Honda Road Racerhead #26

There’s no shortage of road racing this weekend, with MotoGP in the Netherlands and World Superbike in the UK, but American fans already have their focus on next weekend—and not just because they like pyrotechnics. The Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix will be celebrating not just America’s 233rd birthday, but the fifth anniversary of Grand Prix road racing’s return to the United States, and the fourteenth GP to be held on American soil.

The on-track activities take place Friday through Sunday, but if you’re attending, you should consider showing up a day early. In a nod to the Donington GP’s Day of Champions, Thursday this year is officially known as the Day of Stars, and as with the UK event, it’s largely dedicated to the Riders for Health charity. For paying entrants, the day’s schedule includes a continental breakfast; a motorcycle tour of Carmel Valley wine country; lunch in the Turn 4 VIP suites with Randy Mamola, Wayne Rainey, and Don Emde; an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour of the paddock and pit lane; and motorcycle parade laps around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. In addition, Riders is holding an auction of signed MotoGP rider memorabilia, and the public is invited to attend and (hopefully) bid. (Last year’s auction was attended by several top racers, so it’s a great occasion to get to hang with your heroes.) For more information, visit www.dayofstars.org, and also check out our Between the Races interview with Emde.

In addition, Thursday will also be when the track hosts legends Rainey, Eddie Lawson, Kenny Roberts, and Valentino Rossi for the Superkarts race, which takes place at 3:30. It will be the first time all four world champions have gone against one another on the track before, and they’ll be doing so on very fast karts powered by Yamaha TZ250 engines. The event is free. In addition, the paddock will be open to fans from 1 p.m. on.

Finally, Thursday is also when many of the MotoGP riders and teams will be joining the media in a bicycle ride around the 2.238-mile track, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. It should be a great opportunity to laugh at us hacks and to check out Specialized’s state-of-the-art equipment at their tech trailer.

Obviously, there’s too much stuff to list going on over the rest of the weekend, but I’ll hit a few of the highlights here: Yamaha will be holding its Learn to Ride demo event, featuring TT-R dirt bikes, in the Yamaha Marketplace; Ben and Eric Bostrom’s Boz Bros custom-bike show will be on display in the Yamaha Marketplace all weekend; Ducati Island will have stuff going on all weekend (including Ducati-certified mechanics giving interactive demonstrations, plus Ohlins MotoGP-spec suspension components on display); and more.

You should also be sure to pick up a copy of the event program, for which Road Racer X is proud to once again be the official publisher (as we have since the race returned to Monterey in 2005). The souvenir program (that’s the cover at the end of this column) is always a keeper, and this one includes the most in-depth and up-to-date information you’ll find anywhere on all the teams (Scot Racing kept us on our toes with their last-minute squad changes), plus historical data and practical information on the race weekend. It costs just $10, and it includes a free copy of our brand-new August issue, which features Larry Pegram on the cover.

Also, be sure to visit the Road Racer X booth inside Turn 3, where we’ll have a great subscription special going on—anyone who signs up or renews gets a free RRX T-shirt! In addition, we’ve got free souvenir stickers for anyone who stops by.

Randy Mamola is one of the people I was talking about who is looking forward to next weekend. The former Grand Prix hero is skipping the Assen TT and is already here in California, visiting his parents up north. In fact, anyone who lives near Redwood City should stop by MDK Motorsports tomorrow afternoon, where Mamola will be making an appearance to raise money for Riders for Health (which Randy helped found). The event starts at noon and includes a barbeque and many prizes.

Following the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, Randy and his family are planning to spend most of July in America—or the Americas, more accurately. Part of the itinerary includes taking his family down to Costa Rica for a week.

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