I was in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico this weekend for a bachelor party. Which was great, except the entire time I was wishing I was at Laguna Seca instead. We only get one race per year here in the states (2 with Indy next year), and there is no place that I wanted to be more.
I got home on Sunday night, and the first thing I did was watch qualifying on Tivo, this was my first time watching qualifying, and I've got to say that it was pretty awesome. Just like the announcers said, the end was very exciting. But I should have spotted the bad omen when Hopper almost kicked over Carlos Checa for riding slow in the racing line during his best qualifying lap.
This set the tone for the American's in their home GP, as the two top American prospects both got off to a great start, but crashed into each other going into turn 1. This dashed both Nicky's chances of a hat trick at Laguna as well as his 3rd straight podium. Hopkins was robbed of his chance to prove he is worth all 5.5 million in front of his home state of California. Furthermore... It ruined the race for me on lap 1 turn 1 :-P.
Colin Edwards put up a fight for a few laps, seeming comfortable in 6th place, but he just didn't have the front end grip that he desired, and was passed by several riders eventually finishing the race in 11th place.
The top American rider of the day, was no other than Nicky Hayden's younger brother Tommy. He was in 9th going into the final turn, but was passed by Alex Barros and finished 10th.
I'll post up numbers as part two of the American Report later today or tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
The American Report Sachsenring 07-16-2007
Nicky Hayden (3rd)
Hell ya Nicky! For the second race in a row, the 2006 MotoGP World Champion topped the American report with another podium finish today in Sachsenring. Things weren't looking good for Nicky after a practice crash, an engine explosion on Friday the 13th, and a poor performance during qualifying (14th +.767). Nicky got off to a good start moving up the field quickly to 10th place. Things looked scary when Nicky dropped a few spots after some exhaust trouble, but he held on, and rode hard. It looked as if Nicky was going to make a charge with Rossi to the front until Rossi fell on lap 5 trying to pass De Puniet. Nicky stuck with it and made the Repsol Honda team very happy with two riders on the podium behind Pedrosa and Capirossi. With Laguna just one week away, Nicky had the following to say, "I think that the Americans fans now are starting to get behind MotoGP a bit... I just wanna go home, have fun, and see what happens". Nicky's 16 points for third was enough to leapfrog Barros in the standings where he stands alone in 9th 4 points behind Capirossi.
Colin Edwards (4th)
Rumor has it that Edwards relationship with the Factory Fiat Yamaha team may be coming to a close. In his favor, Rossi loves him as a teammate. But with 250cc champion Jorge Lorenzo looking to move to the premier class in 2008, Edwards may find himself without a GP ride. Colin did his best to swing things further in his favor with a very strong showing working his way from a qualifying position of 13th to an overall 4th in the race, and the second best showing from the Americans. Edwards scored 14 points, gaining 8 on Vermullen for in his battle for 6th in the championship.
John Hopkins (5th)
Hopper this week announced that he will be spending 2008 on board a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR as he signed a 2 year agreement with the factory team. Personally, I was dreaming about Hopkins on a Ducati as soon as the rumors started to spread, but with a rumored 5.5 million asking price, it appears Kawasaki was the most concerned of the factory teams with getting a top notch rider to show off what they've got.
As for the race, Hopkins qualified 5th, .177 seconds behind pole setter Casey Stoner and on top of the class of American riders. John then got off to a good start, riding as high as 2nd on his factory Rizla Suzuki. He put his heart into the race but complained of some ugly vibrations on certain sections of the track and felt that his 5th place finish was as fast as possible giving his bikes problems. Hopkins 9 points for 5th was enough to keep in 4th in the championship race but he lost 16 points to race winner Pedrosa. Personally, I couldn't be more proud of Hopper than I am so far this season. He has been consistently riding well, and despite losing some points to Pedrosa this week in his battle for a championship podium appearance, is still very much in the running. To top it all off, he and his girlfriend Ashley are genuinely nice people and deserve all the good fortune that they have been receiving.
Kurtis Roberts
Young Kurtis qualified 19th this weekend, but scored 4 points, doubling his total for the season.
Hell ya Nicky! For the second race in a row, the 2006 MotoGP World Champion topped the American report with another podium finish today in Sachsenring. Things weren't looking good for Nicky after a practice crash, an engine explosion on Friday the 13th, and a poor performance during qualifying (14th +.767). Nicky got off to a good start moving up the field quickly to 10th place. Things looked scary when Nicky dropped a few spots after some exhaust trouble, but he held on, and rode hard. It looked as if Nicky was going to make a charge with Rossi to the front until Rossi fell on lap 5 trying to pass De Puniet. Nicky stuck with it and made the Repsol Honda team very happy with two riders on the podium behind Pedrosa and Capirossi. With Laguna just one week away, Nicky had the following to say, "I think that the Americans fans now are starting to get behind MotoGP a bit... I just wanna go home, have fun, and see what happens". Nicky's 16 points for third was enough to leapfrog Barros in the standings where he stands alone in 9th 4 points behind Capirossi.
Colin Edwards (4th)
Rumor has it that Edwards relationship with the Factory Fiat Yamaha team may be coming to a close. In his favor, Rossi loves him as a teammate. But with 250cc champion Jorge Lorenzo looking to move to the premier class in 2008, Edwards may find himself without a GP ride. Colin did his best to swing things further in his favor with a very strong showing working his way from a qualifying position of 13th to an overall 4th in the race, and the second best showing from the Americans. Edwards scored 14 points, gaining 8 on Vermullen for in his battle for 6th in the championship.
John Hopkins (5th)
Hopper this week announced that he will be spending 2008 on board a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR as he signed a 2 year agreement with the factory team. Personally, I was dreaming about Hopkins on a Ducati as soon as the rumors started to spread, but with a rumored 5.5 million asking price, it appears Kawasaki was the most concerned of the factory teams with getting a top notch rider to show off what they've got.
As for the race, Hopkins qualified 5th, .177 seconds behind pole setter Casey Stoner and on top of the class of American riders. John then got off to a good start, riding as high as 2nd on his factory Rizla Suzuki. He put his heart into the race but complained of some ugly vibrations on certain sections of the track and felt that his 5th place finish was as fast as possible giving his bikes problems. Hopkins 9 points for 5th was enough to keep in 4th in the championship race but he lost 16 points to race winner Pedrosa. Personally, I couldn't be more proud of Hopper than I am so far this season. He has been consistently riding well, and despite losing some points to Pedrosa this week in his battle for a championship podium appearance, is still very much in the running. To top it all off, he and his girlfriend Ashley are genuinely nice people and deserve all the good fortune that they have been receiving.
Kurtis Roberts
Young Kurtis qualified 19th this weekend, but scored 4 points, doubling his total for the season.
Monday, July 2, 2007
American Report...
Nicky Hayden (3rd)
"Big thanks to my team, everybody over at Repsol Honda, Michilin, for not giving up on me. It's been a struggle this year, but hopefully we are getting warmed up, getting ready for Laguna, and hopefully we can be back up here every weekend and having fun. Thanks everybody for the help." Nicky Hayden, with his typical good attitude commented in his post race interview at Assen. Nicky moved up to a tie for 9th with Capirossi in the championship points race with 16 points (57 total) and his first podium finish of 2007. He really looks to be having fun on the track again and he put up some great lap times on Sunday to prove it. I'm looking forward to great things from Nicky for the rest of the season and hopefully for his bad luck to reverse a little bit.
John Hopkins (5th)
John, a bit disappointed from the sounds of his interview had another impressive race with the front pack after a great start and running part of the race in second. He passed teammate Chris Vermeulen to take the 4th spot in the champoinship race now twenty five points behind Dani Pedrosa for third. "All throughout the race the Bridgestones and the Suzuki were working awesome, I just made a couple of little mistakes and dropped through the field a little bit. I can honestly say though that I worked harder in that race than I have all year long." All that I can say is John, keep up that hard work. Your progress this year has been an inspiration and with Nicky's bad luck, you've giving us American fans someone to cheer for up front.
Colin Edwards (6th)
The Texas Tornado rounded out the front group this week in 6th place. His ten points kept him in 7th place in the title chase. It's good to see him near the front again, racing more like he did when he twice won the WSB championship and is 2nd all time in wins.
Kurtis Edwards (15th)
Kurtis scored the final (his 4th) championship point placing 15th upon his Honda.
Overall this was a great race for US fans and I'm really looking forward to seeing them, along with Nicky's brother in Laguna in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more American reports every race.
"Big thanks to my team, everybody over at Repsol Honda, Michilin, for not giving up on me. It's been a struggle this year, but hopefully we are getting warmed up, getting ready for Laguna, and hopefully we can be back up here every weekend and having fun. Thanks everybody for the help." Nicky Hayden, with his typical good attitude commented in his post race interview at Assen. Nicky moved up to a tie for 9th with Capirossi in the championship points race with 16 points (57 total) and his first podium finish of 2007. He really looks to be having fun on the track again and he put up some great lap times on Sunday to prove it. I'm looking forward to great things from Nicky for the rest of the season and hopefully for his bad luck to reverse a little bit.
John Hopkins (5th)
John, a bit disappointed from the sounds of his interview had another impressive race with the front pack after a great start and running part of the race in second. He passed teammate Chris Vermeulen to take the 4th spot in the champoinship race now twenty five points behind Dani Pedrosa for third. "All throughout the race the Bridgestones and the Suzuki were working awesome, I just made a couple of little mistakes and dropped through the field a little bit. I can honestly say though that I worked harder in that race than I have all year long." All that I can say is John, keep up that hard work. Your progress this year has been an inspiration and with Nicky's bad luck, you've giving us American fans someone to cheer for up front.
Colin Edwards (6th)
The Texas Tornado rounded out the front group this week in 6th place. His ten points kept him in 7th place in the title chase. It's good to see him near the front again, racing more like he did when he twice won the WSB championship and is 2nd all time in wins.
Kurtis Edwards (15th)
Kurtis scored the final (his 4th) championship point placing 15th upon his Honda.
Overall this was a great race for US fans and I'm really looking forward to seeing them, along with Nicky's brother in Laguna in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more American reports every race.
How about three Americans in the front pack?
Unreal race at Assen, I don't even know where to start. Hayden, that's it! PODIUM!!! So many congrats to the world champion, your real fans knew that it was just a matter of time! Hopkins!!! Did great on the Bridgestones, I know he is dying for his next chance on the steps, but what a break out year, he is making us U.S. fans proud. Edwards in sixth, with a big gap over Barros rounded out the front group, and how about three Americans running great? Gotta give a shout out to West showing his great potential in only his second ride on the Kawasaki. True shame that this race wasn't on TV as it made the F1 race seem like a waste of time ;).
Sunday, July 1, 2007
No MotoGP on TV?
Unless I'm completely blind, it appears that there was no TV coverage for the MotoGP race on Cox Cable or Speed TV. Personally, I think that is ridiculous! We only get one race every couple weeks as MotoGP fans, I can understand not getting network coverage, but not even on cable? If direct tv or some other company had coverage I'd love to know so that I can switch service :)
Fear not, I'm a freak, and I NEEDED to see the race, so I purchased the MotoGP.Com coverage. Once I'm done watching I'll give the full report.
Fear not, I'm a freak, and I NEEDED to see the race, so I purchased the MotoGP.Com coverage. Once I'm done watching I'll give the full report.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Free Motorcycle Gear!
All the details are not yet worked out, BUT... The first 100 people to register and make 10 legitimate posts in the MyMotoNews forum will be entered in a random drawing to win some pretty cool prizes. One entry per email/ip address. You cheat, you lose all entries.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
It hasn't been posted directly on this site yet.
The My Motorcycle News Blog is becoming obsolete! I'll continue to operate it, simply as a way to drive traffic to the new and improved motorcycle news webpage. I've added a bunch of functionality including a motorcycle forum. It is ok now, but it will get better every day, so stay tuned!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Looking for Motorcycle Artists
I'm looking for someone that likes to draw motorcycles, and wants some exposure for thier art. If you think this might be you, let me know!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Motorcycle News
Just a little teaser, to inform readers that a new version of MyMotoNews is already in the works, and LOADS more useful than the current incarnation. New version supports seperation of motorcycle feeds into sections, like Racing, Choppers, Reviews and so-on. It will allow for rating of feeds, searching of feeds (old and new), motorcycle message boards, gallerys, and more. I'm really excited, and it is still a ways away, but I wanted to share in my excitment with my loyal MyMotoNews readers.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
My Motorcycle News is BACK
After a rough day yesterday, it looks like your one stop shop for motorcycle news is back in business. Sorry about the all the trouble!
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