There aren’t many places in the world that make Motorcycle Racing look so good. I’m not going to over editorialize, these Images from the USGP at Laguna Seca speak for themselves… Enjoy!

Images Provided By: Yamaha Racing, Suzuki Racing, Ducati Press, AMA Pro Racing and TRS Multimedia

Race day at Laguna Seca was to be another series of ups and downs (quite literally for Hodgson) but in the end both Corona Extra Honda Riders put in strong rides with Neil Hodgson finishing sixth and Jake Holden right behind in seventh.

Morning warm-up saw Hodgson on top of the leader-board for quite a while and Holden close behind. The bad luck of Saturday again struck Jake and after half a dozen laps his bike started misfiring and his session finished without his crew getting it fixed and Jake getting back on track. Still his short time on the bike showed his pace was still hot! Afterwards the crew found an electrical fault which they were able to correct.

The Superbike race turned out to be an exercise in confusion and mishaps with a bizarre miss-start by a number of riders and then the flag never dropping! After they all lined up again the start went off but saw Neil getting taken out by a crashing Bostrom on the second turn. After what seemed an age the red flag came out but not before the -Safety Car- almost caused a major pile-up by driving on the race line in the blind turn one corner as the bikes came round at full speed. The red flag allowed Neil to get back to the pits and his crew to fix the bike, making the restart. This time the start went off OK and both Neil and Jake were in the hunt with the front pack. The race became a bit of a procession after Hodgson and Holden each took a position and held them to the end of the race. Neil almost caught Hayes on the last lap for fifth but his effort came up a bike-length short by the flag. Jake had been able to dispatch May for seventh but was not able to close significantly on Hodgson by the flag in the turn two crash-shortened race. Still both riders were able to show pace to run at the front and give notice that they will be a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming races!

Round 7 – AMA Superbike Series – Monterey, California – Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca – June 3-5, 2009

Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin picked up his 82nd AMA Superbike victory at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, on Sunday afternoon. The six-time AMA Superbike Champion rode flawlessly and battled with his teammate Blake Young for much of the race, which was abbreviated due to earlier crashes that drew a red flag. Young followed Mladin home in a close second place after having led multiple laps of the race on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000. Joining Mladin and Young on the podium and creating a Suzuki Superbike podium sweep was Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates, who finished in third place.

Unfortunately, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden suffered some bad luck at Laguna Seca. Prior to the red flag, Hayden jumped the initial start and received a stop-and-go penalty. As a result, once the race was underway, he had to pull into the pits while he was running in second place. He rejoined the fray in ninth place and finished up in eighth place.

Mat Mladin:
“It was a good race for us today. Most importantly, it’s good to have the three Suzukis up here on the podium. That’s what we’re here to do, to try and get Suzuki up on top of the box. Today it was good to fill the podium.”

Blake Young:
“I feel really good about the weekend. We got off to a really great start on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 and got to lead some laps. I think that’s the most amount of laps I’ve led so far in a Superbike race, so I feel really good about that. The crew worked really hard for me this weekend. I really want to thank them, it’s been a little rough around the shop but some guys stepped in and stepped up and filled some shoes and took care of business and got us up on the podium today. So I really want to give this one to the guys back at the shop and thank them very much for everything. It was a good race for us… we ended up second today and I’m really happy with it.”

Aaron Yates:
“We got a really good start in the first get-go. I was running along, hoping to see how things were going to pan out… in the second start, I didn’t get off as good as I’d wanted, but I managed to get up to turn one and get past a couple guys. I just kind of fell in the pace, and couldn’t get going any better though I thought we could go faster… then I kind of got stuck in a little group. The guys up front got going and they were going fast. I think I was matching their pace but I just couldn’t make any ground on Blake and Mat. I’m just happy to bring it home for the Jordan Suzuki team, they worked hard this weekend and made it on the podium.”

Tommy Hayden:
“Aside from the start – which was a cluster, I thought I saw the lights flash and I took off way too early… I’m not sure what happened, it all kind of happened fast – aside from that, I’m pretty happy with how the race went. I had some good speed and the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 was working awesome today. I’m pretty disappointed to have let a good result slip away. But I guess I can take away the positive that we had a pretty good weekend and I was fast enough to run up front, it just didn’t work out.”

Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing will race next at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, the weekend of July 17-19, 2009.

The Fiat Yamaha pairing of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo shared the MotoGP podium for the sixth time this season at the US Grand Prix today, finishing second and third at Laguna Seca. Rossi closed down a gap of over three seconds to eventual winner Dani Pedrosa but fell just short of making another final-corner pass, whilst a brave Lorenzo battled through the pain of his injured shoulder to rally after a poor start and finish a strong third.

Rossi dropped one place to third at the start but Lorenzo, starting from pole, slipped right back through the field to eighth after the first corner. Both riders quickly began to make up ground however, the Italian passing Casey Stoner into the corkscrew and the Spaniard overtaking three riders to cross the line in fifth first time around. It was a short lived stint in second for Rossi as Stoner passed him back into turn one on the third lap while Pedrosa began to open up a big gap at the front of the field. There was no change for several laps until Andrea Dovizioso crashed on lap seven, elevating Lorenzo to fourth and giving the youngster clear air in front just as he began to find his rhythm. On lap twelve Rossi made his decisive pass on Casey Stoner and re-took second place and he immediately set about trying to close a gap of nearly three seconds to Pedrosa.

Over the next few laps however it was Lorenzo who was the man on the move and the brave Mallorcan gradually began to move closer to Stoner until he was able to make a brilliant pass on the brakes into the final corner to move into third. With Rossi unable to make much headway into Pedrosa’s lead at that point, another Fiat Yamaha showdown began to brew as lap-by-lap Lorenzo edged closer to his team-mate. With four laps to go the 22-year-old saw his chance and tried to pass the World Champion at the final corner, but he suffered a big slide in the process and ran wide, letting Rossi back through and dropping back over a second. The drama wasn’t over yet however as on the final lap Rossi suddenly found himself within striking distance of Pedrosa and a final-corner overtake looked to be on the cards, but in the end he was just a couple of tenths too far off and crossed the line 0.344 seconds adrift, with Lorenzo 1.926 seconds behind him.

Rossi extends his lead at the top of the championship to nine points over Lorenzo, who in turn stretches the gap from Stoner to seven points. There is a now a two week break before the MotoGP paddock returns to Europe for another double-header at the Sachsenring in Germany followed by Donington in the UK.

Valentino Rossi – Position: 2ndTime: +0.344
“The first half of the race was quite difficult because we weren’t at 100% today. I didn’t expect Dani to be so fast but he was very strong and there wasn’t much I could do to go with him! The last ten laps were very exciting because Lorenzo was pushing me so hard that I had to really make another step and then Dani slowed down and suddenly he was right in front of me! I thought there was a chance to pass on the final corner but unfortunately I was just too far off and it was too much of a risk. Second is good today because we were not in perfect shape here, we missed something in the setting and this is always a hard track anyway, so we have to be happy with these twenty points. We have extended the championship lead so it’s a good result for us and we have shown that we are still strong this year even when things are not perfect. This consistency is the most important thing for the championship. Now I am happy that we have some time to rest because these have been a hard two weeks and the next two races are very important because we are all so close!”

Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 3rdTime: +1.926
“I always try to do my best and I think that is what I have done today, considering my physical condition. I am really proud and I think that this was one of my best races. My foot was okay but I had a lot of pain in my right shoulder, which meant I wasn’t strong in my right hand and I had to over-compensate with my left; I am really tired now! I want to thank the Clinica Mobile because they made it possible for me to finish the race. After a while I started to forget about the pain a bit and I just wanted to do my best and I knew that it was possible to pass Valentino. Unfortunately I hit some bumps when I braked deep and my rear tire moved a lot and I was lucky not to crash – maybe without this mistake, if I had been able to pass him, it would have been possible to win but anyway third is good in the circumstances and we have taken good points. Now we have some time to recover; I am fit and strong so I hope that by Sachsenring I will be back to my best.”

Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“In the end I think we can be happy with the overall balance of this weekend because we have kept our championship lead and even gained points. Bearing in mind that we weren’t at 100% of our potential, finishing second is a very good result and this is the important thing – to do well even when we can’t attack as we would like to. Congratulations to Pedrosa, it’s good to see him back but especially to Jorge because he made a great race in difficult conditions for him. The championship is very tight and exciting now so we’re looking forward to the next races.”

Ramon Forcada – Crew Chief
“Our rider did a very good job today in his poor physical condition. He showed that he never gives up even when things are tough and that his mind is very strong, which is very important for a rider. At the end, when he caught Valentino, he made his attack very soon and maybe if he had waited a little bit things might have been different, but anyway third is a very good result in the circumstances and we have got some important championship points.”

Mat Mladin earned his 10th AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike presented by Parts Unlimited victory and Ben Bostrom took his second AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL victory in Sunday’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

As he has done at every previous American Superbike round this season, Mladin started his No. 7 Rockstar/Makita/Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 from the pole position. However, the Aussie dropped all the way back to sixth place on the opening lap before beginning his march back to the front. He was fifth at the end of Lap 2, took fourth place on Lap 3, third on Lap 5 and second on Lap 6 of the 18-lap race.

Mladin then began stalking teammate and race leader Blake Young on the No. 79 Rockstar/Makita/Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000. He finally made his move to the inside in Turn 11 on Lap 11 and went on to lead the rest of the way. Mladin crossed the stripe 1.642 seconds ahead of Young and 4.588 seconds in front of Aaron Yates on the No. 23 Brand Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000, giving Suzuki a podium sweep. Mladin now leads the American Superbike championship standings by 127 points over teammate Tommy Hayden (No. 22 Rockstar/Makita/Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) with 12 of 20 races now in the books.

“It was obviously a good race for us today,” Mladin said. “Most importantly, it’s great to have the three Suzukis up here. That’s what we’re here to do is to try and get a Suzuki on top of the box. Today, it was good to fill the podium.”

Young led Laps 2 through 10 en route to his third second-place result of the season and his seventh top-five result in 10 starts. He missed the doubleheader at Infineon Raceway in May due to an injury.

“We got off to a really good start and got to lead some laps,” Young said. “I think that’s probably the most amount of laps I’ve led so far in a Superbike race, so it felt really good. The crew worked really hard for me this weekend. I really want to thank them. It got a little rough around the shop, but some guys stepped in and stepped up and filled some shoes. They took care of business and got us up here today, so I really want to give this one to the guys back at the shop and thank them very much for everything. It was a good race for us. I tried to set a pretty good pace and Mat was coming. When he got by, he kind of got a little bit of a gap on me. I tried to jump in as quick as I could to learn where he was better than me, but I just put my head down and figured anything could happen. We ended up second today and I’m really happy with it.”

Yates picked up his second consecutive third-place trophy finish and his third podium result of the season. He has finished inside the top 10 in 10 races this season.

“It went okay,” Yates said. “I kind of fell in a pace and couldn’t really get going any better. I thought we could go faster. We had a pretty good run this morning, but the bike just didn’t feel like it did in the morning warm up. We made a couple little changes and we thought it was going to give us a little better feel, but I was kind of stuck in a groove there. These guys (Mladin and Young) got out there. They were going fast. I think I was matching their pace, and I don’t know how hard Mat was going, but I just couldn’t close up any ground. It just feels good to bring home a podium position for the Jordan Suzuki crew. They worked hard this weekend and made it on the podium.”

Josh Hayes finished fourth on the No. 4 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1 for his seventh top-five run of the year. Hayes came home one spot ahead of teammate Bostrom, who finished fifth aboard his No. 2 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1 and led the race’s opening lap. Bostrom has finished inside the top five in each of his last four American Superbike starts and a total of seven times this season.

The race was shortened to 18 laps from its scheduled 23-lap distance due to a pair of first-lap incidents. The initial race start was aborted when four bikes jumped the standing start. On the second start, a crash involving multiple riders in Turn 2 originally brought out a full-course yellow and the safety car and later a red flag when several riders passed the safety car on course.

Next up for AMA Pro American Superbike is a doubleheader at the Honda Super Cycle Weekend presented by Dunlop Tires at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on the weekend of July 17-19.

Bostrom Stays Perfect in Daytona SportBike

Bostrom took his second AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL victory in a close battle with Chaz Davies at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Riding the No. 1s Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6, Bostrom first took the lead on Lap 6 of what would be a 21-lap race when race and points leader Martin Cardenas had a low-side crash in Turn 10. Cardenas started from the pole and led the first five laps before his incident.

Bostrom led through a 27-minute red flag brought about by a three-bike incident in the famed Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Corkscrew involving Jason DiSalvo (No. 40 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600), Ricky Parker (No. 96 RPR Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) and Chris Fillmore (No. 55 Chris Fillmore Racing Yamaha YZF-R6). None of the three riders were injured and the race was shortened two laps from its scheduled 23-lap distance.

Bostrom led when the green flag flew again on Lap 11 but Davies motored his No. 57 Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R around Bostrom and into the lead on Lap 15. Bostrom would not go down without a fight, however, and the Californian once again regained the lead in Turn 11 with slightly more than three laps remaining.

While Davies kept the pressure on, Bostrom would not be denied, going on to win by 0.226 seconds for his second Daytona SportBike triumph. Bostrom also won the prestigious Daytona 200 By Honda to open the year in his only other Daytona SportBike start to date.

“It was fantastic,” Bostrom said. “I really enjoyed the little bike there. That race was quite enjoyable and Chaz did an amazing job. The race came down to the end and it was just one of those fantastic races. We knew the R6 was well capable of winning and it did, so it stands on top of the podium on a track that Yamaha helps sponsor, so that’s fantastic. It’s about time that little 600 won again, so it won at the correct track and it was good. It was very fun to ride.”

Davies led a total of four laps en route to his first Daytona SportBike podium result. He has finished inside the top 10 in nine of 12 races this season.

“I knew I had the pace all day,” said Davies. “I was really fast this morning and consistent. Once we got the first half of the race started, I really struggled to get by some guys. I was struggling to get a gap on (Danny) Eslick. I knew my pace was stronger than what it was, but by that time, Josh and Ben were already gone. Their pace was really good. Actually, the red flag benefited me. There was some serious banging going on on the restart, and luckily I came out on the good side of it.

“I just managed to have myself a good race with Ben. We swapped positions a few times. I was stronger than him here and there and he was stronger than me in other spots. All in all, I’m happy. It’s the first podium of the year, the bike was fantastic and I just can’t say enough about the work that’s gone on with my team in the last three weeks. They’ve really knuckled down and got everything that I’ve asked for and it’s been really good. Hopefully, we’ll see the rest of the year go on like this as well.”

Rounding out the podium with a third-place performance was Josh Herrin on the No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6. It was Herrin’s fourth podium result of the season and his eighth top-10 performance.

“It feels really good to be back on the podium, but it kind of sucks when I know that I had the win really easy,” Herrin said. “I was just sitting there before the red flag waiting for the last couple of laps just to pull a gap on Ben, but it just wasn’t my day today. I got hit, like, four times, and I just had to try and fight back. I figured, ‘Man, this just isn’t my day today. It’s not going how I want at all.’ Lucky for me, I was able to pull off a third. I’ve got to thank my crew. They did a really good job this weekend. I’m glad to put them back on the podium.”

Aquino made it three Team Graves Yamahas in the top-four positions with a fourth-place ride on the No. 6 Yamaha YZF-R6. The result matched Aquino’s best run of the season, which he achieved in the second race of the doubleheader at Infineon Raceway in May. Scoring a career-best fifth-place result was Robertino Pietri on the No. 311 Team E.S.P. Yamaha YZF-R6. Pietri’s previous best results were 12th-place rides at Auto Club Speedway in March and Barber Motorsports Park in May.

Despite his early crash, Cardenas continues to lead the Daytona SportBike championship standings. He is 39 markers (255-216) ahead of No. 88 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R rider Jamie Hacking, who finished ninth today, after 12 of 20 races.

Next up for AMA Pro Daytona SportBike is a doubleheader at the Honda Super Cycle Weekend presented by Dunlop Tires at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on the weekend of July 17-19.

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa stormed to a flag-to-flag victory in the U.S. Grand Prix before a sun-drenched crowd of nearly of over 46,000 on the challenging Laguna Seca circuit within sight of the Pacific Ocean in Monterey, California.

Starting fourth on the grid, the Spaniard jetted into the lead over the turn one crest and into the turn two left hand hairpin. Then he was gone. Pedrosa set one fast lap after another to pull away to what seemed a certain victory. But on the final lap Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) made a robust challenge to Pedrosa, closing onto his rear tire in the final turn. Pedrosa, however, was resolute, and used the power of the Honda RC212V to cross the line with a gap of .344s. Rossi was second and his teammate Jorge Lorenzo was third.

The victory, Pedrosa’s seventh in MotoGP and 30th career, was his first since the Catalunya Grand Prix on June 8, 2008. He was also able to solidify fourth in the championship after eight of 17 rounds.

What made the victory especially sweet, was that it showed he’d reverted to the form that can take him to victory after a very difficult set of races. Pedrosa injured his right hip in a crash in Mugello and for the following two races he couldn’t ride as he wanted. Today he was under no physical restrictions and showed what a powerful package he and the Honda RC212V can be.

Attrition took its toll on the field as they tried to complete 32 laps of the demanding 3.61k track. Only 12 made it to the finish, but four of the top eleven were Honda-mounted. San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Toni Elias finished a season best sixth and within .4 secs. of fifth placed Nicky Hayden (Ducati), who he chased to the checkered flag.

Randy De Puniet (LCR Honda) finished ninth, two spots in front of Alex De Angelis on the second San Carlo Honda Gresini machine. De Puniet had difficulty with traffic in the early laps before breaking clear. His fastest lap was the 18th of 32, by which time he was securely in ninth. De Angelis also found the early part of the race more difficult than the latter part. His fast lap was also on the 18th. And though he pressured Marco Melandri (Kawasaki), he couldn’t find a way past and was frustrated to miss out on a top ten finish by under a second.

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) was among the unlucky. The Italian was in a secure fifth place and on the tail of the lead quartet when his front end slid away in the left hand turn five on the seventh lap. Earlier he’d had problems with engine braking after inadvertently hitting his clutch lever on one of the plastic stanchions separating the pit lane exit from the track. But he took full responsibility for the crash, which happened after repeated warnings.

Earlier, Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda) had crashed out on the fourth lap. It was his first race crash in his third MotoGP race, and on his first visit to Laguna Seca.

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1st, said:
“This is a fantastic win for us and it’s a great feeling after such a long time without a victory. The start to the season has been really difficult and actually it’s been tough since Sachsenring last year because I’ve had a lot of injuries and I haven’t been able to ride at 100 per cent for a long time, or train properly. But my team and Honda never gave up and I’d like to thank everyone who’s been working really hard to help me get back to this position. I’d also like to thank the doctors who have treated me because there have been quite a few of them! I got a good start, I was able to get into a good rhythm straight away and my pace was a little better than in practice. Perhaps my only mistake here was to slow down too much on the last lap because I didn’t realize how close Valentino was. Anyway, it was a great race, a great day and it’s a great feeling. Now I just want to focus on each race and get the best results possible. There’s a long way to go in the championship but there’s also a big gap to the leaders so I’m just going to take it one race at a time.”

Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 6th, said:
“It is not a bad result and we couldn’t have done much more than that because my race pace was exactly the same as in practice. I was able to go quicker for a lap or two in practice but generally we knew this was what we would be capable of today in terms of my own performance. To be honest I was hoping the front guys would be a little slower than that and allow us to challenge them but the pace was very quick so compliments to them. In general this weekend has been much better than previous races and so was the result, but we always want more.”

Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 9th, said:
“I am quite satisfied as it was hard to expect a better result starting from the fourth row on this “up-and-down” track. I struggled with grip problems since Friday and we tried to adjust our issues but at the end the bike was not at 100%. My start was not brilliant and found some traffic in the first laps but after that my rhythm was good enough to pass a few riders. We decided to go for a softer rear tire which was a good choice for the beginning of the race but grip from the rear tire dropped at ten laps to go. This is another productive result for me and the Team as I am holding the 9th place in the championship”

Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 11th, said:
“We made some changes to the bike for today but with the conditions being so much cooler for the warm-up this morning than they were for the race in the afternoon, we hadn’t really tested them. I was really struggling over the first few laps and the bike was moving around a lot but the problem eased in the second half of the race and I was able to push harder. I honestly thought I could run with Vermeulen today and that would have been a battle for eighth place so it’s a shame we suffered this setback. Anyway, at least we picked up a few points.”

Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: DNF, said:
“We were in good shape, I’d got into a fast rhythm and I’m sure we could have had good result today, so I’m very disappointed. Unfortunately I made a mistake and I have spoiled this opportunity. During the first laps, I was behind Valentino, I wanted to overtake him and I was very close at the end of the straight. It’s a blind point and I was so close that I didn’t see the plastic poles that separate the track from the pit lane. I hit a few of them and in the impact the clutch lever bent, and from that moment on I couldn’t control the engine braking. It was my mistake as my line was too far to the left but after that it was tough to ride and change gear properly. Nevertheless, I tried to stay up with the leaders. Then I lost the front and crashed after having had a couple of warnings. I’m really disappointed because we are getting closer to front-running pace at every race and here we could have done well. Still, I believe in myself, in the machine and in my team, and I really hope to get a good result soon.”

Gabor Talmacsi, Scot Honda: DNF said:
“I had a very good feeling with the bike, and a good start. Then suddenly, when I was 15th, I lost the front. I cannot say why. I’m fine, but it is really a pity because I was in a condition to get a good result. I stay confident for the next race.”

Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden crossed the line in fourth and fifth place today to secure a top team result for Ducati that confirms the forward steps taken with the Desmosedici GP9 in recent weeks.

A top five finish for Hayden is the result of relentless hard work and dedication from rider and team since the start of the season and his best qualifying and race performances of the campaign so far represented a source of huge satisfaction. The American delighted his home crowd not only with his performance but also with a special ‘stars and stripes’ livery, that will also be available on the new Ducati 848, launched in the USA two days ago.

However, a fourth place finish for Stoner was another case of damage limitation following another physically demanding weekend. The Australian has been combating physical exhaustion and to have two races in successive weekends certainly didn’t help his cause here. Stoner will now stay on in the United States for extensive tests at the Fremont Surgery Center with Dr. Arthur Ting and Dr. Tuan, to try and understand the source of the problem.

CASEY STONER (Ducati MotoGP Team) (4th)
“It has been a weekend to forget. I can’t be happy with fourth place even if it has limited the damage to my championship chances. Today I didn’t feel as bad at the end of the race as I have done in the last two but I’m still not right. I found it really difficult to keep my concentration over the last few laps and I was in a bit of a daze by the end. My left arm was feeling really tired by the end because of the fact there are so many left-handers here and my left wrist still doesn’t have the full range of movement after my operation in the winter. I’m really disappointed because without all of these problems we could have done so much better. I want to thank the team for giving me a great bike and also Doctor Claudio Macchiagodena and our physiotherapist Freddie (Dente) for all their help. Now we’ll focus on trying to find out the root of the problem because racing in this condition is not much fun.”

NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati MotoGP Team) (5th)
“I have won here twice and to say that fifth place feels just as good might sound strange but man, so much hard work has gone into getting us to this point and I want to savour this feeling. To be racing at home, to score a solid result and to have had fun out there is nice. I just want to say a huge ‘thank you’ to my whole team, to Ducati and to everybody who has continued to believe in me during some difficult times this season. We have made progress over the last two races, we have kept the faith and it has paid off with this fifth place. Hopefully we can keep it going and score even better results as the season progresses.”

Podium USA GP 2009
1st Dani Pedrosa (Honda), 2nd Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 3rd Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)

Fastest lap: Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1’21.928
Circuit Record: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1’21.488 – 159.483 Km/h
2009 Pole: Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), 1’21.678 – 159.112 Km/h
Best Pole: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1’20.700 – 161.040 Km/h

Riders’ World Championship standings
1st Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 151 punti; 2nd Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 142; 3rd Casey Stoner (Ducati) 135; 4th Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 92; 5th Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 76; … 12th Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 38.

Colin Edwards’ determined ride in his home race at Laguna Seca today achieved a personal milestone for the popular Texan, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider scoring his 100th point-scoring Grand Prix finish. Edwards started and finished the 32-lap in seventh to become only the 14th rider in the 61-year history of world championship racing to score points in 100 races.

Slipping to ninth on the opening lap, Edwards fought his way back into seventh on lap seven and began a pursuit of a battle for fifth place involving Spaniard Toni Elias and compatriot Nicky Hayden.

Edwards, who has only failed to score points in 10 of his premier class appearances, closed to within two seconds of Elias on lap 12. But his hopes of a fourth top six finish in 2009 were ended when he ran into front-end issues during the second half of the race, staged in front of a home crowd of 46,679 fans.
Edwards is now fifth in the individual standings and his latest result ensured the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team remains firmly in contention for fourth place in the Team World Championship, the French-based team trailing Suzuki’s factory squad by just two-points after eight races.

It was a disappointing day for British rider James Toseland. Having been adjudged to have jumped the start from 15th on the grid, Toseland failed to stop for a ride through penalty within the allotted time and was subsequently black flagged and excluded from the results on lap 11.

Colin Edwards 7th – 76 points
“It’s great to score my 100th points finish in front of my home fans and doing it for Monster, Yamaha and Tech 3 who have given me great support. But I expect more than finishing seventh. I’m pretty tired now and it was a really physical race because I couldn’t get the bike to turn. Each time I threw it on its side it just went straight out to the kerb. I was using a lot of effort to get the bike to turn and it felt like the front forks were sitting between my legs. When I braked the front didn’t feel like it was coming back up. It felt like the front was buried in the ground and just pushed me out to the edge of the track. I ride over the front a lot but today it felt like I was crawling all over it, almost like I was sitting on top of the tank. It wasn’t super special and we’ve got to go back to the drawing board I think for Germany. My pace was consistent and I was doing between 22.9 or 23.1 the whole race, but that just wasn’t fast enough.”

James Toseland DNF – 39 points
“There’s not much I can say really other than it was a tough weekend. I feel like the jump start was pretty harsh. I knew it was close but I didn’t think I’d jumped the start and that early in a 32-lap race I’m not looking at my pitboard. I was just concentrating on catching the guy in front and the first thing I realised that I’d been penalised was when I saw the black flag and my number. Obviously if I’d known I’d jumped the start then I would have come in but I’ve watched the TV replay and you can’t see anything. I didn’t gain any places either so in my opinion it’s pretty harsh. It’s a setback but I’ve just got to get on with it and bounce back in Germany.”

Herve Poncharal – Team Manager
“It was a tough weekend but Colin still had a good race. He had a good pace and while it wasn’t fast enough to be on the podium he got some good points and now he’s fifth in the championship and still the top independent team rider. It was also his 100th point-scoring finish in MotoGP and I’m pleased that he has achieved that with the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha Team. Colin has done a fantastic job for our team and it shows what a consistent performer he has been for Yamaha. For James it was a big disappointment because although it was a difficult weekend I think a top ten finish could have been possible. It was a marginal jump start but that’s the rule, it is the same for everybody. Unfortunately he didn’t see the signal to ride through the pits, so he learned a lesson today.”

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) and teammate Andrea Dovizioso will be joined by Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini) on the second row for Sunday’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, the eighth round of the MotoGP World Championship. Pedrosa and Dovizioso had been atop the time charts for the first quarter of the session, then spent the rest of it fighting to get back on top. Pedrosa ended the hour .203s off the front row with Dovizioso only .022 farther back and Elias sixth at a gap of .011s.

The qualifying session, held on a sun-drenched afternoon at Laguna Seca, the tortuous track located not far from the Pacific Ocean, was the most dramatic of the year, with two of the top three qualifiers ending the hour with frightening high-sides. Pole position went to Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) before he suffered a dislocated right shoulder and right foot injury in a violent high-side late in the session. He plans to test his race fitness in the Sunday morning warm-up. Teammate Valentino Rossi was second fastest, while Casey Stoner (Ducati) finished third, though he also ended qualifying with a high-side. Stoner was able to walk back into his garage under his own power uninjured.

The end of the session was equally dramatic for the Honda runners, with their positions changing hands repeatedly. With less than a minute to go, Elias jumped up to fourth, but only briefly. Six seconds after the checkered flag, Dovizioso stole fourth with his best lap of the day. Then came Pedrosa, who would leapfrog both with the final of his 34 laps of the 3.61k, 11-turn road course.

Because injuries prevented him from racing at Laguna Seca last year, Pedrosa was starting over. Two years ago he was on the first generation Honda RC212V and on Michelin tires. Today he was on the latest spec RC212V, which he only began racing last week in Assen, and control Bridgestones. The new chassis provides better front end stability and feedback, which are essential on a track that features a 91 meter elevation change and a number of hard braking downhill corners.

The Spaniard was also in much better physical condition than he’d been in Assen only a week ago. He said the physical nature of the track was a challenge, but not one that would prevent him from challenging for victory.

Dovizioso took advantage of the afternoon heat to use the harder rear Bridgestone, a strategy that allowed him to vastly improve his lap times, while setting the RC212V for the race. Dovizioso was on pace to improve his time, but had to slow in the turn 10 area where fast qualifier Jorge Lorenzo had crashed.

Elias said the session was probably the toughest of the season, the undulating nature of the track making it a physical challenge, while the heat allowed for more rear tire grip. With the race expected to be run in similar conditions, it was essential Elias find the right settings, which he did.

Alex De Angelis, the teammate of Elias, will start the race from the row four pole. De Angelis was disappointed with his grid position, but happy with his race pace, which was done on race tires. The team worked hard to sort out the front end issues he had in Assen and he expects to find more pace for Sunday’s race.

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) will also start from the fourth row after his hopes of starting higher were frustrated during qualifying. The 28-year-old Frenchman found a good race set-up, but wasn’t able to gain any advantage from the softer of the two rear tire choices. The session ended with De Puniet in the thick of traffic on a machine that he knows he has to improve for the morning warm-up.

In only his third grand prix, and his first visit to Laguna Seca, Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda) will start from the final row. The Hungarian found the complexity and physicality of the track daunting, though he was content to have progressed throughout the two days of practice.

MotoGP Riders Quotes:

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 4th – 1m 22.113s, said:
“I’We started this afternoon’s session really well and were able to lap consistently quickly straight away. Towards the end it became a little bit more difficult to improve the lap times because they tires weren’t quite getting up to temperature and it was easy to make a mistake – we saw a few crashes out there later in the session. Fourth on the grid is not bad – I would have liked to be on the front row of course but fourth is ok. For tomorrow I’d like to improve our race pace by about three tenths per lap and that’s what we’ll work on in the warm-up. We did a lot of laps today on the tires we’re planning to race on and this was one of our targets this weekend so I’m satisfied with that. It’s a short lap here and there isn’t any chance to rest which is going to make it a tough race tomorrow. You have to stay very focused and concentrated because it’s easy to make a mistake. In the sessions today I was mostly riding on a clear track, so I’m confident that if I can get away with the front group then this will help my rhythm and pace even more.”

Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 5th – 1m 22.235s, said:
“As I expected this afternoon, with the higher temperatures and using the hard Bridgestones, I could improve my lap times by a decent amount over this morning. That’s good because these are the tires we’ll use for the race and we’re in pretty good shape. I think I have a good race pace and starting from the second row is not bad. Towards the end of qualifying I think I could have gone even quicker with the last soft tire but I was on track when Lorenzo crashed so I had to slow down because there were yellow flags. Anyway, I’m happy with qualifying and tomorrow we’ll aim to make a good start and stay with the leaders. In the heat of the race I think I should be able to grit my teeth and shave a few more tenths from my lap time too. This track is really special and the atmosphere here is unique, so and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s race. I hope we can be competitive and give the team a strong result before we head back to Europe.”

Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 6th – 1m 22.146s, said:
“To be perfectly honest, that was probably the toughest session of the weekend so far, but in the end we met our objective, which was to secure a place on one of the front two rows for the race tomorrow. Sixth place gives us a good chance, my pace is decent so I hope to get a good enough start to be able to follow Rossi and Stoner because I think we have the potential to stay with them. They’re really quick but we have to give it a shot. I truly think we have the chance to give them a race tomorrow and we can’t afford to let opportunities like this pass us by. We have worked hard so far this season without much reward so hopefully this weekend will be the turning point for us. We’ve made good progress but now we have to back it up.”

Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 12th – 1m 23.004s, said:
“Our grid position is not great, but our race pace looks good and I’m pleased with the progress, we’ve made so far this weekend. We’ve improved the performance of the bike under braking and solved the front-end stability issues that we struggled so much with at Assen. We tried the harder compound front tire today but it gave us a bit of a chattering problem. We believe and we hope that it is only the tire that caused the problem and by switching back to the softer compound we’ll resolve it. It is only a small thing and it didn’t affect our race pace too much, but I’m confident we can still find a little more speed for tomorrow.”

Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda: 14th – 1m 23.147s, said:
“Honestly, we have struggled since yesterday to find a good set-up which makes me comfortable on the bike. After the first run this afternoon I thought we found the right direction as I could do decent lap times on race trim. But as soon as I came in on soft tires, we realized that we could not improve our lap time. I made a few mistakes and found some traffic in the last minutes, but my machine is not good enough at the moment. I am sure the guys will work hard to fix our issues for tomorrow’s warm up session.”

Gabor Talmacsi – Scot Honda: 17th – 1m 24.528s, said:
“It is a challenging track and you can never relax. I’m satisfied with the free practices, as I was able to improve lap after lap, and session after session. I had a few problems in qualifying with the tires. I saw it was difficult for everybody. We have some ideas for tomorrow and we will test them during the warm-up to improve our performance in the race.”