MotoGP Preview: Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix

Indianapolis, July 3, 2009: THE AMERICANS: U.S. riders Colin Edwards (Houston, Yamaha Tech 3) and Nicky Hayden (Owensboro, Ky., Ducati Team) will compete in this race. Edwards is tied for fifth and Hayden is tied for 13th in the MotoGP standings after seven races this season.

•Colin Edwards: “I don’t think there was a home-track advantage (for the American riders) after the first year (that MotoGP returned to Laguna, in 2005). We did the first year, and everything was great, and then they hacked up the track, pulled some off of Turn 1, changed the entry to the Corkscrew and repaved it. All the home-court advantage is really knowing where all the bumps are. Once they repaved it, everybody pretty much had to start from scratch.”

•Nicky Hayden: “We still have a lot of work to do, but it has been nice to see a little progress over the last few weeks, and at Laguna I really need to take another big step. I don’t have any big plan or anything – it’s not that easy! All I know to do is keep trying and working at it and hope it will come. Laguna is a great track and very challenging. There are a few points that stick out, but in general it is different to most tracks, which usually have a few different sections, whereas Laguna is basically just one section, and you have to put it all together to make a good lap. This year we’re racing in America on the 4th of July weekend, and it’s perfect. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holiday than at the U.S. Grand Prix. Also the fact my brothers will be racing on the same weekend in the AMA championship helps make it special for me. This will be the first time my American fans get to see me on a Ducati, so that will be cool because there are a lot of strong Ducati fans in the States. No predictions or anything, but we’ll go full gas and see what happens.”

THEY SAID IT: “We have done a lot of work on the bike and found a great setup for the race on both occasions, but I have not been in good shape when it was the moment to take advantage of that work. We have come straight to America from Assen, and there hasn’t been much time to recover, although I do feel better already. What we learned from last weekend is not to underestimate the symptoms.” – Ducati Team rider Casey Stoner, about the illness that has plagued him the last two races this season

FAST FACTS: This is the only Grand Prix on the 2009 schedule without the 125cc and 250cc classes. AMA American Superbike, Daytona Sportbike and SuperSport are the support classes … This is the 11th time a Grand Prix motorcycle event will take place at scenic Laguna Seca, which features the classic “Corkscrew” turn … Valentino Rossi has 100 victories in 217 Grand Prix starts, a career win rate of 46.1 percent … Rossi should make his 158th consecutive MotoGP start in the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, tying the all-time “iron man” record set by Alex Barros … Seca has been a successful circuit for American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards. Hayden won this race in 2005 and 2006, while Edwards finished second in 2005, tying his MotoGP career best … Edwards is tied for fifth in the season standings with Dani Pedrosa at 67 points, just two points behind fourth-place Andrea Dovizioso … If Edwards finishes in the top 15 at this event, he will become the 14th rider in the 61-year history of Grand Prix racing to amass 100 point-scoring finishes in the premier class … Yamaha riders have won five of the seven races this season, with Ducati winning the other two … Laguna Seca is one of three circuits on the 2009 schedule where Rossi has not won a pole in the premier class. The others are Sachsenring and Misano … The Pramac Racing Team will field just one Ducati at this event, for Niccolo Canepa, as fellow rookie teammate Mika Kallio will miss the race due to a severe finger injury suffered in a last-lap crash in TT Assen on June 27. Kallio plans to return to racing at the German Grand Prix on July 19 at the Sachsenring.