It was free to come into Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Thursday, including full access to the paddock and pit lane. Was there anything to see? Absolutely. The MotoGP teams were setting up their garages, cleaning parts and putting heat cycles in new engines by running the racebikes on their stands on pit lane. Remember, ear plugs are a necessity this weekend. The AMA teams were setting up their pit areas. Yamaha’s AMA team has been charged with setting up a hospitality area to accommodate the Gauloises Yamaha team, including Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards, a total of over 60 people. The team has borrowed one of the factory off-road teams’ semi-truck for the job. In addition, many AMA riders are roaming the paddock, especially the MotoGP garage area. Yamaha may announce its 2006 AMA racing plans within the next two weeks, according to one highly-placed source within the team. The weekend at Laguna Seca will include many promotional events. At noon Thursday, Rossi, John Hopkins, Ruben Xaus and Makoto Tamada attended a media photo opportunity at the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. At 4:00 p.m. local time, the MotoGP pre-event press conference is scheduled to take place. At 4:30 p.m. Eric Bostrom’s personal sponsor Cannondale will hold a bicycle riding event for the media, which will include unveiling Bostrom’s special replica bicycle and riding jersey. At 5:00 p.m. the Marlboro Ducati MotoGP team will host a meet-and-greet cocktail party in front of its garage on pit lane. Some of the events apparently have not been well thought out, however, as one helmet company’s media event takes place in off the track grounds in the middle of the afternoon on Saturday. At post time, the AMA teams were working with AMA Pro Racing and Laguna Seca Raceway officials on whether or not large canopies will be allowed on hot pit lane. Due to the small size of pit lane, it has already been determined that each rider, factory or privateer, is only entitled to 10 linear feet of pit lane. No canopies will be allowed to be set-up on hot pit lane in front of the MotoGP team garages and that area must be completely vacated before the start of any MotoGP practice or qualifying session. In addition to the 20 permanent garages, four additional, temporary garages have been placed along pit lane. Above the temporary garages, a huge stage has been erected for the podium ceremonies. A row of elevated hospitality suites and another, three-level temporary building have been placed along pit lane. All of the new curbing around the track has been painted red and white, and artificial grass has been placed between the curbing and the gravel traps in some locations, like turn 11. There is no mistaking that Red Bull is the sponsor of this event. Red Bull signage is dominant around the track. A large, temporary, enclosed Red Bull bar has been constructed in the paddock, just off pit lane. A Red Bull vending machine has even been placed in the media center. No major hotel problems have come to the attention of Roadracingworld.com. In fact, one AMA race team crew member who said his confirmed reservation was bumped by the Embassy Suites in Seaside is now staying at the Embassy Suites free of charge for the entire weekend. In addition to being an attraction for motorcycle fans, Laguna Seca could also be a field of dreams for computer hackers. There were no less than eight active wireless networks detectable in the paddock of Laguna Seca Thursday, and none of those belonged to teams. One veteran international race reporter is predicting that some of the top MotoGP riders will voice complaints about the safety of the Laguna Seca racetrack. Thursday’s weather forecast for the weekend did not call for rain or for heat. Low temperatures are expected to be in the 50’s with highs in the 60’s.