MotoGP PREVIEW: RED BULL U.S. GRAND PRIX EVENT: Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix WHERE: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif. Circuit is 2.243 miles (3.610 km), with 11 turns. Race is 32 laps. WHEN: Sunday, July 5. It is the eighth of 17 events this season. 2008 RACE WINNER: Valentino Rossi, by 13.001 seconds over Casey Stoner 2008 POLE WINNER: Casey Stoner, 1 minute, 20.700 seconds U.S. TV: 5-6 p.m. (ET), Sunday, July 5, FOX. 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. *** 2009 IMS tickets: Established in 1909, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has long prevailed as an icon of motorsports excellence. Beginning in 2009, the Speedway celebrates its Centennial Era, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the facility in 2009 and the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race in 2011. Tickets for the two remaining events in 2009 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and Red Bull Indianapolis GP can be purchased online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com at any time. Tickets for groups of 20 or more also are on sale. Contact the IMS Group Sales Department at (866) 221-8775 for more information. More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: CANEPA READY FOR LAGUNA SECA DEBUT Niccolò Canepa will be the only Pramac Racing rider to step on the Laguna Seca track this weekend for the eight MotoGP 2009 World Championship round. His teammate Mika Kallio is, in fact, obligated to skip the US Grand Prix due to the injury at his left ring finger occurred on the Assen circuit during last Saturday race. The Italian rider will make his debut on the Californian circuit and will have to learn in the quickest time the secrets of this track. One of the main characteristics of this enthralling circuit is the corkscrew, a unique downhill chicane for the MotoGP Championship. The track is 3610 meters long with its final straight that is 966 meters long. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Technical Director “This will surely be a different weekend for us as Mika will not be here, but we are sure that the decision taken on Tuesday it’s the best for the rest of the season. We preferred to have him in the best condition possible at Sachsenring without risking to compromise more races. As it was supposed to be for Mika, this will be the first time also for Niccolò at Laguna Seca. It is a really technical track and he will need some time to completely learn it. He will have to be really calm and maybe follow some other riders that already know the track in the first free practice to learn the best lines to follow. From our side we are working hard to give to Niccolò the possibility to demonstrate his qualities and we believe we will see the results soon.” Niccolò Canepa – Pramac Racing Rider “I am really sorry Mika will not be here with us this weekend and it will be strange. I hope he will be able to get back on track really soon. He is a really nice guy and a great rider and I hope to see him again in our box for the German race. It will not be easy for us this weekend as it’s my first time in my career here. For what I have seen on the television in the past years it isn’t a really fast track but with many insidious turns. I think that my heart rate will be really fast at my first time at the corkscrew. On paper this is a really fascinating track and I hope to be able to be fast from the first few laps. On Indianapolis track, when I have ridden on it for the first time last year, I registered very interesting lap times straight away: who knows that maybe the same will happen here.”