World SBK-MotoAmerica | Laguna Seca | July 12-14 2019

Scholtz wasn't the only one who experienced the issue of different rubber on the track. MA Superbike was going out immediately after WSB just did 25+ laps (WSB sessions were longer). Many of the front running Superbike riders said the track just felt weird. This is not "heard around the paddock" it was right from the horse's mouth.

 

I got the chance to spend a little time with Kaleb and Garrett this weekend, as well as Andrew Lee. What a great group of down to earth guys who really love the sport. I was beyond pumped to see them all get wins this weekend.

During dinner on Friday, I was introduced to Andrew but I didn't figure out that it was Andrew Lee. After a few minutes I realized who I was sitting next to and I had to tell him Dude, I can't be hanging around with you- Mesa is my boy! He made sure to tell me he was leading in the points.

All of these guys work very hard at riding motorcycles, every damn day, glad to see it pay off for them.

 

The next time you see Andrew call him "Cunningham", he loves that!

 

Third highest attended WSBK race this season at 67k (across 3 days). Never feels like there are that many people there with the stands half empty.

 

Not sure if it has been brought up or not but the twins class... last year's fastest time would have been the 15th this year. I'd say competition has stepped up just a bit.

 

Is there a pro motorsports series that sells out anymore?

 

Monster Jam?

 

I've never sat in the stands at Laguna. No shade and not my favorite places to view. Usually there's room to sit but people just gravitate to the hills or under the trees in the corkscrew. They were packed at the '06 GP for sure though. Was a nightmare that year and damn hot, good thing Nicky won to make it worth it.

 

Mid-Ohio vintage days just a couple of weeks ago did

 

I was there and there were plenty of people. Maybe the stands weren't packed but they don't provide the best views

 

The population self selects because many people ride some distance to get to the race and people on ADV and sport touring bikes are more likely to ride a long distance than the average R6 owner. Or if you have multiple bikes, you take the comfortable bike, not the race-ish bike. Add in the demographics of who can afford a hotel room near Laguna Seca and presto, lots of ADV and touring bikes.

 

Rule changes also made all of the times faster everywhere this year.

 

The stands didn't seem half empty. The T4 stands were fairly full for the most part during races, the corkscrew obviously, the hillside on the otherside of the corkscrew had a bunch of people, the RV hillside was packed, the pits/consumer area seemed packed as well. Can't speak to the front straight as it was a bit of a walk to get to outside of the bustling area inside the track. DID YOU SEE THE PARADE LAP?! The front of the parade lap reached the back of pack - a million bikes seemingly. I even made the remark to the wife multiple times that there were a ton of people there and it was great to see that.

 

I'm not being obtuse, but what rules change benefited the bikes other than the SV. I know they got a bump in displacement but did the FZ get any allowances?

 

I don't know. I didn't reference any bikes. I just know the SV got more displacement and it has gone faster at every track. Still way down on hp compared to the FZ, but that's irrelevant.

 

I saw that. Its just hard to think of where all those people are. Say that half the figure was for Sunday alone. 30k people. 3k people in Turn 4 stands. Say the same for the grandstands. Another 3k at the corkscrew, and 2k along the hillside. 11k so far. Where are the other 20k hiding? Is my perception of crowd size that off?
Really, I'm just trying to imagine how empty Aragon was, with only a 24k recorded attendance.

 

MotoGP does really overshadow WSBK. They get near 80-100K on raceday at most of Euro Tracks outside of the UK, well when Rossi is riding.

 

As it should have been. Last year was weak. I would know since I lucked out with a podium. For the top 3, Chris, Jason, and myself had little to no experience at Laguna. I rode there one time prior on, coincidentally, a bone stock FZ-07 demo bike from Yamaha. I had never seen the borrowed FZ-07R that I raced until Friday morning at Laguna, and I only had 1 day on a different FZ-07R prior to that at a club weekend. A mechanical ruined my entire first practice session, I was racing GP shift for the second time ever, Dunlops for the second time ever, and the bike was sprung for someone 70lbs heavier than me. So, I had lots of excuses, haha! I fully expected the grid this year to smash our times from last year, and it would have been really sad if they didn't.

 

When is he ever not riding? Spectators still get counted when they leave early.

 

when he broke his leg, they said the attendance was down for the race he didn't attend, which was Misano, his hometown race.