Repsol Honda’s American World Champion Nicky Hayden will this weekend be gunning for a third successive victory in front of his home fans at the U.S. Grand Prix. The 25-year-old from Owensboro, Kentucky, will be determined to maintain his record as the only rider to have won in the MotoGP class at the Laguna Seca circuit in California. Hayden took his first ever MotoGP victory on the series’ return to Laguna in 2005 and won again last season on his way to the 2006 World Title.
Hayden has struck form just in time for his home race after shrugging off a very difficult first half of the season. The previous two races in the Netherlands and last weekend in Germany have seen Hayden back to his combative best, producing stunning rides to the podium after qualifying in 13th and 14th places respectively. If he can gain a better grid position at Laguna few doubt the American will be a contender for victory again in Sunday’s 32-lap race.
Hayden will celebrate his 26th birthday just eight days after the U.S. Grand Prix. If he completes the hat-trick of Laguna Seca victories on Sunday, it’ll be the perfect early birthday present as the World Championship heads into its four-week summer break.
Round 11 of the 18-race 2007 MotoGP World Championship will also give Hayden’s Spanish team-mate, Dani Pedrosa, the chance to follow up his dazzling victory in Germany on Sunday with another win. The 21-year-old’s crushing display last weekend, where he finished over 13 seconds ahead of the field, confirmed Pedrosa’s status as a championship contender, as well as the progress of the Honda RC212V and the enhanced performance of Michelin’s race tyres.
Pedrosa got his first taste of the tricky Laguna Seca circuit as a MotoGP rookie last year. Despite his lack of track knowledge, the Spanish sensation qualified fourth and finished second to Hayden in the race to complete a Repsol Honda one-two. Now lying third in the World Championship with eight races still to run in the 2007 season, it’s certain Pedrosa will be set on clawing back more points on championship leaders Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi this weekend.
And all concerned will be hoping for cooler conditions this year after the 2006 race was held in extraordinary heat with race day temperatures hitting 40 degrees and causing problems with the freshly laid asphalt. The track has been resurfaced once again for 2007 and at just 3.610km (2.243 miles) in length Laguna Seca is the shortest circuit on the MotoGP calendar.
The Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix weekend begins on Friday with two practice sessions, followed by a further hour of practice on Saturday morning ahead of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday begins with a 25-minute warm-up in the morning before the lights go out for the race start at 14.00hrs local time (23.00hrs CET).
Nicky Hayden – World Championship Position: 9th – 73 points
“It’s a big thrill to be going back to Laguna for my home race and I’m really looking forward to having some fun there. There’s actually a lot less pressure this year compared to last season because in 2006 I went to Laguna with a points lead in the championship and I really felt like I had to win that race or it would send out all the wrong signals to my title rivals. I was the favourite really and there was a lot of pressure to win. There will still be pressure, but I’m less of a favourite this time. I don’t really think the home advantage counts for much now. We’ve been here for two years and these boys can get the hang of the place pretty quickly – we’re not talking club racers here. Plus a lot of the home advantage used to be on the blind approach to the Corkscrew and they’ve changed that part of the track now. Still, I really like the circuit and I’ll definitely be giving it all I’ve got to get that third straight win in front of my home fans. It’ll be fun racing against my brother for the first time in a while too. Things have been tough this year and nothing’s gone real silky smooth, but we’ve had a couple of decent results in the last two races so I’m definitely going to fight for this one. We’ve had some improvements to the machine recently and I’ve got a better feeling on it than I did at the start of the season. The competition’s really strong in MotoGP and no-one’s here to make up the numbers but I feel like I’ve got nothing to lose now so I’m just going get out there and ride my hardest this weekend.”
Dani Pedrosa – World Championship Position: 3rd – 144 points“I’m happy to go straight to the U.S. Grand Prix because it means we can keep up the momentum we have from the win in Germany. This was a fantastic result for me and the team and I hope we can build on it. Last year we had a good result at Laguna Seca which was really positive because it was my first visit to the track. It was very hot too last year – even hotter than the race we’ve just had in Germany – and I hope we don’t get that weather again because it’s really tough to ride in these conditions. The track has been resurfaced again this year so we’re faced with a new bike and a new surface. This will give us plenty to do on the practice days, working out which tyres and settings are going to work best for the RC212V here. I really hope we can continue with the performance we achieved in Germany. The team and Michelin really did a good job there. Another win would be fantastic but we must simply focus on doing the best job we can. The Laguna track is one I quite like because it’s a good challenge in terms of riding and also bike set-up. There is an interesting variety of corners – some with banking too – which means it’s important to get a good machine balance between the higher-G corners and the flat ones. Let’s see what the conditions give us and look to repeat the success of last weekend.”
Laguna Seca 2006 Race:1. Nicky Hayden 45m 04.867s
2. Dani Pedrosa + 3.186s
3. Marco Melandri + 10.929s
4. Kenny Roberts + 11.941s
5. Chris Vermeulen + 27.439s
6. John Hopkins + 38.82s
7. Carlos Checa + 44.825s
8. Loris Capirossi + 48.526s
9. Colin Edwards + 53.228s
10. Sete Gibernau + 1m 06.279s
11. Makoto Tamada + 1m 11.941s
12. Randy De Puniet + 1m 14.407s
13. James Ellison + 1m 19.283s
14. Alex Hofmann + 1m 41.277s
15. Toni Elias + 1 lap
16 Jose L. Cardoso + 1 lap
Not Classified:Valentino Rossi + 2 laps
Shinya Nakano + 17 laps
Casey Stoner + 18 laps
2007 Championship Standings after 10 races:
1. Casey Stoner 196
2. Valentino Rossi 164
3. Dani Pedrosa 144
4. John Hopkins 103
5. Marco Melandri 97
6. Chris Vermeulen 93
7. Colin Edwards 88
8. Loris Capirossi 77
9. Nicky Hayden 73
10. Alex Barros 69
11. Alex Hofmann 60
12. Toni Elias 49
13. Randy de Puniet 40
14. Carlos Checa 27
15. Shinya Nakano 25
16. Makoto Tamada 23
17. Anthony West 20
18. Sylvain Guintoli 18
19. Kurtis Roberts 8
20. Michel Fabrizio 6
Circuit length: 3.610km (2.243 miles)
Lap Record: Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1m 23.333s – 2006
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