2006 MotoGP Laguna Seca pictures 'n stuff

[Steve Carlton]

The heat was brutal. Had to conserve energy, so didn't move around a lot unless it involved buying water. They even lowered the price of water from $4 per bottle to $1 to help people out. First pics I got were of Christian Pfeiffer, who made many appearances each day around the track on the F800:












Then we wandered through the pits before the MotoGP qualifying practice and saw some various sights. Some sort of Parts Unlimited single cylinder supercharged thingy:






Eric Bostrom's leathers. I wished I had one of those machines...






Eric's R6s in front:






Ben Bostrom's superbike in for a tearful service:






I saw Rapid's bike with the new nav unit, but didn't see Rapid...

[Steve Carlton]

Watched the Saturday MotoGP practice from up high on the hill above the Corkscrew. The Fortuna Hondas practiced as a pair:






Some Rossi guy everybody was talking about:






Had a hard time getting my chopper to locate me to generate a cooling breeze from above...






An interesting Yamaha custom:






A cutaway of a Triumph 675 engine:






The Motoczysz booth was extremely nice Mike Czysz was on hand, and was generating a lot of interest:






We happened to be standing right next to the bike when they decided to fire it up...

[Steve Carlton]

Ducati Island is an impressive little fiefdom. They've got quite a large land grant all to themselves. They've got the best food court at the whole track. They let you have food and water for free if you've got your Ducati key (I brought the one that belonged to the Monster I totalled). They had a display with minty examples of what the Sport Classics are based on parked next to the corresponding Sport Classic. They let you park your Ducati there. They also had the street version of the Desmosedici:










And they got the best chicks...






BMW wasn't even there. Pathetic. Fourteen Pelicans and/or associates made it to dinner. (Please refer to seafood thread)...

After dinner, I went to the classic bike auction and concours at the Portola Plaza Hotel. It was after 10pm and things were winding down. I was thrashed from the heat and didn't stay long. The auction scene:






I think the Indian board tracker was a no-sale at $71,000...






This Ecosse looked cool:






Some sort of CBR1000RR Freddie Spencer special:






Some miscellaneous bikes on display:

[Steve Carlton]

On Sunday they paraded all the riders around the track in Miatas. Rossi:






Colin Edwards was shooting T-shirts out of a cannon. He also jumped out of the car to throw some into the crowd:








Nicky:






Kenny Roberts, Jr:






Sete Gibernau:






A Corkscrew vantage point that required standing in the beating sun:






Christian Pfeiffer showed up again...

[Steve Carlton]

The riders came by on a warm-up lap before the real deal. Carlos Checa:






Colin Edwards:






Alex Hoffmann:






Nicky Hayden:






Casey Stoner:






Tony Elias:






Makoto Tamada:






John Hopkins:






The BMW rider:

[Steve Carlton]

Coming through the Corkscrew, early on:






Rossi coming through:






Vermeulen:






Hayden:










Rossi:

[Moki]

Thanks, Steve. I missed out the event this year but your pix made up for some of the disappointments.

[HugoVW]

He Steve, no pics from the V5 dirttracker made by Roland Sands for Kenny Robert Sr.?
BTW that Yamaha custom is from Roland Sands

Hugo

[Dana in Philly]

Dude, tell us about the sound of those gp bikes. How loud? And did the different bikes make a different sort of sound?

[sfarson]

Great pics Steve and great captions. Like last year, I vicariously have images of the race through your pics.!

[wswartzwel]

Yup nice images.... Watching it on TV I noticed one popular guy riding around, without a helmet, carrying a flag after the race.... squid

[N8Kern]

Awesome! Thank you for the shots and hopefully I can ride hard enough this season to condone an effort nxt season to have a Pelican trackday for us...

N8! Kern

[Skippy]

Great looking pics thanks for putting them up. Race was also awesome shame about Rossi though but Pedrossa and Stoner looked very good out there(shame Stoner went down but still incredible riding for a rookie). Like the Parts Unlimited bike looks very interesting.

[SergioK]

I got some vid clips that I'll upload to my server... gotta get home and sort them through. Thanx for posting these pics Steve.

[roger albert]

Yes, Stoner and Vermuelen have both been impressive. The latter maybe more so, given the tool he has to work with. Stoner has the speed, but may just need a bit more experience to learn not to chuck it so often. Normal stuff for a rookie, I'd say.

Who's going to win next year?
Who wants to bet against Pedrosa on a smaller bike, given that
no one is likely to have a better developed starting point than Repsol Honda, even w/o Burgess? Not I. Rossi and Hayden and Melandri, and maybe Stoner too, could be factors, but Pedrosa is a fast learner. 2nd at Laguna your first time there, and while a rookie, is better than even Rossi could do even as a long-reigning champion.

[JonyRR]

nice pix, stevee baybeeee...
normally, Im the Idiot standing in the hot sun next to you, but this one time I watched a big-screen from the air-conditioned comfort of the sports bar......and dam, was it nice...I hoisted several margaritas just for the folks on 'broil'....

[SergioK]

Actually, riding in 113f heat for an hour straight leaves you oven baked, not broiled.

[Steve Carlton]

Hugo- didn't see the V5 dirttracker. I probably missed a ton of stuff, due to the heat making it hard to get around.

Dana- the bikes are unbelievably loud. It'll hurt your ears if you're within 20 feet of them. It seemed like the Kawasakis were definately the loudest, but I think they're all running straight pipes. The loudness makes the whole event bigger, IMO.

Sergio- looking forward to your video clips!

I put all the good pictures I had into a photo album. Click on the feisty Gibernau image to view it...

.

[RoundelRider]

Thanks for the pics!
As much as I like Rossi.........Im pulling really, really hard for that squid from Kentucky!

[itchybro]

There are 2 pretty cool laguna podcasts I heard. 2nd one is an interview with Julian Ryder.

(Whack on the iTunes link)