Several MotoGP riders expressed concerns with the new racing surface at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, especially overall grip and grip in areas of the track that have been freshly ground down, during a pre-event press conference Thursday afternoon at the track. “When I went around it,” Kenny Lee Roberts told reporters, “I was unsure of what was happening with why they cut the surface. That is my main point as far as it standing out to me when I went around it. So we don’t know what the surface is going to be like tomorrow with those cuts. I don’t know if it’s going to be good grip or vague feeling or no grip. I hope for us and the circuit it’s OK.” Bumps found between turns four and five, between turns nine and 10 and at the top of the Corkscrew during a recent test by three-time AMA Superbike Champion Doug Chandler were ground level with a method referred to as “diamond grinding,” according to Public Relations Manager Reece White. Those areas were then treated with a special sealer called “Fast Dry, which was mixed with a silica sand to give it grip. You can drive on it in 40-45 minutes,” said White. “It was used here before back in the days when the high-downforce Champ cars were causing problems for a lot of tracks. So motorcycles have run on it before and, presumably, not noticed.” John Hopkins and Colin Edwards said they felt the track was bumpier than they expected when they took sighting laps on pit scooters Thursday. Roberts, Hopkins, Edwards, Nikcy Hayden and Valentino Rossi all said the level of safety of the track had been improved significantly.