Eve of the “darker half” of the year
From our friends at Wikipedia; “Halloween has its origins in the ancient celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced sow-in or sau-an), which is 
derived from Old Irish and means roughly ‘summer’s end.’ A similar festival was held by the ancient Britons and is known as Calan Gaeaf (pronounced kalan-geyf). The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the ‘lighter half’ of the year and beginning of the ‘darker half’ and is sometimes regarded as the ‘Celtic New Year.’ The term Halloween, originally spelled Hallowe’en, is shortened from All Hallows’ Even – e’en is a shortening of even, which is a shortening of evening. This is ultimately derived from the Old English Eallra Hālgena ǽfen. It is now known as ‘Eve of’ All Saints’ Day, which is November 1st.”
OK, now that we’ve all had a bit of a lesson about the origins of the Halloween holiday, the saddest part of Wikipedia’s lesson is the part about “summer’s end” and the beginning of the “darker half” of the year. I think I’ve shared with you all a couple times that I really like riding the sport bikes this time of the year. A bit of coolness in the air and the fall colors make for some very enjoyable weekend jaunts.
After a week in Calgary, I managed to make it back to Indy Friday evening. The pilots on my Delta-Northwest flight even remembered to land in Minneapolis. Saturday turned out to be a bit damp, but Sunday started off cool but quickly warmed up to an ideal day for a ride south of Indianapolis to take in some of the fall colors.
One thing I did have on the agenda for Sunday afternoon was to watch the final rounds of the Superbike World Championship in Portimao, Portugal, and the Grand Prix of Malaysia at the Sepang International Circuit. With a win in race one and fifth in race two, Texan Ben Spies wrapped up his first World Superbike title and Yamaha’s first-ever title in this series in his rookie season. At Sepang, Valentino Rossi celebrated his seventh MotoGP World Championship and his ninth title overall with his third-place finish in the MotoGP event. Check out more race coverage at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com
With Ben Spies moving over to the MotoGP series on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team with two-time World Superbike champion and fellow Texan Colin Edwards, the 2010 MotoGP season should be pretty interesting with a pair of Texans two-stepping their way through next year’s series.
2010 Red Bull Indianapolis GP go on sale very soon, so be sure to get your seats as soon as they’re available. When asked why you should get them on the first day, Colin Edwards said; “The earlier you get it, the earlier you can plan it and get the party started!”
With some additional business travel the next couple weeks, it looks like the two-wheeled toys are about ready to be tucked away for the “darker half” of the year, so enjoy your Halloween festivities this weekend, and I’ll see you all here next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.
Greg
The daily grind grinds on
It’s only been a week since the second running of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 30, 2009. A year ago, I titled my post-race blog, “The Calm after the Storm,” and lamented about how the following week kind of felt like the day after Christmas. Well, it still does!
With the Ducati track day at Putnam Park Road Course on Monday, last week ended up being a shortened four-day week. With Labor Day last Monday, I’ve got another short week to help get over the post-Indy GP blues. However, there was plenty of motorcycle racing on this past Sunday to partially sate my “need for speed.”
The 13th round of the 2009 MotoGP championship, the Gran Premio Cinzano di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, took place in Misano Adriatico, Italy, last Sunday, Sept. 6. Sporting a donkey on his helmet, Valentino Rossi sailed from pole position to take the checkered flag, bolstering his championship lead to 30 points over teammate and Red Bull Indianapolis GP winner, Jorge Lorenzo. Check out full race coverage at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com
The 11th round of the Superbike World Championship also took place last Sunday at the Nürburgring in the shadow of Count Ulrich’s 12th-century patriarchal Nürburg castle. Former AMA Pro Racing superstar, Ben Spies, continues to take the world superbike stage by storm. With a closely fought victory in race one and second-place finish in race two, Ben moved into the championship lead over Ducati’s Noriyuki Haga by 18 points. Check out www.worldsbk.com for complete details.
Last Sunday was also the season finale of the AMA Pro Road Racing series at the Thunderbolt Raceway at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, N.J. Danny Eslick, aboard the No. 9 GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell 1125R, wrapped up the championship with his seventh-place finish in the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL series against a field of production-class 600cc middleweight motorcycles. Hmm, I don’t get that, either, but you can check out www.amaproracing.com to try to figure it out.
With four rounds left in the MotoGP series and three remaining Superbike World Championship rounds left to go, there should be some great heads-up racing to view Sunday afternoons before we have to hunker down in central Indiana to a long dreary winter.
I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com
Greg