Steady T: MotoGP Laguna Seca

I can't think of a better way to celebrate our nation's birthday (other than getting drunk and blowing shit up) than a MotoGP race right here in America...Fuck Yeah! OK...maybe a World Superbike race might have been better.

Qualifyng was actually where all the real action went down. Stoner, Rossi, and Lorenzo took turns at the top throughout the session. With about 10 minutes to go, Lorenzo lowsided his Yamaha in turn 10, caught a scooter ride back to get his 2nd bike, and put in a lap that blew everyone into weeds. His following lap was even a touch quicker until he launched himself into orbit courtesy of another one of his epic highsides. Basically, he set the fastest lap, destroyed two bikes, dislocated his shoulder, and broke his foot all in the span of less than 10 minutes. Multitasking at it's finest. Moments later, Stoner (not wanting to be one-upped by Lorenzo)also highsided his Ducati in turn 3. On a scale of 1 to 10, Stoner's crash was about a 6 and Lorenzo's an 11. As the session expired, Rossi put in his fastest lap, but still ended up 2nd on the grid to Spaceman Lorenzo. Stoner started from 3rd. Homeboy Hayden put in a decent effort to start from 8th

So...the riders took their grid positions, our national anthem was butchered, the military jets flew over, and then it was game on. From 4th on the grid, all 75lbs of Dani Pedrosa went straight to the front followed by Stoner and Rossi. Dovizioso was in 4th and Elias in 5th. Spaceman Lorenzo got knocked back to 6th with Hayden a ways behind him in 7th. First time through the Corkscrew, and Rossi goes past Stoner pretty much the same way he did last year...minus the motocrossing. At the end of the first lap, Lorenzo took Elias for 5th. A lap later, Stoner went past Dovizioso and Rossi to take 2nd. Meanwhile, Little Pedro was slowly opening up a gap at the front. Sometimes I think they put things like 'scary monster chasing you' on his pit board, instead of laptimes, to spur him on. It seemed to be working.

Talmacsi was the first to go as he crashed out of last place...gifting a spot to no one. Capirossi was the next to go. Bye Loris. Toseland was awarded a ride-through penalty for making too good of a start. He ignored the penalty and was DQ'd. See you in BSB next year, James. Dovizioso was looking good in 4th until he jumped on the bandwagon and crashed out. I can't remember when Gibernau crashed, but he got more TV time than he would have gotten running back in something-teenth place. There...all crashes squeezed into one paragraph. Let's move on.

Pedro is still at the front followed by Stoner, Rossi, and Spaceman. Hayden caught up Elias and would soon put his Star Spangled Ducati up into 5th. Earl's boy done good. Stoner was looking solid in 2nd, but then remembered he was ill, and soon fell victim to both Fiat Yamahas. 5 laps to go, and Spaceman closed up on Rossi and was looking to get past. Into the last corner, Spaceman tried to put some sort of braking/stoppie/front wheel slide/jiggle/rear wheel slide/thingy on Rossi. Somehow, Spaceman didn't bowling ball Rossi and stayed on two wheels to finish in 3rd...hard as nails, considering his qualifying crash fest. Up front, Pedro got a little too comfortable with is gap. On the last corner of the last lap, Rossi showed Pedro a wheel and looked like he might get him on the brakes for the 1834th time. Rossi wasn't quite close enough, and had to settle for second. Stoner rolled home in 4th. Considering how shitty his first year on the Ducati has been, Hayden's 5th was some good stuff. So there it was...let's see what happens (and how much it rains) when we head back to Indianapolis in August.