The 2007 U.S. MotoGP Grand Prix
Part II - Photos From The Race Weekend
July 21-22, 2007
With the Monterey sightseeing adventures behind me, it was time to focus on getting some good photos over the race weekend - various practice and qualifying heats were run on Saturday, with the actual race happening on Sunday.
Most of the weekend was spent directly on the track where, thanks to my media credentials, I had access to get past the gate and directly on the track to obtain the best vantage point for taking photos:
The morning started however with a trip to the VIP tent for breakfast!
The food in the VIP tent was most excellent! Here's lunch:
The VIP tent had some very helpful, cheerful staff:
It was great to head in there for a nice break during the day:
The terrace offered a great vantage point from which to watch the race:
Since Tissot is the official timekeeper of MotoGP, I wore my Tissot T-Touch to the track:
For those of you not familiar with MotoGP, American rider Nicky Hayden (riding a Honda made motorcycle) is perhaps MotoGP's brightest star, and the two-time defending champion of the 2005 and 2006 MotoGP US Grand Prix - would Nicky make it a "threepeat?"
Tissot is also one of Nicky's sponsors:
This year, Australian rider Casey Stoner has taken MotoGP by storm on his Ducatti, and won the pole position at this event with an impressive 1 minute 22.292 seconds at an average speed of 157.925kph, or 98.121mph for the American audience.
Stoner won a special limited edition watch from Tissot for winning the pole, which was awarded to him by Tissot brand President Olivier Cosandier during a post-qualifying race press conference I attended:
I couldn't believe how young these guys are to be involved in such a dangerous sport! I kept thinking, "where are their mothers?!?"
Here are my shots from the final race. Here you can see at the beginning of the race, Casey Stoner was out in front, but barely leading Nicky Haden, with another American rider on the circuit, John Hopkins, in a close 3rd:
Unfortunately, John Hopkins got overly aggressive early on in the race in an attempt to cut off Nicky Hayden, and his bike went down, clipping Nicky in the process, and taking both riders out of contention. The ill fated accident happened right in front of me on turn 1 of Laguna - I was focusing on something else so my photo of the accident is a bit blurry - it happened in a fraction of a second and took me by surprise:
Fortunately, John Hopkins was OK, and got right back up on his bike and back in the race, though he and Nicky Hayden no longer had any chance of winning:
With Nicky Hayden effectively taken out of the race, Stoner went on to win the event. Here's a few more shots I got:
Given that this was my first MotoGP experience, I really didn't know what to expect, but the race was quite enjoyable - much more exciting than NASCAR in my humble opinion. Certainly the dangerous maneuvers of the riders adds to the thrill. It was announced this weekend that a 2nd MotoGP event will be raced in the US in 2008 at Indianapolis. It's an event I'm already looking forward to attending. Many thanks to Tissot for inviting me to 2007 MotoGP US Grand Prix!
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