Laguna Seca MotoAmerica/WSBK 2019

OK I admit, we slabbed it. Dad's riding plans and mine got scrubbed, and I invited my special lady friend, so we slabbed. But on the bright side we took my Twin-Turbo V6 AWD sport sedan and I spanked the corners on the Interstate in Northern California pretty hard. I also might have drag raced a Tesla near San Jose and spanked that too (street racing is bad, mmmkay?).

This will be pretty picture heavy because if you read my last Laguna Seca blog, this was a pretty similar experience just without the ride down there part. I'll focus on the human element of this trip, and as so my story really starts at a Black Bear Diner in Salinas, California...

As we walked in to the Diner I saw off to our right at an extended table the unmistakable uniforms of a privateer race team. After a quick check of the MotoAmerica website I elbowed my dad and said "That's Max Flinders and the Thrashed Bike Racing team." Dad said something like "Think they'd have a problem with me talking to them?" I said, probably not since they're privateers, and off he went. Dad bent their ears for a while and then I got to explain the differences between Superbikes and Stock 1000 to him later. This kind of exchange was pretty common all weekend long at the track as well. We visited Thrashed Bike the next day in the Paddock for pictures and more chit chat.

MotoAmerica  is the pinnacle of American Motorcycle Road Racing, but in a lot of ways its still just the pinnacle of club racing. In that regard, besides the top 10 factory backed riders in MA, you can go up to almost every other rider and or pit and say hi, and bend their ear about their adventure.

A few years ago a Junior Cup rider made a post on a Facebook group for Trackday riders about selling shirts to pay for a trip to Europe to race RC390 cup. I said what the heck and bought a shirt, then again in 2018. Meanwhile that rider has gotten past the Jr Cup and is now in the middleweight Twins Cup on an FZ-07r. I knew that Draik Beauchamp was going to be there, so I wore his 2018 shirt, walked up to his pit and said...

"Hi, I'm one of your sponsors!". They laughed, I laughed, and we talked racing with him and his family.

Of course we spent some time with our friends from Southern Oregon and New Zealand.

The food selection is pretty good at Laguna. They bring in a bunch of chain places like California Pizza Kitchen, and a bunch of food trucks for the fans of Mexican, Thai, and Indian. The beer is spendy, and one of these years I'll remember to bring my own (because they don't bother you about that).

Among others in the Vendor row we bothered the Shoei dealer about my Dad's dissatisfaction with their helmet (which they sorted out and now he's happy) and my Dad bugged the CHP motorcycle officers about how impressed with their riding he was. They have a parade lap session led by CHP guys on Harleys and they were hauling donkeys through the corkscrew.

A visit to Laguna isn't complete without going to Ducati Island and eyeballing the bikes parked there and on display. I sat on some Ducatis and further thought about getting one.

Of course we watched racing. Laguna doesn't have great placement of Jumbotrons, so you're mostly stuck watching the complex of corners you sit at. The grandstands like to reflect the sun in a way that will burn your legs. Seriously. Unfortunately the placement of the podium celebration this year precludes grandstand viewers from seeing it.

Photographing from the grandstands with a kit lens is tough.

Its easier to get a good photo during the victory lap.

This year Honda put on a lounge called the Honda Hangout. For the admission price of signing up for their marketing and answering their questionnaire you get free drinks, shade, and a big screen to watch (and a free hat and bag). I also won a shirt at trivia which turned out to be a girl's shirt, so I won a shirt for my SO. While we were there I bugged the hapless employees about the poor performance by Big H in WSBK and MA, and how they need to sort things out.

My special lady trying out the Honda Monkey at the Hangout

The importer of the Ohvale mini GP bikes RiseMoto had a display tent and also had kids on the little bikes showing off how cool they are in the lot. There will be a MotoAmerica Ohvale cup for little kids soon. We are behind the rest of the world in road racing because we don't start kids racing young, this is part of rebuilding our talent pool.

We talked to Keith Debrino (father of MA racer Andy) in the pits. Its neat to see a fellow Oregonian there.

Jeremy Coffey's (Washington) bike. Dad said it looked like a girl's bike.

I'm torn on what the caption this one. Either "My what a big radiator you have" or "She's Naked!"

The crowds there are in a way a who's who of the west coast motorcycle industry. I saw people I recognized from trackday providers to west coast road racers. Ironically our last meal on the road at a Diner in Willows California (home of Thunderhill Raceway Park, the happiest place on earth) we were seated and two guys sat in the booth next to us. A moment later I realized it was none of than Washington based Fly Racing rider Sam Verderico, who was happy to talk to us about the weekend and being a professional racer.

I'm a little torn between going to Laguna Seca next year and going to MotoAmerica at The Ridge Motorsports Park in Washington (much closer!), or both.