Send your Laguna Seca experiences, comments, suggestions, etc. to: [email protected] Include “Laguna Comments” in the subject line. Include your first and last name, your city and state and your daytime phone number in the e-mail. FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: With a little planning our getaway from the track went surprisingly smooth on Sunday. After Saturday’s experience (with long lines) we decided to watch the race from the hillside between turns 1 and 2. It turned out to be a good place to watch (little or no shade, though), but more importantly we didn’t have to deal with any of the bridges after the race. We headed for the bus stop immediately after the race, and from the time we got in line to arrival at the remote parking lot took 45 minutes. The line was getting pretty long behind us at the bus stop, so I’m sure there were waits far longer than ours. We hit the road and were home (in Southern California) by 10:30. Mark Reese Chino Hills, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: This was my first time to Laguna Seca, drove in from Phoenix late (7 min. before the midnight gate closing) Thursday night and set up camp in the “Archery” area for the weekend. Friday & Saturday was spent sightseeing the track/vendors and locating our spot for Sunday’s race, we settled on squatting our chairs and a cooler on the hillside at the hairpin which turned out to be an overall amazing locale for this track. Besides having a great time and already making the plans for next year I did learn that you shouldn’t leave the RC51 at home, the roads in this area are indeed as good as people say for motorcycles, next year we bring the bikes. The only low was the intense heat and lack of enough shade anywhere on the track, but the showers (props to Laguna Seca for this necessity) at the campsite helped in coping. Jason Carey Maricopa, Arizona FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I just have one main thing to say: Vermeulen deserves more respect. Given the right tires and an engine to last, he would have been gone, Hayden or not. He was about the smoothest rider I saw in practice, qualifying, and the race. I am happy for Hayden, of course, but let us all not overlook the obvious. Thanks for your great coverage. Andrew Victor Nabagiez Highland Park, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: My friend and I had a great time at Laguna Seca. We got in and out of the track very easily on Saturday and Sunday using the “motorcycles only” entrance. Bike parking in the sloping dirt lot was a little slippery and a few bikes fell over, but it was nice to see some people handing out pieces of plastic to set kickstands on. The preferred parking lots as well as some of the closer lots did not look full at all, so I think we could have parked closer, but we’ll know better for next year. It was hot. The water situation could have been bad until halfway through Saturday morning when all the concessions changed their prices from $4 a bottle to $1. Also at the end of the day Sunday they were giving away water by the bridge over the front straight. The food and drink people did a great job. The Corkscrew was a good place to see the race, but when we were up there Saturday it did not seem like the PA was working, so we watched the MotoGp race from between turns 4 and 5. The speakers were working and we could also see the live feed on the big screen. Very cool. I wish they had some stands and a big screen at the Corkscrew. Finally it was incredibly easy to buy souvenirs this year. The large air-conditioned tent had everything you could think of and then some. I spent too much money in that tent! They were well stocked and the checkout lines were short. Hey where was BMW? No display at all. What’s up with that!!? Also the one Yamaha Champion I was looking for, Wayne Rainey, did not show up Sunday for autographs but Scott Russell and Eddie Lawson did so it was still good. Starting old racebikes is now a tradition at the Honda tent. I do miss the sound and smell of those two-strokes! Even in 100 degree heat, we got goose bumps when they started Freddie Spencer’s old GP bike. We will be there again next year. I don’t care how much the hotels charge. At least ours had a free buffet Friday and Saturday night, which was pretty good. The ride home today was easy and weather was perfect along the coast. There were at least two crashes that we saw on Highway 1. One was a transport. Lots and lots of bikes of all kinds on the road and most people were acting pretty responsibly. Steve Bishop Rancho Santa Margarita, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: This was about my tenth trip to Laguna Seca, and aside from the oppressive heat it was one of the best events. As the holder of a 3-day Priority Camping turn 9/10/11 ticket, I queued up in a long line at the main entrance, and it took an hour to slowly crawl to the staging area and set up camp Wednesday night in the Wolf Hill parking lot. Thursday morning we were allowed into the track campsites to claim our spot. This situation was really no better than last year, and needs to be addressed. On a positive note, the camp facilities were much better than previous years: Many more toilets and the new showers were ample and superb, with no lines. The vendor area was also vastly improved, with a second official souvenir shop and many more food vendors. Traffic was also much improved, with campers actually able to leave for breakfast in town without sitting in long lines returning to the track. The racing was excellent but Sunday’s schedule was lacking, even before the AMA events were revised. All in all an excellent weekend and a big improvement over last year. I’ll return with great anticipation for the 2007 USGP. One last note: Every year the number of tent campers dwindles as the RV takes over the camping areas. Not a problem except for the round-the-clock noisy generators and generator exhaust. Oh, but that air conditioning must have been nice, as I sweat in my sweltering tent”¦ Michael Ludes Elk Grove, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: First, a big thanks to Yamaha for inviting us to the Weekend of Champions event, it’s always a first class show that they put on for the fans and for us old Champions, it’s a nice change to be at Laguna instead of Daytona. The Aquarium party was awesome, hey, where else are you going to see Fabio and Rossi in the same night! Felt bad for the long lines at the bus stop, it took my family and I an hour to walk to the Wolf Hill parking area, but only 15 minutes to drive back to Monterey, so that’s a great improvement over last year. The GP itself was great, but we lost the track announcers on lap 3 or 4 and then the big screens went blank, and I thought here we go again, well, at least they got the national anthem right this time! But the sound and picture returned and all was OK, except for Rossi’s engine and season anyway. Nicky, KRJR, Hopper and Colin made us American racers very proud! See you there next year, and ride safe! Rich Oliver Auberry, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: You know that great vacation you had that was marred, if not ruined, by an awful flight or drive home? That’s what happened on Sunday at MotoGP. Obviously, the MotoGP race was a blast to watch and I consider myself lucky to have seen Nicky pass Marco in three, even if it was due to fading rubber or an error on Melandri’s part. And, yes, the heat was punishing, that’s for sure, but, like they say, everybody complains about the weather, but nobody ever does anything about it. That being said, getting out of the track on Sunday afternoon was an absolute nightmare. Unlike another reader who posted here, I didn’t plan ahead and wound up standing in the shuttle bus line (in nearly 100 degree heat) for over four hours–and there were thousands of people in line behind me. I can’t even imagine how long they waited. The problem was obvious and simple: They were loading one bus at a time. Consequently, something like 45 people (the capacity of each bus) could exit about every five or six minutes. Even by the most generous of estimates, it would have taken at least four days to get all of us out at that rate. The really maddening part of this was that we could see dozens of empty busses lined up to pick us up. This concept of there not being enough busses that I’ve read in a couple other articles is complete gibberish–there was a line of empty busses at least half a mile long, just waiting to get to the one bus stop to pick us up. Fortunately, the police eventually took over and started loading several busses at a time and then the line flowed, since, as I said, there were enough busses to get all of us out. Unfortunately, it took hours for that change to happen. What did go right amongst this mess were the efforts of Coca-Cola. They did an absolutely fantastic job of handing out free water to everybody waiting in line, and, by doing so, fended off an untold number of cases of heat exhaustion (including mine). And I don’t mean just the executives at Coke who decided to let Dasani fly for free, I mean the young men and women working at the track who repeatedly walked up and down the line making sure everyone had enough water, free of charge. It do think fixing this year’s transportation problems are not only simple, it’s in the best interests of everybody involved, including Laguna Seca, MotoGP, the fans, and, of course, the unsung hero EMTs who treated the many victims of heat exhaustion last weekend. So, I’m confident that next year we will see many busses picking up at many locations and our MotoGP Sunday will be just that and nothing more, nothing less–just the way it should be. GH, Fremont, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: We are writing to express our deep disappointment that, after a quarter century of faithfully attending motorcycle road racing events at Laguna Seca, we are forced to end our long and cherished tradition of an annual pilgrimage to Monterey. At the 2006 U.S. MotoGP, it became painfully obvious that the MotoGP has become little more than a bastion of corporate privilege and that race fans come last to the organizers and sponsors of this event. We can no longer support the event with our ticket money or the city of Monterey with more of the thousands of dollars we have spent there over the years as loyal race fans. This year, race fans were completely “dissed” by SCRAMP. Fast to trumpet the millions of dollars spent each year on track improvements and amenities for the teams and their corporate sponsors, SCRAMP has done nothing on behalf of the 100,000 race fans who pour millions of dollars into the local economy during Monterey’s biggest annual event. Indeed, conditions for average spectators have deteriorated to the point of becoming simply intolerable. In 2006 we were subjected to the following indignities: Inability to purchase ticket upgrades. Although advertised to the general public, none of the upgrade options were actually available for purchase by the general public. We attempted to purchase upgrades flag room, pit suites, hospitality tents, whatever we could within minutes of tickets going on sale many months ago, only to be told they were sold out. Obviously all such options were reserved for the “VIPs.” We were lucky, apparently, just to score simple grandstand seats. A traffic control scheme that made access to the event, and movement around the track, an unmitigated nightmare. For fans arriving on motorcycles: Excited to read that cars were being excluded from the track area and that motorcyclists would have preferred access, we arrived on our motorcycles only to discover that the exact opposite was true. Parking in the track area was in fact strictly reserved for the automobiles of corporate sponsors and their guests. Actual ticket-buying racing fans were forced to endure what might be mildly termed an ordeal to get in and out of the track. Motorcyclists your core fan base were relegated to the worst possible hell of a “parking lot” on a distant, steep, slippery grass and gravel hillside. Obviously the planners of this unbelievable and unconscionable arrangement have never ridden street motorcycles and gave no consideration to the dangers it presented. A member of our group dropped his bike trying to navigate this terrain one of dozens to suffer this fate. For fans arriving in cars: Those who rode the shuttle buses to the track fared even worse, especially late in the day when a half-mile-long line of people were forced to wait interminably in 100-degree-heat to squeeze through narrow pedestrian bridges to access the bus boarding area. For all fans: All fans were forced to funnel through single narrow pedestrian bridges (the start-finish bridge in and out of the paddock area and the temporary bridges, one for bus riders and one for motorcycle riders, over Barloy Canyon Road) to get in and out of the track. The start-finish bridge has always been a bottleneck, but this year’s “traffic control” scheme resulted in the worst congestion we’d seen in 25 years. In past years, shuttle buses loaded and unloaded passengers outside Turn 4; whoever thought that 100,000 people should instead be funneled over narrow bridges above the paddock area should be fired! Compounding the nightmare were the event personnel who were clueless when it came to directing motorcyclists how to find their way back to their bikes parked in exile in the next county. A four-hour delay starting the show. The first race was scheduled to begin at 10:30 and most fans had arrived by 10:00. With no credible explanation, all events were cancelled until nearly four hours later. For 4 hours fans were made to suffer through shadeless triple-digit temperatures without a single motorcycle touching the race track. Unsafe (and insulting) eating and sanitary conditions. While waiting 4 hours for the show for which we had paid a $70 admission fee to begin, we visited the infield food court area, where incredibly two rows of fragrant porta-potties were lined up right next to the tented food pavilion. Worse yet, trucks backed up to pump out the sewage right at lunch hour, producing a stench that forced people to flee from one of the only shaded areas provided for fans. What were you people thinking? Two of the three permanent restroom facilities we attempted to access were “out of order,” leaving no option for hand washing. We could not find a single operable water tap. Reserved grandstand seating not clearly marked. For the umpteenth year in a row, we had to take a wild guess as to where our grandstand seats were supposed to be located. Has it ever occurred to SCRAMP to post signs to direct people to their designated sections? Audio and visual failures in the paid grandstand area. After spending $70 for the “privilege” of entering the grounds and baking in the grandstands, the audio and jumbotron feeds both failed for several laps during the main event. The bottom line was unmistakably clear to us: This event is now strictly about corporate hospitality and privilege, and the average race fan no longer matters to FIM, AMA, SCRAMP or, apparently, the city and county of Monterey. This is no longer a fan-friendly venue or event. Millions have been spent building garages and luxury suites and accommodating corporate hospitality, but not a penny has been spent on accommodating paying fans. No improvement in access to the event (just the opposite, as noted above). No new or improved bridges over the track to facilitate the flow of pedestrian traffic. No new shaded areas provided for respite from the sun. No terraced seating built into the hillsides, as Infineon Raceway has done (you could learn a lesson or two from Infineon, whose improvements have resulted from their association with NASCAR the one racing series that puts fans first.) No new grandstands. No new or improved sanitary facilities. Not even a few lousy signs to direct fans to their grandstand seats. This year our party totaled seven people. Collectively we spent over $4,000 on accommodations, meals and other purchases in Monterey. Collectively we are angry and have decided to end our annual visit to your event and your city. We sincerely hope that other race fans similarly express their protest and outrage. Roger J. Purdy, Carmichael, California for: Gregory Abrams, Oakland, California Gary Guarneri, Alamo, California Steve Goodin, San Rafael, California Ronald Boles, Petaluma, California Judith Boles, Petaluma, California Courtney Boles, Santa Rosa, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Had a great time at the races. Parking, food, shopping all improved. I hope C. Ulrich is feeling well. Saw him not too long after Superbike qualifying on Saturday and he didn’t look so good…yeah…it was hot on Saturday. Wish the RoadracingWorld race crew all the best for upcoming rounds…Go Ulrich!!! Wayne Walker Grover Beach, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I first attended the motorcycle races at Laguna Seca (now Mazda Raceway) in 1973. First the gripes about this year. Four freaking dollars for a bottle of water! There were four of us, two guys & their 12 yr olds. Over the intermittent sound system, they suggested one bottle of water per hour. We arrived Friday @ 8:30 am. & left at 6:30 pm. Ten hours, four people, $4/btl = $160.00. and that’s just the first day. Add that to the beer and we were in financial insolvency. Whoa baby, how do we get the H20 concession for next year? We first noticed something amiss Friday morning during MotoGP practice when the rear wheels were pogoing just before the Red Bull bridge exiting the corkscrew. Also, the Ducatis seemed to be pushing the front end entering the corkscrew. We stuck around Friday evening and Looked and Listened to Doug Polen as he provided the commentary for an excellent track walk. The seams in the pavement looked to numerous to be just a mistake. What is up with them? The track was coming apart in three sections that we saw. The outside edges of some of the corners did not appear motorcycle friendly at all and in fact would be downright dangerous with the stair steps and horizontal gutters. In particular the outside of Rainey corner looked bad, unless the rider who didn’t stay on course was supposed to become part of the stunt show. We witnessed the accident at the beginning of the Superbike Race and were wondering who it was that was removed by ambulance and how are they doing? Isn’t this the second engine Valentino has lost this year? We thoroughly enjoyed all of the great racing. MotoGP bikes sound so fine. Even when idling, the hair on the back of your neck stands up. The food was great, beer cold and women hot. All the vendors we visited were interesting and informative. Kenny Roberts running at the front was great! Has everyone forgot he was World Champion? We were cheering for Colin, but we very happy Nicky won. Too bad Valentino broke, but even he couldn’t have caught up! It takes no effort be critical, whine or complain. I think the organizers, the volunteers and all the participants made improvements over last year and if they’ll do it again, the United States will have a premier MotoGP we can ALL be very proud of in 2007. George Peckham Houston, Texas FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I had a good time, much the same as last year. I camped and had no traffic problems. The camping was very full, with the better spots gone before Friday 7am. I can’t guess when the best spots went. The camping facilities where good. There were noticeably fewer people. The track facilities were very good. It was the first time I have ever noticed any money spent on making the fans life better. If the Laguna Seca people could just do what Infineon did to the hill sides. Why can’t they get the scoring tower to work half the time? MotoGP is TOO LOUD. The AMA got the shaft on track time and everything else. The AMA should stop going. If they can’t do that, then only send the Superbikes and FX then pretend to be 250s and 125s. David W. Funk Pleasanton, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Laguna Seca was great! It was hot, but I had a great time. There should be a loudspeaker in the corkscrew because you don’t know what’s going on when you watch the race from there. Hat’s off to the guys driving the golf carts and ferrying people up that steep hill to the parking! There was plenty of places to eat, plenty of merchandise to buy, plenty of restroom facilities, plenty of beer and great margaritas. It didn’t seem too crowded except maybe an hour before the GP race and an hour following the GP race. I sat in turn 11 right in front of the grid. The MotoGP show was great! I can only assume that they have done a great job in resolving the problems from last year. I can’t compare because I didn’t attend last year. The key is getting there early and using sun screen. Bill Stroup Oklahoma City, Oklahoma FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Reports that buses were moved away from the pickup point Sunday afternoon are false. Approximately 60 buses were lined up beginning just below the pickup point. We were delayed in deploying by cross traffic from campers & motorcycles exiting and traffic routed towards VIP area. All turning and exiting traffic blocked the shuttle route. Buses sat within sight of lines for two hours, waiting to be let up the road. I was driving one–rather, I was sitting in one, moving up the bus line a few feet at a time for hours. We were there, we were ready. We were made to wait for everyone else to move before us. Poor traffic flow pattern planning made for tremendous delays. It was a huge relief when Sheriffs and SCRAMP took over traffic flow, they did a great job. S. Hawley Driver, Royal Coach San Jose, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I attended the GP’s at Laguna back in the early 90’s as well as all 3-days this year and last year….things seemed to go much smoother this year. I rode in this year and last so I didn’t have to deal with the traffic and the long lines waiting for the shuttle bus….thank God! And had no problem with with getting a hotel room. The larger souvenir tent was a great idea, I was in and out of there in no time, after spending close to a half-hour in line last year. The food lines seemed much shorter this year as well. I knew it was going to be hot so I was prepared for the heat. This was the first time I bought grandstand seats (turn 4) and will do the same next year as well. My only complaint is the track announcers. I don’t mind Brian Drebber, but the other two guys got on my nerves after a while prior to the MotoGP starting. They were trying a bit too hard to pump things up and it got very annoying after a while. The large screen lost its video feed for a few laps during the motogp and the PA went out as well. And the worse part, after the race while the screen is showing the press conference, why couldn’t we listen in? Instead we get some obnoxious woman telling bad jokes and telling us how excited we should be about the “Red Bull Mig 17 Flyover”? That was a nightmare listening to her dribble. And yes, I can’t wait until next year! Steve Theroux San Rafael, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: After last year I decided that 4 wheel transportation would not be an option for the 2006 Red Bull USGP. I was still nervous about the organization of traffic flow even on 2 wheels. I was pleasantly suprised on both weekend days at the event that the motorcycle only traffic plan was pretty much flawless. I NEVER had to stop or drop a foot on the pavement entering or leaving the track which is really impressive. This made the experience much more enjoyable and I applaud SCRAMP for not allowing any cars into the premises. Unfortunately it sounds like the motor coach shuttles to the Cal Atate lots were a total disaster which is unfortunate but hey- the writing was on the wall after last year. The event itself was super with plenty of food and souvenier venues a big improvement over last year as well and the free water on Sunday was a wise idea although some still suffered from the heat and likely too much beer. My only true complaint was the fact that the jumbotron in the T4 grandstand carried no post race audio for interviews or recaps on the race or anything- and quite frankly the “play by play” is better suited to the MOTOGP regulars like it was last year…. the AMA crew, sorry guys, were really not that great calling the GP race on Sunday. Buff Harsh Atlanta Georgia FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I have attended the motorcycle races at Laguna for the past seven years running and while there have been many improvements over the years, and for which I give them high marks, the shuttle system on Sunday was atrocious. We left from the Corkscrew after the MotoGP race and made for the shuttles at 3:15pm. We did not get to our car until 6:25pm. The first stall in our departure was the front straight bridge which took about 45 minutes to get through the bridge over the front straight starting at the main souvenir building between turns 3 and 4. This has always been a common problem area and it is still a snag in getting out on a Sunday afternoon. While slowly shuffling towards the bridge, the folks in the box seats over looking turn 3 were kind enough to toss bottles of water down to people and to spray the crowd with improvised water sprayers to help keep people cool. We thought we were finally past the worst of it once we came out the other side of the bridge until we hit the queue for the shuttles. It then took 2 hours and 20 minutes to get on a shuttle and I would say we were closer to the front than the rear of the queue that formed for the shuttles. Needless to say, we and the horde of other people in line with us were not happy campers. People with small children had to struggle with tired restless kids and several times over the wait the crowd grew unruly, but fortunately, it never grew to riotous levels. Or at least up where we were standing things remained mostly calm. There was a massive queue behind us and I know their wait was even longer, so who knows how their patience held up once we finally made out escape. I don’t hold Laguna accountable for the weather, but the manner in which people had to wait for buses was beyond the pale. No offence to the racers after the MotoGP race, but my experience over the years is after the main event is over, at least half, if not more, of the crowd is heading for the exits. The folks at Laguna should be aware of this and have been prepared to allow people to cross the track after the MotoGP event and had more shuttles on stand by. They could have recruited Monterey Transit to provide additional buses for Sunday afternoon to aid in getting people moving. To their credit they were handing out free bottles of water, but there could be have been more information forthcoming about what was going on, what the cause of the delays were, and what they were doing to try to improve the pace of moving people out from the track, assuming they were doing something to improve the situation. Frankly, it appeared not much was being done to alleviate the problem and that was what was so frustrating to everyone standing in line. Based on the comments I heard while milling around for over two hours waiting for a shuttle, there are a lot of people who are not coming back because of the shuttle experience. There was a group from England near us and they commented getting out from Donington after the MotoGP race was never as bad as was the wait for the shuttles at Laguna, and from what I have read in the British motorcycle magazines, that is pretty bad. I know I and my family are seriously considering not attending next year. As a rabid motorcyclist and fan of motorcycle racing I am willing to put up with a lot to enjoy my passion, but the headaches at the end of the day are starting to not be worth the pleasure of the live racing experience, particularly when I see the the fatigue in my family who are kind enough to put up with my enthusiasm, with whom I enjoy sharing the racing experience, and who normally have an enjoyable time at the events. But the experience of Sunday’s shuttle wait was an experience they should not have to suffer through and, unfortunately, we will not soon forget it… Roger Anderson Oakland, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Good News Getting in and out of the track was much better than last year! Was it because there were less people? Less people in the paddock and vendor row? On Cannery Row, the crowds seemed to be less as well. From a spectator point of view, this was a better year than last, other than the scheduling change on Sunday. Bad News The organizers need to make this a four day event or split the AMA and MotoGP into two different weekends. If you did not run more than one class, your track time was very limited. Actually it was f–king ridiculous! Being the most expensive event for the year, with the least amount of track time, this does not make sense to me. I’m glad the higher ups decided give us some canopies (which could not be popped up until after the stunters got done doing their tricks after MotoGP qualifying) for the Superbike race to protect the crew from 95 degree heat. From a team that came to compete, the trend seems to be; kiss minority MotoGP ass, and screw the majority-AMA riders. Yes all of the AMA teams had to deal with it like we did, but does that make it right? Also, how could Laguna Seca screw up the track as bad as they did? The paving job was done by amateurs. Larry Pointer Rojo Racing Santa Ana, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: 2005 traffic was a nightmare. Shuttle service into track this year was great. Shuttle out of track Friday & Saturday was OK but Sunday was bad. Pedestrian flow was much better this year as were number and placement of vendors. Had a bad experience with parking a car with a P2 Blue parking pass purchased by Michelin, an Event Sponsor. Although there was PLENTY of parking at the Bottom of the hill in the DORNA parking area, I was told I could not park there and the P2 lot was full..3 parking areas later(each one I went to had just become full!) I finally was parked on top of hill behind helicopter landing pad….quite a walk from the Michelin Transporter in the Paddock where I was working. Each and every person I asked as to why I had to go through all of this had the same reply: “I don’t know, I’m just a volunteer.” Scot Tway Twin Cities YamahaMichelin Auburn, Alabama FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: This year’s event had some pluses and some minuses. Plusses: more porta -johns, plus constantly cleaning them throughout the day A plus. Less traffic. The minuses: The new schedule Sunday was not announced so people were waiting out in the hot sun for the supersport race. Water was $4 a bottle, 17 people were ambulanced out Saturday. A certain SCRAMP nazi verbally abusing campers. I’d also like the option to buy memorabilia of racers other than Nickey Hayden the Forrest Gump of MotoGP. Mike Durel Myrtle Point, Oregon FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I’d like to add a little to the letter written by Roger Purdy about the headaches at the track. One thing that really stuck out this year was all the improvements in corporate hospitality, none of which made it to any of the fans. Laguna Seca has always been a poor track to spectate on but for all of the money spent this year, the fans gained nothing. The track still cannot offer free and public tap water to anyone or real bathrooms. Instead you have a situation where thousands of fans hike all over the track with no shade, in sweltering temperatures and simply can’t afford the water they need to cool down. I noticed a couple comments about the generosity of Coca-Cola lowering the price on water and then giving it out but, as you would imagine, they missed the part where Public Health told them to do it or they’d shut the event down since the ambulances were rolling non-stop. The real low point came when all the people who’d been drinking beer rather than water – because it was cheaper of course – started passing out with heat stroke. On the parking, there was plenty of parking, it just wasn’t for sale. Anyone who purchased a Red-2 motorcycle pass or a parade lap pass was golden. For the shuttle busses, everyone leaves out the part where they came to the track, which was absolutely awesome. Zero delays and top-notch volunteers guiding things. Then when everyone wanted to leave it became a nightmare as the volunteers were replaced by cops on bikes who thought they were loading prison buses. To all those people who saw dozens of empty buses waiting, you should’ve seen them lined up along the motorcycle route, where they endlessly waited for the Keystone Kops to allow them to load buses. And, those track crossings were a great idea, it was funny how they picked the most meaningless times to run them. Seth Georgion San Diego, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Starting with my compliments, The traffic plan made a huge improvement in getting in and out over all three days of the event. The issues of long lines at the bridge crossings seemed much improved as did the lines for food. Some work still needs to be done on some simple things. They spent millions on new buildings, but we can’t have a functioning PA, or mark grandstand seating areas with more than signs that say “A” and “B”. How about something that says seat numbers “X” through “XX” at each grandstand entrance? How much can that cost? My one true complaint was the insult of having drinking fountains outside of turn 4 and at the restrooms in the vendor area, but not having them turned on. There obviously was water available, as both had water spigots nearby that everyone was using to fill water bottles and Camelbacks. This I believe is simple greed forcing us to buy water in 100 degree heat, and then not thinking to turn them on before numerous fans suffered heat related illness. This borders on criminal. Jim Fisher Anaheim, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: The riders were extremely accessible, with normal paddock passes my daughter and I got photos and autographs from: Colin Edwards Makoto Tamada Carlos Checa Sete Gibernau Randy De Puniet John Hopkins Dani Pedrosa Casey Stoner Marco Melandri Shinya Nakano Loris Capirossi Alex Hofmann Nicky Hayden Chris Vermeulen And James Ellison Everything improved over last year. Good job SCRAMP! Nicky was impressive, but the “talk of the town” should be 20 year old Dani Pedrosa. First time at Laguna and first year in MOTOGP and finished 2nd! That kid is hot! Paul & Caroline Bartusch Chula Vista, California