On the eve of the first Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway circuit was bathed in sunshine on Thursday morning, though the weather forecast for the coming days suggests storms and rain could feature in this historic event. Whatever lies ahead in terms of weather did not dampen the spirits on Thursday, however, with all this weekend´s 19 premier class competitors all playing a part in the preliminary activities. Each and every MotoGP rider made a 15-minute appearance on the IMS ‘Plaza’ stage for a Q & A session with the fans, as the ambience grew in this exciting new chapter of Grand Prix history. Shortly before the customary afternoon press conference the entire MotoGP field gathered together for an iconic group photograph, at the IMS’ famous Yard of Bricks finish line – the first time they have grouped together collectively in such a fashion since the opening round of the season in Qatar. In the pre-event press meeting, World Championship front runners Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa were joined by American stars Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards in previewing what promises to be an enthralling weekend. World Championship leader Valentino Rossi commented: ‘Of course everyone is used to seeing cars racing here so we are very curious to see what it will be like on our MotoGP bikes. It is a very historic place so it is great to bring MotoGP here. I have been in the U.S. for a few days enjoying Las Vegas and New York and it is always a good experience to be here.’ Home hero and 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden, meanwhile, added, ‘It was strange for me yesterday to be driving from home to ride in a Grand Prix. This is the closest I have ever road-raced to home in my entire career and the build-up has been great, so I hope I can put on a good show for the fans despite my foot injury.’ At the end of a busy day Yamaha Tech 3’s James Toseland rounded off proceedings with one of his virtuoso musical performances on the ‘Plaza’ stage. More, from a press release issued by Indianapolis Motor Speedway: ED BULL INDIANAPOLIS GP PRESS CONFERENCE Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner, Nicky Hayden, Colin Edwards Thursday, September 11, 2008 MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll start the press conference in about 30 seconds. If you just remember to keep those mobile phones switched off, we’d really appreciate that. All the riders are here together. We’re not used to them coming together. We’re actually going to start a little bit early. If you could all settle down. A very warm welcome to the pre-event press conference here for the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix. It was August the 14th, 1909, the first race that was held here in Indianapolis. It was a motorcycle race, so I think it’s very appropriate that we are back here with a motorcycle race in 2008. Tremendous lineup of riders to meet everybody. In the center, of course, Valentino Rossi. Valentino, seven-time World Champion, riding the Fiat Yamaha. Currently leads the World Championship by 75 points, and Valentino’s won the last three Grands Prix, including, of course, the race in California, the last one in America, at Laguna Seca. To Valentino’s right, Casey Stoner, the current World Champion, riding the Marlboro Ducati. Casey currently second in the World Championship. And to Valentino’s left, it’s Dani Pedrosa from Spain riding the Repsol Honda and Dani currently third in the World Championship. The far end here, no surprise to everybody in America is Colin Edwards. Of course, Colin riding the Tech 3 Yamaha, former World Superbike Champion, now almost a veteran of MotoGP racing now. At the other end of the table, no great surprise, is Nicky Hayden, of course; Nicky riding the Repsol Honda and Nicky the World Champion in 2006. Start in the center with Valentino Rossi. Valentino, a special event, Indianapolis. You arrive here in great form, great confidences, three wins, big lead in the championship, five races to go. VALENTINO ROSSI: Yes, I arrive here from very good race for me and good result. I am in a good shape. I ride quite well, and I am quite fast in the last period. So I’m so happy. My advantage in the championship, for sure, is important after the last races. But we have five to go, so the way is very long to the end. I think we have to stay concentrate and strong like, you know, like from the beginning of the year, working like this, remain concentrated. Like here, everybody start from zero, but this track is quite strange. I think especially because it’s not a track for a bike, born for a bike but for the car. And after some modified. So everybody curious to try this new track with the MotoGP. And so we will see and especially we hope for good weather for the weekend. MODERATOR: You’ve obviously had a look at the track now for the first time. What were your impressions? ROSSI: So I don’t make any lap yet, no. I want to go after the conference because I have some other things to do. But especially we have to understand that the first thing, like always, is the safety. We have to understand if we have enough safety around the track with our bike. The layout, like I say, is quite modified from the Formula One track, especially two corners very, very tight where we expect to go like 50 or 60 kilometers per hour. So usually the feeling with our bike when you go at that speed, it’s quite bad because it’s strange. But we see. MODERATOR: On the complex itself, you walk into Indianapolis and you look and go, yeah, this is something special, isn’t it? ROSSI: Yes, the complex is fantastic. This place is full of history and a lot of fascination, for sure, a place with 300,000 seats to see a race of Indy is fantastic. But we’re racing in the garden, you know. We have to understand if the garden is OK. MODERATOR: And you personally, I think you’ve said in the past, America is one of the very few countries you can come to and you’re not recognized. You can walk down the streets. Is that still the case? ROSSI: Yes, I start from Europe on Saturday because I have to go in Las Vegas for the new F1, and have to stay two days in New York, and for me is very good for me because nobody know me. It’s like a normal life. But no, for sure, the target is to try to improve the popularity of MotoGP in the U.S. In Laguna, it’s already three years and now have a lot more clout compared to 2005. So we’re growing up, we have a good potential because our sport is finally to follow on the television, so we hope to arrive here in America with more crowd. MODERATOR: Valentino, thanks very much. To Valentino’s right, ladies and gentlemen, Casey Stoner, of course, the Australian. Casey is the current World Champion, riding the Marlboro Ducati. Casey, it’s been a tough few races for you, hasn’t it? CASEY STONER: Yes, things definitely haven’t gone well, but we’re not putting the blame on anybody and I’ve been riding the best I can. The practice sessions have gone perfectly, and I’ve been learning a lot more. But, yeah, I mean, the races just haven’t worked out. I felt that I was doing everything right like I have in the past and, you know, they really caught me out, these two crashes. So I’m a little bit disappointed with my results in the last few races. I’m here learning, I’m young, and we’ll see how it goes at this racetrack. Driving here this morning, I was quite excited to come to a place with so much history. It’s very nice to be finally out on the track tomorrow. It’s been very anticipated over a lot of the year. We finally get to set foot on it today, and it was a very good feeling. MODERATOR: The World Championship is a very, very faint chance now, but I’m sure you will push it until it’s gone mathematically. STONER: It was gone awhile ago, and we started to bring it back and it was gone again. We always kept things reasonably open, but we were also just trying each race by race, just trying to do what we could. You know, not so much for the championship, but just the races themselves. I think the championship, like I said, was gone quite a few times. We gave too many points away at the beginning of the season, and that’s really stung us now. So we, you know, with these two crashes, I think if we hadn’t done such a bad beginning of the season, we would have still been within reach, but that’s the way things have gone this year. That’s the way things seem to be panning out for me. We’ve just got to make sure we try and bring these last five races home very strong and get ready for next year. MODERATOR: Right in the middle of it all, you re-break your scaphoid bone in your left hand. STONER: I never actually re-broke it; it never healed in five years. I’ve been a little disappointed with the news of that. I thought it was sorted five years ago, but I kept having quite a lot of pains over the years, every now and then, nothing bad enough; and they just kept telling me, “It’s fine, it’s fine, scaphoids do this,” but we’ve had X-rays and scans and realize that the bone basically broke itself into a few pieces. We have got to decide what to do in the future with it, but for now we have just got to keep racing and see what we can do. MODERATOR: The new track, it’s a new track for everybody. It must be quite a strange sensation when you go out on Friday morning, just a completely blank sheet of paper. STONER: Yeah, I mean, we haven’t even been able to race around it with the PlayStation or anything, unless we went backwards on the Formula One game, which I don’t think you can. (Laughter) It’s definitely going to be a very new track. When we came to Laguna, we knew which way it went, and when we went to Turkey, we knew which way it went. Here is a little different. You know, it’s going to be exciting getting out there tomorrow morning. MODERATOR: Casey, thanks very much. To Valentino’s left, ladies and gentlemen, is Dani Pedrosa. Dani is currently third in the World Championship, just two points behind Casey Stoner. Dani, you caused quite a sensation, didn’t you, in Misano after the race saying you were switching to Bridgestones. You had the test on the Monday. First of all, how did the test go? DANI PEDROSA: Test was fine. I mean we started slowly and finally we get improving over the hours. The first test, it was nice to have some hours to try and a lot of work, of course. But, you know, I was happy and finally we had a test. MODERATOR: This isn’t going to happen too quickly, is it? It’s a long-term thing, you’re not suddenly going to arrive here and everything will change. It will take time, won’t it? PEDROSA: Yes, of course. When we change the tires immediately, it takes work at these tires and, of course, we have to find the best combination. Right now with this new track, also, it’s another thing. So I just try to enjoy this weekend here, of course, on this track and it looks a bit strange, but we will try to make our best here. MODERATOR: And injuries, we talked about Casey with injuries, but also you have still had problems with your injured hand, haven’t you? PEDROSA: No, I’m OK, just one finger, but it’s not a big deal. So my wrist is OK now and enough power. MODERATOR: And you say strange racing at the track, but an amazing place just to drive into, I think as Valentino said, you know that you’re at something very special, don’t you? PEDROSA: Yes, you feel here is a lot of history, and especially yesterday night we went to a restaurant and the guy from the restaurant explains us a little bit when this track started, and you can feel that there is much history. So I’m happy to be here and to continue and to be part of the history when they have this track. MODERATOR: Dani, thanks very much indeed. To the far end, ladies and gentlemen, Colin Edwards, Colin riding the Tech 3 Yamaha. It’s a bit rude saying you’re a MotoGP veteran. Sorry about that, Colin. COLIN EDWARDS: I’ll talk to you after. (Laughter) MODERATOR: The season going so well, and the last four races have been such a disappointment for you, haven’t they? EDWARDS: You reckon? MODERATOR: Just by your face. EDWARDS: Who strategically placed three Bridgestone guys here between two Michelin guys. You could have split it up a bit, you know. (Laughter) It’s been a pain in the ass, really. The beginning of the season was a lot of fun. It was fun to be on the bike. Now it’s not a lot of fun at the moment. The last few races have just been, you know, I don’t know, cross your fingers, show up usually after Friday morning, you’ve run through three or four tires, see if you’re in the ballpark. We’ve been kind of in the parking lot of the ballpark, I think, at times. So we’ll see what — I know they’ve been doing some testing here, so we’ll see what happens. MODERATOR: Will you know by tomorrow morning pretty early on if things are going to change? I think I spoke to James Toseland, he said that he would know sort of — it’s not Bridgestone, is it? EDWARDS: I always leave my phone on. Sorry about this. (Laughter) I’ll tell you five minutes after I go out. MODERATOR: Really tell that quickly? EDWARDS: Honestly, Laguna was two corners, we went out and did two corners and we were on the softest tire we had, and it was still way too hard, and I thought, “We’re in trouble here.” Hopefully we should be in the ballpark. Like I said, they have enough information over the last few tests they’ve done. I think they tested here on a Superbike or something over the last week, and so they should have got some information out of that. If we’re not in the ballpark, then we really have some issues. But hopefully they did their homework, and we’ll have some stuff. MODERATOR: You must be pleased, though, coming here to Indianapolis. It’s in many ways such an important part of the American heritage of racing, isn’t it? EDWARDS: It’s hard to explain, maybe it’s not, but the Indy 500 when I was a kid, the country basically shut down. This was obviously before Indy and CART and before all that split went on. If you were in open-wheel racing in the U.S., some of the Europeans came over here and did Indy. I don’t know, it was the Super Bowl of let’s say car racing at the time. As a kid growing up with that year after year, the town would shut down, everybody would sit in front of the TV. May as well have been the presidential election going on nowadays. It was good fun; I have good memories. MODERATOR: Have you had a look around the track yet? EDWARDS: Yeah, went and did a couple laps around in a car yesterday and then around in a golf cart today. I think part of the problem, if it rains, you know, when you have a leather suit on, when you hit the grass and it’s wet, you just seem to accelerate. So we need to figure out what’s going to happen. I think in certain places, I think we might need to work with some air fence and in some different locations. But hopefully it won’t rain. Keep our fingers crossed, maybe Ike will hang a left and get out of here. MODERATOR: Colin, thanks very much indeed. OK, ladies and gentlemen, at the far end of the table again another American rider, probably happier to be in Indy than anybody else, Nicky Hayden, 2006 World Champion. Nicky, it’s a special day, isn’t it? NICKY HAYDEN: Yeah, it really is. I mean to be racing so close to home, it just doesn’t even seem real. Yesterday driving up here, you know, I was halfway here before — or most trips I would just be getting to the airport. I’ve never really road-raced any closer to home in my life. It’s only like three, maybe three hours pushing it, no stops. Normally go to the airport, wait, fly to Chicago and then halfway around the world. Even growing up as a kid I didn’t really road-race a lot real close to home once I started; I was already traveling. It’s an awesome opportunity for me and also I think for MotoGP. There’s a lot of people in the East Coast, you know, California is a long way away, they can’t afford to go out there, even make the trip out to the West Coast to be able to come here to the East Coast. I think IMS and Red Bull and a lot of people have worked really hard to make this happen. Yeah, hopefully get some good weather and have a big weekend. MODERATOR: And you personally fitness-wise, obviously missed Misano, we’ve seen you coming in on the crutches, how is the heel? HAYDEN: It’s all right; it’s a little bit better than Misano, for sure. This track going left will be a lot better, but honestly I hoped to be more healed by then. I had some doctors saying it’s going to take a while and being a racer you think, no, and go get another opinion and find somebody who says I’ll be all right quicker. It’s taken awhile, and it’s just the wrong part of the foot that I broke. It’s been slow but, yeah, I’ll be all right here this weekend going left. So it’s certainly been another tough year for me and probably the worst, honestly, if I’m honest, probably the worst season of my career so far. So things change quick in racing and no better time to try to turn it around than right here at home. I know we have a few things going against us, but hopefully this weekend coming to the track — I think racing inside an oval, this feels natural to me. I grew up Vegas, Daytona, a lot of tracks inside an oval like this. So should feel pretty comfortable. MODERATOR: And the future, Nicky, I don’t expect you’ll tell us at this moment, but we thought there might be an announcement this weekend, can you tell us time scale? HAYDEN: It’s looking like World Superbike with Aprilia. (Laughter) MODERATOR: Could you have a word with Colin first? HAYDEN: It’s no secret; everybody knows where my next stop is going to be. But officially we’re waiting on to do it the right way until the releases come out because there’s teams and stuff. I’m looking forward to it. I know it’s going to be a big change for me, and hopefully probably in the next, you know, announcement will be coming soon. But still, there’s five races to go this season. That’s a lot of racing. I have had a long history with Honda, and I don’t have — sure, things here lately have kind of went, you know, kind of turned ugly with everything going on, all the drama. But still, we’ve had a lot of good races together, won championships in the AMA, and obviously the World Championship was the big one. Sure, every day wasn’t just a big holiday but we had some good days, and I’m really grateful for the opportunity they gave me. But I think it’s, you know, it’s time to move on, try something different. But we’ll worry about that later and for now just focus on this weekend and try to go out in a good way together. MODERATOR: Nicky, thank you. We look forward to the announcement. Thank you very much. HAYDEN: All right. Thanks. MODERATOR: Any questions, ladies and gentlemen? Q: One question for Nicky. I wanted to know what do you think about Dani Pedrosa and the Bridgestone tires and if you asked for the last five races. HAYDEN: Well, I mean that’s quite a touchy subject, but I mean, I was shocked like when everybody else — but no, I wasn’t asked and I just kind of heard it on the street. In Misano before the race they told me. I couldn’t, you know — yeah, I think I couldn’t believe it, about like everyone else. So, yeah, I’m not really sure what’s there to say. Don’t really change a whole lot for me. You know, it’s one less rider on Michelin, which I think hurts. It’s getting close to being spec tire now, you know. There’s really only five or six guys left that aren’t on Bridgestone. So, yeah, it really don’t change a whole lot other than the wall down the middle of the garage. Honestly, there was already a bit of a wall there. So not a lot’s changed. I think it will be certainly a lot of drama. And just MotoGP, never a dull day. There’s always something going on. MODERATOR: Anybody else, ladies and gentlemen? Q: Question for Dani. Dani, you tested the new engine, as well, in Misano? Will you have it here? Are you going to ride it or will you have one old and one new bike? PEDROSA: No, for the moment two new ones. Q: Nick, do you expect to do the rest of the season with Honda? There are rumors that you guys are going to split. HAYDEN: No, I expect — I mean unless they tell me, no, I don’t have any intention not to do the rest of the season. I mean that seems crazy. I honestly haven’t really — that’s what people thought after Misano and everything had happened, but no, I plan on — I owe it to Honda to go out. I think they know that, at least the guys in my team know I’m not going to lay down until the very end, until Valencia. So, no, I fully plan on doing the whole season unless they lock the door over there on me, I plan on going in there and getting on the bike. (Laughter) That could happen. I mean, you know. There’s probably people in that box that if I didn’t show up probably would never notice. (Laughter) But I plan on going. MODERATOR: Anybody else, ladies and gentlemen? HAYDEN: I’m not trying to be funny or giving one-liners. EDWARDS: No, that was funny. (Laughter) MODERATOR: Anybody else, ladies and gentlemen? One here. Q: Indy has a bit of tradition with race winners. Race winners of the Indy 500 climb up the fence, race winners of the NASCAR Brickyard kneel down and kiss the Yard of Bricks. Any MotoGP traditions to start this weekend with the race winner? EDWARDS: Just get naked and running down the front straight. Start it here. (Laughter) I’ll do it. (Laughter) MODERATOR: Valentino, are you going to say anything? ROSSI: I agree with Colin. (Laughter) Naked. MODERATOR: Anybody else, ladies and gentlemen? No? OK, thanks all for coming. Riders, thanks as always. See you all over the weekend. Thank you. Hang on, Colin, we just need to do the photograph. Sorry. Gentlemen, thank you very much. More, from a press release issued by Ben Spies’ publicist: INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 11, 2008) Newly-crowned AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies spent Thursday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway spending time with fans and the media in what effectively was a meet and greet day at the Speedway in preparation for this weekend’s Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP. Spies was present for several photo ops at Indy, including a gathering of riders who train on Specialized Bicycles. Then it was an Indy tradition a photo opportunity attended by literally hundreds of photographers with all of the MotoGP competitors standing alongside the famous yard of bricks on the front straightaway. At one time the entire 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway was paved with over three million bricks. Just three feet of the original brick pavement remains at the start/finish line. Spies then did interviews with local Indianapolis media and was a special guest on the popular The BIG Show with Dave & Joe on WIBC Radio. It was not all media functions though. Spies took time to attend a special fan question & answer session sponsored by Bridgestone. Spies had fun banter with fans, but was also put on the spot once when one fan asked him about the current turmoil with the future of Superbike racing in America. Spies diplomatically answered saying he wanted to see a single united series allowing for the best riders to race against one another. Spies then attended a special auction for the Riders for Health, an international non-profit organization that is providing health-care to rural African villages using motorcycles. He auctioned off a couple of his Rizla Suzuki team shirts by way of celebrity auctioneer Ralph Sheheen from SPEED TV. Perhaps the highlight of the auction was when Spies actually offered up the shirt off his back, which started a bidding war between two female fans. Spies personally handed his shirt to the lucky winner and gave her a personalized message and signature on the shirt. Two Rizla Suzuki shirts worn by Spies raised $825 for Riders for Health. “That was a lot of fun,” Spies said. “It’s great to be able to help in such a worthy cause. It made me feel good to see the bidding war over my shirt. The people were really into it.” Spies then took the time to meet hundreds of fans. He signed autographs until his hand was cramped and had his photo taken with dozens more. He lifted up one young fan for a quick photo taken by the boy’s dad. The boy turned, looked at Spies admiringly and said, “I hope you win the big race Ben.” Spies couldn’t get the grin off his face. “These are the people who make it possible for me to make a good living doing what I love,” Spies said. “They seem happy to get an autograph or take a picture with me, but I’m the one who gets pumped by getting to meet them.” The attention now turns to the action on the track Friday as practice begins for this weekend’s inaugural Motorcycle Grand Prix in Indianapolis. With the AMA Superbike title already wrapped up Spies is relaxed and ready to try to turn in his best MotoGP performance yet.