I think the Yanks are guna like MGP from now on..

Ace race,shame Colin chose too soft a tyre-but he ripped anyhow.Great to see Nicky do it-best race this season for me.

yes this was a top race from start to finish, and all i have to say is well done nicky you needed this race to prove to yourself you can win,and colin shame about your tyres going off,but what a move on rossi at the corkscrew from edward's,he will be carrying his ball's home in a wheel barrow,no prob's for rossi came away from the race with a respectable 3rd,but the comment of the weekend came from Hayden,where rossi says "i have been learning the line's following nicky around the track" where as nicky reply's with "as long as he stay's there during the race " priceless !

What a great race and well done nicky!!!!

I agree manovere of the race was from the Tornado and shame his tyre did go off so who knows...

Other great rides from Bayliss, Biaggi, Gibbers who kind of got his crap together for the race, and also a mention for Hopper who took 8th miles ahead of KRJ.

And Shakey for getting a point.

Cant wait to next years meeting where we should expect VR to shine.

id like to say well done nicky, but cant beleive wot im reading, its all about keeping it on the black stuff and getting points of which rossi did did any 1 get the feeling rossi coudnt push to his normal limit? thats cus he new his limit, hayden so so fast and with his track info it defo helped, every 1 said rossi would really struggle but third was great 4 HIM. enjoyed the race but wasnt a classic in my books but each to there own.. bring on donny

I reckon the Yanks will duff VR up in 2006 as well bud,could well be Hopkins methinks

Well if they don't like it with a 1-2, they're never gonna like it !

I have the feeling Rossi is going to cream the opposition next year in Laguna seca.

wooooooo stonking race

I think that as teomolca says, a 1-2 is a great result for US fans.............it sure does help when F1 cant get its act together, yet motoGP looked ultra professional.

Shame they could only fit 58k fans around the track though..........think they will need to double that for 2006!

Hey there guys, i am back from the race. IT WAS AMAZING. the sounds are unbelievable. Nicky was absolutely flying around the track. i have to mention though that television doesn't do the corkscrew justice. the drop in elevation is just daunting up close in person. I was in the corkscrew when Marco fell in the first free practice. it looked like it hurt. leaped frogged over the top of the bike and hit the dround hard. only to have his bike push him down the track a ways to the edge of the gravel trap with his head/neck stuck in the rear of the bike. well its late im off to bed.

oh and one more thing. Nicky will win Laguna Seca in 06'

good shout nicky has a great chance CUS it favours him so much no brain needed for that peice of info

It was superb. I loved every second of it. The sounds were something out of this world. With the new big bang firing order the Kwak is by far the loudest bike on the grid. Sounds like a huge V-Twin with a couple megaphones hanging off. I have some pictures and vids to post but are on another computer. I will get those up later tonight hopefully. In my opinion I think Hopkins could have gone faster than Nicky if he had the right bike, it will be an excellent race next year with Rossi having more knowledge, Nicky being a consistant threat, Edwards there again, and Hopper on very possibly new Yamaha or Honda machinery. So don't be too quick to write Nicky in as the '06 winner, good stuff is to come.

Certainly MotoGP has kicked F1's ... in the US, MotoGP put a great race with Americans on the top, I think it will be a succesful event next year, although I hope they take the 250cc and 125cc too !

About spectator attendance I recall reading somewhere that there is a local law that limits sporting events to 55K spectators. That's really weird.

This time MJ didn't take the Ducati for a ride !, it was funny when I watched him last year ride the Duke at the Valencia GP, he stalled the engine 3 times infront of 100 K fans !!! Embarassing (not to mention the Desmo looked like mini-bike in his hands)

The place was an absolute circus, I don't think they could have fit anymore people in there without having serious issues in the vendor and concession areas. As far as MJ goes I have a picture of him at Valencia '04 and it looks like a YSR50 underneath him. I also heard he got a ride on it again this year at Laguna. He didn't get to pilot it but rode on the back with Mamola.

I was really happy with the way things turned out but what makes me feel a bit ripped off is that I think Rossi could have gone faster if that was Melandri or Sete in the front. He figured that Nicky and Colin meant nothing in the championship so why risk crashing. Maybe I'm wrong.

I like that Nicky won a straight up race where Rossi crashes or DNF's in a odd way and hands the win to him.
just my 2cents.

I'm sure championship was going through Rossi's mind but he's never been one to duff. He doesn't like losing and anything less than the top step is a loss. I think he was going as hard as his mind would allow him, on the onboard cams you can hear him roll the throttle back cresting turn 1 where other riders such as Edwards and Hayden would still be pinned. He also was not aggressive enough into the corkscrew and I love saying it and it came true for me but Edwards' pass... classic Ben Bostrom fashion. I think the reason Rossi couldn't give Nicky a run for his money is because of a lack of track experience. Nicky and Edwards have that experience on the track which gives them faith to hold the throttle open that extra tenth or two. I know Rossi is the greatest out there but IMO he just couldn't get on with the track and didn't have it that day. Simple as that. Will he have it for Donny? Absolutely.

ello docter and ello ooost me old m8, docter im very big on our man rossi but ooost ur very spot on rossi coudnt in bike , track, and mind push any more, he knew his limit and wasnt gunna push, so big respect to hayden who made perfect start and laid the fondations for a perfect race, only when 10 laps had gone when rossi knew wher he was gunna finish if not earlier.. in saying hatden was far the better rider on the day is a understatement..


p.s. rossi is cumin bak 4 sure..

Welcome to the site The Doctor

Lets look at this objectivley............Rossi is the smartest motoGP racer that lines up on the grid today in my opinion. He knows he's racing on an unfamiliar track, where the expectations that a US rider or a former WSB rider will probably have a distinct advantage knowing the track inside out.

So, your leading the World champs, theres two guys in front who are very hot at Laguna.........do you

a) push 100%, try to catch them & then try to pass them (even though i suspect Nicky could have knocked out faster times if he went to the edge)

or

Ride at your "comfortable max", dont risk binning the thing.......and bag third place and plenty of points.

Rossi loves winning........and has the need to win..............if this race was at Donington for instance, where he knows the track inside out and he was in third place.........there is no doubt in my mind that Rossi would push the limit more than Laguna.

He's smart, theres two American blokes in front, the race is in Amercia................why not let them have the glory and take a bit of the limelight away from him? Dont get me wrong, he didnt "let them win"..............Nicky was too good..........a class above everyone else.

All I'm saying is Rossi is a smart Rider, why push to the max when he clearly couldnt have won........unless he could have forced nicky & Colin into errors.

Aside from this, it will be very interesting how Hayden goes at Donny...............his confidence must be sky high........and we all know confident riders make good racers.

Did everyone see Nicky's interview after the race, his voice was shaking and he was just so happy after being "semi written off" after last season.

Ben.

I couldn't agree more with you guys, you are exactly right. Rossi is no dummy, he knew he didn't have the pace to push for a win so go as fast as he can and finish as close to the front as possible and gather all the points he can for the championship. Ben you said Nicky could have gone faster if pushed. I 100% agree, I think we didn't see all that Hayden had at Laguna. Everytime Rossi or Edwards made an advancement Nicky answered by taking three tenths out. He was doing consistant 1'23"s in practice on race set up. I even think he could have gone faster than his 1'22"67. I didn't get to see the post race press conference because of Speed but they interviewed him themselves and you could see the emotion in his eyes and hear it in his voice. They invterviewed him before the race too and his voice was quivering with all the emotion and anticipation. As far as Donny goes Nicky says he's a very momentum kind of rider, once he gets going it's hard to stop him so I am very interested to see how he does there. He took a 4th there last year so he can go pretty well, but it will sure be interesting to see what he has for Rossi and Edwards who surely are the two favorites for the race.