead over the rest of the field, after 10 rounds it's Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi who's in control in the World Championship points standings. With only 7 races left this season, Rossi has pulled a small 16-point gap over Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, who crashed out of the lead in last weekend's wet German GP. Pedrosa fractured his left hand and sprained his right ankle, but he's going to attempt to muscle through the pain this weekend at Laguna.

"Laguna is a physically demanding track when you are 100 percent, so it will be tough with my injuries," said Pedrosa. "I will do my best to ride this weekend. We know that it will not be easy and that we won't know my exact situation until I get on the bike on Friday morning."

Pedrosa's misfortune last weekend bodes well for Rossi however, as this is a perfect opportunity for him to make up ground on one of his nemesis this season.

"Laguna hasn't been one of my favorite tracks in the three years since we've been going there and it's one of the only ones on the calendar where I haven't won," explained Rossi. "The last two years I've had serious disappointments in the race and it's been one of the low points of both seasons, I hope I have had all the bad luck I'm going to have there and that this year I can enjoy myself! We are going there with the same package that we had in Germany and so we're going to have to work very hard to close the gap in performance to Stoner."

Sitting in third place in the series points is the defending World Champion—Casey Stoner. Although his season started off shaky, the young Australian has won the last three races at Donington, Assen, and Sachsenring. Not only that, but he dominated at Laguna last year, winning the race by a margin of almost 10 seconds.

"The race at Laguna last year really was fantastic and it would be amazing to be able to repeat," Stoner said. "I like racing in America. The fans you meet in the paddock are great - always really pleasant, polite and supportive of all the riders. The track is really nice too; it's great fun but also very demanding with so many elevation changes and tough corners. I like it because it feels 'natural' - it follows the lay of the land and isn't one of those circuits that was designed on a computer."

Despite never having turned a wheel at the 2.2-mile circuit, Rossi's Fiat Yamaha teammate is looking forward to getting on track Friday.

"I am so excited to finally get the chance to race there," said Lorenzo. "It's a very special track which everyone always talks about and I am looking forward to riding at a place with such famous corners as the Corkscrew. I know it's a difficult place but I am feeling stronger and I will be doing my best to get to know the circuit as quickly as possible."

Representing the Tech 3 squad this weekend will be American Colin Edwards and MotoGP rookie, James Toseland. This year has been Edwards' best season thus far in MotoGP and he'll surely be racing hard this weekend in hopes of achieving his first premier class win.

And if racing duties this weekend weren't enough, Toseland will be performing with his band "Crash" Saturday evening in the Yamaha Marketplace from 5-7 p.m.





This weekend the Rizla Suzuki team will have an extra GSV-R on track courtesy of defending AMA Superbike champion Ben Spies. Spies has already made his MotoGP debut at Donington where he finished a respectable 14th position in the wet-race despite having never turned a wheel at the British circuit.

"I am really looking forward to this weekend. It will be awesome to ride the GP bike in front of all the American fans. I know it is going to be hard as these guys are pretty good and I have the added pressure of racing in the Superbike championship as well, but I will be going for it that's for certain!"

Rizla Suzuki regulars Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi will be joining Spies and are also be eager to get a good result in America. Capirossi is still trying to recover from an arm injury he suffered at Assen last month, while Vermeulen is looking to capitalize on his track expertise at Laguna (he won both World Superbike races there in 2004).

"We had a great result in Sachsenring," said Vermeulen, whom finished third last weekend in Germany. "I'm really looking forward to going to Laguna. I really like the track and have done well there in the last couple of years and will certainly be looking to try to take the next step up the podium from last year's position. The bike worked very well there last year and if we can get on the pace early on then there is no reason why we can't make that happen."

With American John Hopkins still recovering from a broken leg sustained in a crash at Assen, it is AMA Superbike regular Jamie Hacking who will be riding Hopper's Ninja ZX-RR this weekend in California alongside Anthony West.

"I'm looking forward to racing at Laguna Seca again, as I like the track and I really enjoy the whole lifestyle thing in California," said West. "I had my best result of the season at this track in 2007 with seventh place, and I hope this year's race will prove as successful."

The final American rider competing this weekend at Laguna is Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden. He won here in 2005 and backed it up again in 2006. However, last year he struggled. Hayden remains optimistic however and says that his tire supplier, Michelin has the goods for this weekend's race.

"I'm excited to go to Laguna, even if we go there on a bit of a run of bad luck," said Hayden. "Hopefully things will turn around for us; it would be a nice place to get everything to roll from Friday through to Sunday. Whatever happens I'll just keep pushing. Last year we struggled, it was our worse place for tires all year. But I'm excited now because I've seen how much Michelin have improved at other tracks this year."

Mazda Laguna Seca Lap Record:
Casey Stoner (Ducati) 2007 - 1'22.542

article source : http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/Article_Page.aspx?ArticleID=6789&Page=1