|
It's 5:30 Monday morning after the MotoGP at Laguna Seca and I have the fabled Pacific Coast Highway all to myself—a rare treat—as I roll south toward home. Actually that's not quite correct. I'm sharing the road with thick patches of fog, sleepy birds slow to take off, suicidal bunnies seemingly bent on Death by Dunlop and one good-sized Bambi that put our long-term Yamaha FJR1300's anti-lock brakes to a pretty good test. Now I know what a cowcatcher on one of those old steam locomotives felt like.
Worse, it's so early that nobody is open for breakfast. Big Sur is dark, ditto Ragged Point. Plan B, then. Pass up San Simeon (after stopping north of town to catch the elephant seals basking on the beach) and Morro Bay, making for San Luis Obispo and the Madonna Inn, home of the trippiest coffee shop on the West Coast (think Sinatra meets the Von Trapp family) and the best silver dollar pancakes since childhood. Or maybe it was just the 140-mile wait…
As you'll read in Kevin Cameron's October-issue RaceWatch, Laguna Seca had some issues this year, so much so that there was talk of the MotoGP boys boycotting. Thankfully, that didn't happen, but after the midpoint it really wasn't much of a race, with Rossi's anticipated late-race charge from behind not happening. Good for Nicky, though. This really does look like his year. He deserves it.
 |
| Now, exactly where did we park? A truly impressive armada of motorcycles parked on Wolf Hill for Sunday's big race. Official attendance figures weren't given out, but a good guess would be 50,000-plus. |
After last year's traffic fiasco at Laguna, complete with terminal gridlock and storm-trooper police tactics, the organizers tried something different. Bike-only traffic was routed through the old Fort Ord grounds to the back side of the track. Worked great, except that the required motorcycle parking lot on Wolf Hill was a good hike away from the track, especially in the heat and humidity that besieged Laguna this year. To get to the Cycle World hospitality tent took me about an hour, not helped by having to negotiate all three of the infield pedestrian bridges, log-jams of sweaty humanity.
Overheard during the 10-15 minutes it took to cross each bridge: “I'm not sure I like motorcycle racing's increased popularity. Look at all these people! Old folks, kids, celebrities. I liked it better when it was just a few Hell's Angels and a bunch of us on café-racers…”
Nobody seemed to complain about Pam Anderson's presence, though.
|
UNMAGIC BUS
Shuttle Diplomacy?
Running a world-class motorcycle event in hoity-toity Monterey is a tough, often thankless task. I can't imagine the industrial-strength migraines the myriad logistics must bring on for the organizing Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula (SCRAMP), especially with some of the town elders dead-set against the racetrack and spoiling for any excuse to shut it down.
After last year's inaugural event, there were complaints about spectator traffic clogging the surrounding roads. This year a total revamp was instituted, with bikes getting their own entrance/exit route and most car drivers required to park off site at a nearby college, then board shuttle busses for the ride to the track. Very few hiccups for bike riders, but apparently the shuttle-bus scheme needs a rethink, as reader Bill Pepoon relates:
|
“The organizers of the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix deserve the same treatment I received after the races on Sunday. Where to begin? After several hours at the track baking in 90-plus-degree weather, nobody had much patience or stamina. Yet SCRAMP volunteers sent us on a Byzantine “death march” away from the dozens of empty shuttle buses that were supposed to take us back to our cars. Instead, these imbeciles insisted on loading one bus at a time, and then waiting for that bus to depart before bringing another bus forward. Altogether, my wife and I spent three hours in line. The stupidity on the part of these volunteers was amazing. I watched people collapse from the heat but it wasn't until a gentleman in front of me called the Monterey Police to complain that volunteers finally came out and distributed a few bottles of water.
“If this is supposed to be the premier motorcycle race in the United States, then why are the fans being subjected to the whims of hayseed volunteers? My wife and I will never set foot inside Laguna Seca again, and I sincerely hope that (series owner) Dorna moves the U.S. Grand Prix to a more deserving facility.”
|
Tough words, and I would have been mad, too. Clearly, despite all good intentions the new plan wasn't a total success. USGP fans deserve better. Third year's the charm, Laguna?
|
|
