Laguna Seca Raceway

*I put several links related to the discussion in, check them out for additional info.*

For us motorcyclists (and for many others as well) here on the West Coast, Laguna Seca is a "Mecca" for greatness!  Why will none of us be able to travel down there for MotoGP this year?  Personally (and this is very unofficial), I believe it's because of the large number of ignorant, whiny, shithead people we have in this world anymore.  Originally, this track was built in 1957.  That's 56 years ago and there was nothing around it for miles because as is usually the case, they built it out in the middle of nowhere.  Then the area starts to grow, quite possibly in part due to the racetrack, and people start building their houses closer and closer to Laguna Seca.  What happens next is the ignorance I mention, people start whining about the noise because they live too close to the track.  Really people?  There are many of us who enjoy the noise and living close would be awesome, get a hold of me and I'll be glad to take that house off your hands!!

Right here in little ol' Klamath Falls, Oregon, we once had a small paved racetrack that lots of people had stupendously good times on.  It didn't bring in lots of extra cash flow to the city, or travelers because it was just an itty bitty thing.  But it did offer enthusiasts a place to go play and have a fun.  It's been no more for a long time now because of houses built too close to it with people who are worthless in my opinion.  If you live somewhere and all of a sudden they start building a racetrack in your back yard and that's not your thing, you have every right to complain.  But if you move your dumbass next to a racetrack that is already there and being utilized, suck it the F*(K up!!  Your life is a result of the choices you make, if your unhappy with it, make better choices and don't use that frustration to take away privileges from others.  It's 100% up to you to be happy, SO DO IT!!  Be happy.

I'm hoping that MotoGP will be back to Laguna Seca in the years to come but until then I will continue to enjoy the motorcycle racing that does still occur at this legendary racetrack until the day the squeaky wheel keeps squeaking from their unhappiness enough to shut the track down altogether.  For us who enjoy it, keep supporting the track, the track events, and the communities that don't kick it out.

Thanks for listening  ;)

"Circuit of the Americas" host MotoGP

I for one am very excited to hear this.  Texas has been working for a while now to finish their newest racetrack called "Circuit of the Americas" and they've been doing a lot of hard work to keep it going at a good pace.  Initially, there were rumors of getting MotoGP to race there this year even, however, there just wasn't a sure enough completion time and it couldn't be arranged.  Now, on the other hand, the track is progressing wonderfully and an agreement has been reached.  Therefore, these great states of America will now have a total of 3 events of the worlds most elite motorcycle racers in the world.  This is exciting for the fact of popularity of motorcycles in America.

The "Circuit of the Americas" has pushed the excitement of World Class Racing since they started building their dream with a large focus on F1 Racing and MotoGP.  It's a great recipe really.  Why build an amazing racetrack without setting your targets on the worlds best and most popular racing events?  That being said, I would like to know how they're going to regulate the every day riders/drivers that are interested in taking to this new offering of adrenaline creating road circuit courses.  Is it going to be over regulated like Laguna Seca?  Not that the majority of us couldn't get their tires heated at Laguna Seca but the neighbors of our World Class California racetrack have complained/whined about the noise so if you want to take your baby onto the track your going to need stock exhaust or other exhaust (in some cases stock isn't quiet enough) that will meet the sound limit requirements.

Well, for now I believe their focus is rightly on the Worlds best but I sure hope that the surrounding areas don't have a lot of people that have a lack of understanding that there are thousands of people that can and will enjoy the track and respect the fact that at times you can have a little discomfort in order to provide the thrill to those seeking it.

Thanks for reading my thoughts.
~James

FASTEST

Fastest the Movie is out and ready for order.  I will be getting the movie in before the New Year and setting up a "Movie Night" for everyone interested to come and watch to ease the pain of not being able to ride.  The details are still unknown but I will update when I figure it all out.  :)

Until then, Head on over to their site to see a preview.  I'm excited to see it myself.

MotoGP 2011 ~ Eventful and Emotional

I was really hoping for more of a fight for the championship with 14 previous world champions all racing in this years MotoGP.  Instead, Casey Stoner stole the show and did an amazing job at securing the Championship for 2011.  However, that does not mean it wasn't an intense year in MotoGP.  There were lots of great battles to watch and it was obvious that these highly skilled motorcycle racers were pushing these bikes to the very edge.  Jorge Lorenzo showed us all why he was the Champion that Stoner had to take the title from, being one of the very few that could run with Stoner aboard his very potent Honda package.  Honda definitely showed their might throughout the season with every rider having amazing lap times aboard their Honda.

Watching these "superheroes" push their respective equipment to the limits is what makes it so enjoyable to watch, but it has inherent risks that presented itself in a horrible way this year.  Last season during the 11th round of the Moto2 race, motorcycle racing lost a very young and rising star in Shoya Tomizawa and this was the first on-track fatality at GP level since Kato in 2003.  And this year we lost Marco Simoncelli who was sure to make great things happen.  He was such a character, from his hair style to how he dealt with people.  On track he was unforgiving and extremely determined and pushed 120% at all times.  Sure to be a legend on the race field he is a legend in our hearts.  SuperSic's death came during the 2nd to last race of the season with only Valencia left to race and his Team was unsure of participation in any category.  However, they decided that the best way to honor Simoncelli would be to race and what an honor it ended up being.  Michele Pirro won the Moto2 race, very first win for him in the Moto2 class and dedicated it to Simoncelli saying, “After setting pole yesterday I just had to do well today. The conditions were really difficult for the race but I tried to stay focused and then Marco did the rest from on high. He was with me throughout the race and on every lap I was asking him not to leave me alone. It was a long 27 laps and being out there riding alone isn't easy. This victory is dedicated to his family, who are suffering more than anybody right now, to his girlfriend and also to the guys in the team. It hasn't been an easy year for us but a victory at the end of it is a nice tonic. We had a tough time after Malaysia but we managed to convince Fausto to come to Valencia and I am sure it was the right choice because it is what Marco would have wanted. Racing was his life and this was the best way to honour him and remember him.” Whether your a fan like me or not, that is pure awesomeness.

Also, Loris Caparossi wrapped up his racing career this year.  After a 22-year career with 328 races and 99 podiums under his belt has decided to hang up the leathers and retire from racing.  Today, I heard that he will still be working with MotoGP but instead of as a racer, he will use his extensive experience as a racer to assist in matters of safety having been appointed in an advisory role for safety in the MotoGP World Championship.  Also, in recognition of his contribution to the sport throughout his career, it has been requested to retire his number 65 from use in the MotoGP World Championship.

Now, with new regulations and MotoGP going back to 1000cc motorcycles we wait with heavy anticipation for 2012 racing season to start.  I'm very excited and I know that you are too, just admit it.

James

Motorcycle News/Stories

There was a great article written up in one of the Motorcycle Mags (I have it around here somewhere) about an amazing character in the motorcycle racing world.  He's not popular outside of the motorcycle world but I can say his name and find out if a person enjoys motorcycle racing and if a person doesn't know him than it's a safe bet that they aren't really into motorcycles as much as they should be (in my opinion haha).

Who the heck am I blabbing on about?  Guy Martin!!  He's got a great personality and a great track record but he has not yet been able to win a race in his chosen race format.  Hopefully, as your reading this you read his name and already knew what race he participates in and possibly a bit more about him than that.  But if not I'll tell you.  Guy Martin races in the worlds oldest and most prestigious, dangerous, amazing, crazy road racing event in the world; Isle of Mann TT.  It's the same place they held the very first Electric Motorcycle race event TTXGP.

There is a movie coming out this month that I will definitely be getting a hold of about the Isle of Mann and stars Guy Martin.  A preview:

And also starting this month, Guy Martin will have another TV show (he's had one other TV Show before) on BBC (hopefully on BBC).

The other story that I've already talked about but there is continuously additional stories is that of Marco Simoncelli.  What an impact his unfortunate incident has had on the world.  There is a man in Italy that has put "graffiti" on a wall in remembrance of SuperSic and has left a blank area for others to "sign".  What a great artist he is too, the wall looks great.

Also, MotoGP has a large wall at the Valencia circuit (Final race of the season) with Marco's number (58) on it and a space for fans to write their own message during their visit.  Another aspect I personally find very cool is that Sic's dad Paolo requested not a minute of silence but rather a minute of noise making.  And per his request, MotoGP will have a one minute of everyone revving their bikes and making noise.  AWESOME!!

It's unfortunate that there are going to be a few racers not participating in this race due to injuries but it's nice to see another American taking the place of Colin Edwards in this weekend race.  Josh Hayes has had a great year and I'm sure he's ecstatic about being Colin's fill in for this very emotional final MotoGP race of the season in Valencia.

Stefan Bradl also has an amazing final race to be excited about.  As long as he finishes 13th or better he will be the Moto2 champion  his rookie year in that class.  Great job Stefan.

And I guess I will just stick to one more "Story".  The images released for the new MV Augusta F3 675 looks amazing and some of the information on the engine and tech advances are very interesting to me.  I really like it and wish for a chance to try it out.  Here is a shot of it and a link to more information:

Thanks a lot for listening to my rambling.

James

RIP Simoncelli MotoGP's rising star

It was so extremely difficult to watch Marcos crash and I can only imagine how horrific it is for both Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi.  I got fairly emotional after seeing it and still have a hard time accepting that it really happened and wasn't just a bad dream.  Extremely unfortunate and definitely wish it didn't happen.

However, what really pisses me off is all of the talks and discussions of how it raises questions into the safety of Motorsports.  Many are saying that after the two separate deaths of both Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli that safety is of great concern.  Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!?!  I can understand many of the discussions of the situation with Dan Wheldon referring to the fact that the specific race that had many "Noobs" racing because of a current lack of skill required in an open tire race at a full out 220 MPH around the entire track.  But the instance involving Marco in the MotoGP race is nothing like that.  I'm glad they will be reviewing the incident but it's pretty simple to see that it was a freak accident and very rare.

It is very rare for these types of things to occur and it would be nice if they never did but if it were me, I would much prefer to lose my life in a pursuit of my passion over many other options that I hear about much more often.  Let's see, walking across the street and not being noticed, heart attack because I was too fat and lazy to keep myself healthy, getting cancer and not discovering it till it was too late.  SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT THE SAFETY SHIT.  It was a horrible incident but safety in both of these cases and throughout the motorsports world is handled very well and should not be under such scrutiny.

RIP to both of you amazing gentleman and may I have the pleasure to one day have a fraction of the success that you had in yours in mine or my children's life.  You were both special and I definitely will always look up to you.

James  

A Damaged Finger?

Big Congratulations to Casey Stoner in clinching the 2011 MotoGP Championship.  What an amazing racer he is and he definitely deserves the title.  Phenomenal race to watch as far as being dramatic too.  Got myself pumped up a bit.

Very disappointed in Jorge Lorenzo however.  It's difficult to believe that after hurting one of his fingers on his left hand that he couldn't still race.  I don't know all circumstances but just feel that the effort was lacking.  Part of me questions if he didn't simply puss out due to the fact that Casey Stoner has been able to consistently dominate him and attempts at taking back the Championship felt futile.  I surely hope not.  The idea of it just infuriates me.  Being a Yamaha fan as I am, I'm also frustrated with the misfortune of both Factory Yamaha riders being completely out of the race at Phillip Island.  Seems that Ben Spies was able to ride decently well after his fall but I'm sure the issue is the sustained race time.  Very unfortunate instances in both cases.

I was really expecting much better racing this year with the line-up but with Casey dominating so much and Jorge seemingly the only one to be able to stay somewhat close, I feel that we as fans have been slightly cheated.  Hopefully, next year with the change to 1000cc bikes will be a little bit more fulfilling on the side of competition.  It's an amazing sport and I'm hoping that others will catch on to that fact and the popularity rises and we can enjoy some great action filled motorcycle racing.

Excited to see how next week goes.  Goodnight.

James

MotoGP Crash caused by Irresponsibility

Just to speak with my opinions, I am very glad to hear the FIM gave Marquez the penalty.  He definitely was being a irresponsible jack ass.  The speed difference between Marquez and both other riders that were in front of him makes it very apparent to me and I'm shocked that his team tried to appeal the decision.  WTF!!!  The checkered flag means the racing is done. Not, get another good lap in just to make sure.  Having missed seeing a flag before on the track, I can understand if possibly he wasn't completely aware but that is nobody's fault but his own and should have accepted the penalty without further question.  It would be interesting to know if that was the case or what else was going through Marc's head just prior to the incident.

Here is the exact wording from the MotoGP site:
"Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol rider Marc Márquez will have one minute added onto his best lap time in Saturday’s qualifying session at the Iveco Australian Grand Prix, after being penalised by Race Direction for an incident involving Ratthapark Wilairot during the Friday morning practice session at Phillip Island.
Márquez and Wilairot collided at the end of the session once the chequered flag had been passed by both riders, in an incident in which Márquez crashed into the back of the Thai rider. After reviewing the incident Race Direction decided to hand Márquez the one-minute penalty.
In a statement the FIM said that Márquez had ridden in “an irresponsible manner, causing danger to Wilairot which is an infringement of Article 1.21.2 of the 2011 FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Regulations”.
An appeal was lodged by Márquez’s team, following which FIM Stewards confirmed the decision of Race Direction. The decision of the FIM Stewards is final."

The "Drama" MotoGP Race

This has been a tough year for a lot of great riders in MotoGP and has made for some interesting races but none so filled with drama as the Motegi race that occurred less than 9 hours ago.  Casey Stoner has been doing an amazing job this season on board the Honda machine that is a thorn in all other machines out there on the track.  I for one am a huge Yamaha fan and so this season has been a little painful watching Jorge Lorenzo ride absolutely brilliantly just to fall short of the current leader.  Also, being American, Ben Spies is my #1 racer to watch and he has been doing an amazing job as well but just shy of where I and I'm sure his entire team would like to see him.  Rossi on the Ducati is currently not working as well as they expected by this time in the season and appear to be more focused on next season which I believe is a good idea.

That all said, the Motegi race was a thrill ride of Drama led by "Dovi" who had the chance to lead the race after Casey Stoner managed to avoid crashing but ran off track.  I would have been thrilled and would have cheered him the whole way through if it weren't for the "false start" ride through.  Definitely feel for him for the way this whole season has gone for him.  Then add to his false start, Simoncelli and Crutchlow also had false start penalties to deal with.  That alone makes for a drama filled start.  Add to that the drama in Turn 2 where Rossi and Lorenzo come together and causes Valentino Rossi, who had a great pre race practice sessions, to crash out.  Rossi has had a very difficult season and after the practice sessions, this race seemed to be his best chance to do some real good racing.  Along with Rossi going out he brought along with him Ben Spies off track with him but Ben Spies managed to stay upright and rejoin the race in 17th position.  Barbera has a bad crash where he fracture his right collar bone.  Dovi has a beautiful run through the first few laps before he has to complete a ride through penalty which he follows with some great riding before crashing out later in the race.

Simoncelli manages to get back into 4th place, Dovi into 5th place and Spies into 6th place.  All making a great performance, after the horrible start, to finish in these positions.  Stoner gets up to 3rd place after his run off and Pedrosa manages the race beautifully to finish off the race as the winner with Lorenzo behind him not able to compete with his Honda.

If you haven't watched it yet, you should.  If you want, I will re watch the race with you here at Uncaged Motorsports. 

Have a Great day,  James

MotoGP Adding American Circuit

This is great news in my opinion.  It seems that MotoGP has signed a deal to add another American race track to the list of race locations.  We currently have two; Laguna Seca (only the MotoGP class) and Indianapolis (all classes).  And now we are adding one in Texas for all classes as well. 

Heres a link to the motogp site for this news!

What do you think?  Are you excited as well?

Now the interesting part of the whole article is the very end!  Apparently, the track isn't actually even built yet but it's expected to be done.  Seems scary to me but exciting still and good news for Americans and Great news for Texas.  Good job Kevin Schwantz and the rest of the people who worked hard to get this oppurtunity.

More information on the track can be found HERE and at their website HERE.
James

The best of the best

I had a difficult time thinking of a title for this post.  Whenever I'm talking to people about my interests, MotoGP is almost always mentioned and all too often the response is, "What is that?"  WHAT IS MOTOGP?!?!?  It's only the best of the best motorcycle racers racing 18 races in 13 countries and it may be difficult to tell just how much talent it takes to do what they do if your just watching it on TV because the speed isn't obvious.  But if you've ever ridden and tried to improve your cornering ability you'd know this stuff is amazing.  Could you imagine sitting atop a machine that is about the same size as you, going approximately 120 per hour while your knee (protected by a hard plastic) is sliding on the pavement?  Or how about 190 mph about 4 feet above the pavement with another guy right next to you doing the same speed, close enough to touch each other and not letting off the gas till the last possible second so you can get into the corner first?  That's what MotoGP is!!  :)
The just finished the last of their 'testing' before the season starts.  Honda is looking amazing this year.  All three of their factory three man team (usually each factory team is only 2 riders) are doing an awesome job.  Casey Stoner is such a great rider and now that he doesn't have to ride a Ducati he may have a real good chance of taking the championship once again.  Valentino Rossi (An absolute great) isn't going to be so hott this year but I wouldn't count him out of being in the top 5 still by the end of the season but it's going to be a challenge because the first few races I'm not so sure he'll be in the top 10.  Between his shoulder situation and having to develop the Ducati to truly be competitive, he's going to have a tough time.  If someone can do it, it's him.  And the man I will be hoping to see win, Ben Spies, is looking extremely good as well.  Add in Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, Nicky Hayden, and even Collin Edwards this year and we're going to see some stunning racing this year!  SO EXCITED!!!  This Sunday I finally get to watch the first race of the year and I may just piss myself with excitement.  :)

Here is a list of the races.

March 20th Qatar* (Losail)
April 3rd Spain (Jerez)
May 1st Portugal (Estoril)
May 15th France (Le Mans)
June 5th Catalunya (Catalunya)
June 12th Great Britain (Silverstone)
June 25th Netherlands** (Assen)
July 3rd Italy (Mugello)
July 17th Germany (Sachsenring)
July 24th United States*** (Laguna Seca)
August 14th Czech Republic (Brno)
August 28th Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
September 4th San Marino & Riviera di Rimini (Misano)
September 18th Aragón (MotorLand)
October 2nd Japan (Motegi)
October 16th Australia (Phillip Island)
October 23rd Malaysia (Sepang)
November 6th Valencia (Ricardo Tormo – Valencia)

Hang out with me this year, have a beer, watch some racing and be happy!  It's 2011 and life is way too short to let all the depressing, upsetting, deranged things that happen in life slow you down.  So, keep on the gas and always wear a smile.  Until next time, Yeehaw

James