Team Texas!
I just heard the news about Ben Spies and Colin Edwards joining forces at Tech 3 in 2010, and it’s pretty cool. Especially since it’s the first time that MotoGP sported an all-American lineup since Kenny Roberts Jr. and John Hopkins in 2005!
Three-time AMA Superbike champion Ben is close to securing his first non-American nmotorcycle championship in the World Superbike ranks, which everyone said was the first step for Ben to be recognized as a MotoGP rider. So far he’s claimed 12 wins in 24 races and sits just three points behind Haga, who is perhaps the most experienced rider in WSB today.
After seeing Colin Edwards post a podium this season at Donington, it will be interesting to see how well the Texan duo attacks next season. Plus there’s good news for each of them: They’ll be able to ride on the plane from Europe to Texas together!
Here’s a photo of my wife and I in front of Ben at the first Red Bull Indianapolis GP in September 2008, when he finished sixth in a wild-card ride for Suzuki.
Jarrod
In less than one week, MotoGP riders will take to the Indianapolis MotoGP circuit for the second annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP. We can all pray that this year’s weather will be better!
(Silence)
OK, MotoGP was on its “summer vacation” in late July and early August, and both Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards have been able to kick back a bit back home in the States. Nicky’s been off his game this season, but Edwards recorded a podium in July at Donington and could earn his first MotoGP victory at Indianapolis.
Check out Colin’s message to fans about this season and the Red Bull Indianapolis GP by clicking here.
But to win at Indy, he’ll have to outpace the Fiat Yamaha riders Rossi and Lorenzo. It seems that the two of them have owned the field in each outing this season. In Brno, especially, you could see how competitive the teammates are when Rossi pressured Lorenzo into a wipeout under braking. It’s racing, good racing!
Over the next week, the IMS staff will place the final touches on the race course. Just a month ago, 43 NASCAR Sprint Cup cars and drivers competed 400 miles on the oval. Next week, three classes of world elite riders will compete on the road course.
Leading up to the event, the festivities will be aplenty. Motorcycles on Meridian downtown and XBL freestyle stunt shows in nearby Broad Ripple Village on Friday and Saturday night, AMA Flat Track racing Saturday night at the Indiana State Fairgrounds and three full days of activity on at IMS, with all sorts of cool stuff happening on and off the track.
Tickets are still available at imstix.com!
Jarrod
I’m in the City of Champions, Edmonton, Canada. Home of the Edmonton Oilers. The hockey team that “The Great One” went to after spending some of his junior years on none other than the Indianapolis Racers while attending Broad Ripple High School. Wayne Gretzky would go on to win four Stanley Cups with the Oilers.
I’m in Edmonton for the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights races this weekend. The city is complete jacked up about the race this weekend. Everywhere you go there are billboards, advertisements, fan guides and displays highlighting the Rexall Edmonton Indy. It’s a great atmosphere.
Likewise in Indianapolis, Indy is putting on the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. Then, Indy will be turning the track over for the two-wheeled animals that participate in MotoGP’s three championship levels during the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 28-30.
Not sure if everyone saw the announcement or not, but former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz is putting on a two-day clinic on the IMS MotoGP circuit.
You can find out more at http://www.schwantzschool.com/
Enjoy the weekend and be careful on the bikes if you are traveling around Indy for the Brickyard.
See you in a couple of weeks.
Jarrod
Finally, a few days off. The IndyCar Series takes its first weekend off in four weeks, and it’s much deserved. For most in the “traveling circus”, the weekend off is time to catch up with family, friends and sleep.
The same is said for the MotoGP paddock, as well. It started at Assen then a weekend off, Laguna, Sachsenring, Donington Park followed by a few weeks before and after Brno. It’s a grueling schedule across large bodies of sea! This is the most tiring stretch of races for all three classes in MotoGP. Luckily for Red Bull Indianapolis GP fans, the riders will be well rested before they hit the bricks at IMS on Aug. 28-30.
On Wednesday, July 15, I took a stroll over to the IMS Hall of Fame Museum to check out the eagerly anticipated Alpinestars line of Red Bull Indianapolis GP clothing. It’s a fair amount of articles ranging from T’s to hoodies for both men and women.
Here are my picks!
1) Vintage Inspired T with Indianapolis Motor Speedway and a Picture of Nicky on the Vintage Indian.
2) Black AStars Hoodie (I like)
3) Black and White Petite polo(Women’s)
4) Flat Billed AStars hat
5) Black Woven Crew Shirt (I like)
I couldn’t resist the crew shirt and hoodie. I wanted to get the entire line, but I figured it would be a little much to be head-to-toe event gear. Perhaps I could get a few pieces for writing this blog?
Most don’t know but Red Bull is extremely sensitive with their brand being associated with other brands. This is a very unique line of clothing that blends Alpinestars(the official clothing line of MotoGP), Red Bull, MotoGP and the IMS Centennial Logo all on great-looking products.
All of these products are available at the IMS Online Store and Hall of Fame Museum Gift Shop. Act fast, though, because the gear is flying off the shelves. Seriously, I had to order my size!
Buy tickets for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard!
Jarrod
We are just a week away from the first IMS event of the Centennial Era. Next week, 33 hot air balloons will be set up for fans and locals during a unique “Glow” event and races taking place during the Centennial Era Balloon Festival presented by AT&T Real Yellow Pages. What a pagen-tistic (my own word) way to kick off a month of ethanol-burning IndyCars!
The IndyCar Series is off to Kansas this weekend, which is the last race before the grueling month of May. Unlike most, I’ll be driving to KC, rather than flying. It’s not important why, but I am.
Some interesting news for me: My dryer broke. Perfect timing, really! On Tuesday I was attempting to clean all of my track gear when I noticed that the dryer wasn’t working properly. It actually wouldn’t run. Do you know when get that feeling when you can’t move? At the end of an attempt, you make a small little grunt/sigh. That’s the noise that my dryer was making!
Luckily for me, my brother lives close by so I was able to do a load late on Wednesday before I headed out for Kansas. While I was borrowing my brother’s equipment, a good friend of our showed up on his new Ducati 696 Monster.
I’d say that Ducati did a phenomenal job on the aesthetic updates on the new Monster. Some may argue that it’s “too Japanese-looking,” but I disagree. Perhaps the one element I don’t care for is the two-tiered round headlight. Personally the original single-round headlight has a powerful design element that is fairly iconic for the Monster. I did get a chance to take it for a spin around the complex, and I thought the riding position was also improved over the previous models. I didn’t feel like I had too much weight on my hands nor did my feet feel like they were touching the back of my head. All good things.
The weather is getting nicer, and I can’t wait to get back on my bikes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like I’ll have any free weekends to take dirt bike or road bike out, but I’m sure a few nice days in May will permit me to cruise to Gasoline Alley at Indy.
This weekend, IndyCars are in Kansas, MotoGP is in Motegi, and NASCAR is at ‘Dega. It’s a big racing weekend. Remember, while you are jumping from IndyCar to MotoGP to NASCAR, there’s only one place to buy tickets for each IMS event! www.imstix.com!
I hope that Nicky is feeling better. He took a wicked ride in Qatar. I am personally worried that he’ll never be as good as Stoner. It’s unbelievable how fast Stoner is!
Jarrod
What did you think of the first MotoGP race of the season?
Qatar is a cool track, especially under the lights. I was pretty proud of Nicky for doing as well as he did considering his massive high-side in qualifying. I was also impressed by Colin Edwards. He looks like he may be able to contend for the podium each week and perhaps a win if he plays the race properly.
But no, not even The Doctor could beat Stoner. For a guy who “may not have been able to race again” due to his weird hand injury, I was extremely impressed with his ability to not only kick Hayden’s rear, but he was able to be even more dominating after his career-threatening surgery!
While the festivities were happening halfway around the world, I was celebrating a Easter weekend with the family, and my Honda CRF 250x! I’m not exactly sure how I convinced my wife to let me sneak down to Lawrence County Rec. Park in southern Indiana on Easter weekend, but I did.
Just Phil and I went down, but it was well worth it. I was pretty surprised on how many people weren’t there. When we arrived at 11 a.m., there were only five other trailers! It couldn’t have been a better day, about 68 and sunny! I guess its good news for us, considering it’s an easy day trip to take the motos down there.
Here are a few highlights of the trip:
1. Phil the sinking tug boat! Click to watch.
2. Jarrod, overly excited about making it through a mini-pond. I swear, after watching Nitro Circus, I should have just hauled mail and skipped across the top. Click to watch.
3. Jarrod climbing through the mud, rocks and tree stumps. Click to watch.
It was fun. This week I am off to Long Beach for the Toyota Grand Prix IndyCar Series race. Watch it on VERSUS Saturday and Sunday!
Jarrod
The holiday season is over! The second for the little guy and the first as an official family. The downside, much like the economy, is the frigid cold weather that has kept me off of my motos.
The only “moto-related” news on a personal level is that my wife, Megan, purchased a cabin for me and a few of my buddies for a weekend in Tennessee at a powersports park. Essentially she willingly suggested that me and a few of my friends go attempt to kill ourselves in the mountains of Tennessee … something smells fishy. I’m not going to complain, and I am looking forward to it. From what I recall, it’s quite nice in March in Tennessee.
In other news, the motorcycle world is finally being affected by the global automotive, financial and economic crisis. Kawasaki has withdrawn from MotoGP in 2009. We’ve already seen Honda cancel their factory teams in F1 and U.S. Superbike, Subaru and Suzuki ended their World Rally teams, and NASCAR teams are in a merging frenzy!
It will be interesting to see what happens with Kawasaki riders John Hopkins and Marco Melandri, and I’m also curious to see the direction MotoGP will take. Could MotoGP be headed in an F1 mindset of controlling costs? Who knows?
On a positive note, Ducati is not pulling out, which means that a factory team filled with World Champions Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner will compete at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 28-30 at IMS. Former Valentino Rossi archrival Sete Gibernau is back in MotoGP in 2009 with a satellite Ducati team. 250cc standout Mika Kallio is climbing to MotoGP this season, on another Ducati satellite team. He was a force to be reckoned with in 250cc. If nothing else, Kallio has the best save EVER, last year at Phillip Island!
Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSCuuTa6y-c
I have to say that was an amazing ride. Mika walked away from this one, but Sete, who is returning after a massive crash with Ducati, is racing for the factory-backed Spanish Team Onde 2000. If you didn’t know, or haven’t heard, Sete took a lick’n a few years ago. Here’s the crash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P4StMtpa9I
Stay tuned. Regardless of Kawasaki’s departure, there will be plenty of action this season. Cross your fingers for a mild hurricane season!
Jarrod
Well, after weeks of perfect weather, Hurricane Ike put a big twist on my wedding weekend and others’ MotoGP weekend.
Rain, sun, rain, sun … It was a constant game of “What should we do?”
To keep the wedding short, we had a great time. The band was excellent, and the party ended at 3 a.m. at the Terminal in downtown Terre Haute.
I guess technically you can say that we honeymooned in Indianapolis. After our wedding on Friday, we woke up, headed back home, hopped on the Scrambler and went to the track. By the time we got there, we missed most of the GP practices but were lucky enough to catch the Red Bull Rookies Cup. It was pretty amazing watching the kids tear it up out there and put everything on the line. I understand that it was the biggest race of all of their lives, and they showed it.
Megan and I were watching from the “Ducati Island” and saw several wipeouts, including a big high side coming out of Turn 4. Those kids were tough!
Once most of the track activity had wound down, Megan and I chilled out before our evening plans downtown. We laid low, went to the Capitol Grill at the Conrad and had our first dinner as a married couple. It was fun and low-key, which we followed up with an early night in. We were still exhausted from the night before. I was pretty impressed with the crowd downtown. There was an awful lot of buzz in the air, which made if feel like the Indy 500 weekend.
On Sunday, we woke up early and caught some of the morning practices before it started to rain. While the rain was coming down, I met with an IndyCar partner who is helping with a few new media initiatives that everyone should check out. Visit www.indycarmessenger.com to find out more.
Our meeting was at the Alpinestars hospitality area. I took Megan along. While we were there, Andrew Whitney, the gentlemen that we were meeting, introduced Megan and I to John Canton, the director of communications for Ducati. For a minute, we talked about the event and how great it was, as well as my past lust for the Hypermotard!
Before the race, Megan and I went down to the grid to check out the bikes up close. We took a few pictures on the grid. The coolest time of the day was the launch to start the race. It was just phenomenal to see them accelerate that fast in the wet! What was even more amazing was when the weather got really, really bad, the good guys didn’t appear to slow down. They were like missiles going down the front stretch. Amazing!
Moto GP was awesome, and I can’t wait until next year.
Jarrod
Back in my first blog, I mentioned that I was getting married on MotoGP weekend. I claimed that I would keep everyone updated on the progress of my big day. Well, I got a little carried away with weekly motorcycle happenings, so I left most of the stressful, outrageous, repetitive, annoying, exciting details of wedding planning out of my blog.Well, I am a week out, and I have to say that I am getting excited. One – I am excited to get all of the horrendous planning out of the way; Two – it’s going to be a great time; Three – MotoGP is my mini-honeymoon; and Four – I really don’t have a four.
The only bummer is that I am not going to be able to play at every single event during the week. The city is closing down the bar district downtown for motorcycles only, Broad Ripple is hosting the freestyle competitions, Flat Track racing, MotoGP bikes … It’s going to be nutz!
Check out this free edition of Red Bull Indianapolis GP magazine. Pass it around and be sure to use all of the features.
www.redbullindianapolisgp.com/digitalmagazine
So for all of you coming to the race, be sure to plan out your rides accordingly. There are two schools of thought:
1. Get there fast.
2. Enjoy the ride there.
Thumb through some of my past blogs for ride ideas around the west and north side of Indianapolis. If you are looking for good places to cruise each night, head downtown and cruise the circle. Either you will be embarrassed that you cruised with the scene, or you’ll fit right in. Just remember that drinking and riding is never a good idea, especially around event times.
For all of those camping, the “Coke Lot” – adjacent to a Coca-Cola facility – is the spot, right outside of Turn 4 of the oval. It’s probably the most fun of any of the camping areas around the track. Not only did IMS hook up the riders with prime real estate, but you get easy access to all of the vendors, junk food and crazies that typically grace Georgetown Road all weekend long.
To be honest, there isn’t a whole lot to say but be there! Hundreds of vendors, leather checks, entertainment, girls, fast bikes!!!!
See you there.
Jarrod
Last week you saw that I got to take a few solo laps around the track. Besides Nicky, I am the only one that has put solo laps in on the new track, well at least above 30 mph.After chatting with the “PR GOD” who reminds me to write this blog each week, he had mentioned that I need to elaborate a bit more about the experience. After all, I am one of two people that have been on the racetrack on a motorbike by myself. Technically, that puts me in the same category as Nicky Hayden!
So here it is, a turn-by-turn, straight-by-straight analysis by a motorcycle rider that is by no means a motorcycle racing expert.
1. Starting at the Bricks …
As I went through the gears, I was thinking I am going to get some here and at least go full throttle through all gears. Earlier in the day, Nicky was braking at about the third row of the Formula One grid, so I thought that it would be a good place for me to let off the throttle. The difference was that I didn’t rush back to the throttle to power through the “courage” corner of the racetrack.
2. Turn 1 tech …
What I really like about the traditional Turn 1 section of the racecourse is that you have a fast left-hander that will require a tight exit so that you can set yourself up for the double-apex right handers. Again, you have to exit tight so that you can get a clean corner leading on to the “traditional short chute.” This section is going to be quite nice because you will see several different approaches to the turns. In a race situation, there will be quicker ways through this section that may provide passing opportunities but will sacrifice the overall lap time, for sure.
3. Sweeper, decreasing radius, lazy esses, Hulman Boulevard …
It will be important to get a strong run coming out of Turn 4 because the next section is a time section and is one of the least likely places that you will see passing, but it will definitely be a place where riders will set up an outbraking maneuver in Turn 10 at the end of Hulman Boulevard. Turn 5 is a power-down sweeper that leads to a decreasing radius turn that is going to require a semi-tight exit so you can flow through the lazy esses. This area is going to be extremely important because the MotoGP bikes will draft down Hulman Boulevard. By the way, Nicky wasn’t kidding when he said that Turn 5 was deceiving — it really tightens up!
4. Hulman Boulevard, Traditional Turn 4 Infield …
All right, after the curvy technical section of the racetrack where I was scared, let’s get in to the sweeping section of the track. That’s right, I said scared. You would be, too, if you saw how many people were still waiting for Nicky to run a few more laps. They were all probably thinking, “Who in the world is this yo-yo?” Naaa, they probably knew it was Jarrod Krisiloff, “The Ride” blogger …
… Back to the track. Turn 10 is semi-fast and really doesn’t require a tight exit because because 11 is a patience carousel-style hairpin. In this corner, it’s important to get a clean exit for the next three corners, which are all left-handers. I look at these as like tokens in a video game. About as textbook as it gets: You hit the corner apex, drift out to the right side of the track and hit the next, and repeat. This is a fun section that almost feels like the bike takes control as you hang off your seat.
5. 15 and 16 …
After the “PlayStation” section of the track are Turns 15 and 16. A quick right-hander into a tight-tight-tight left-hander back on to the frontstretch. If you have seen my ride video, it doesn’t look that difficult because it appears that there is a lot of track on which to to accelerate. Wait, come race time the exit is going to be much tighter to keep the riders off the wall. After you get through the “PlayStation” portion, the rider is going to be faced with a “S”-like section that leads to the most important part of the track, the front stretch. In the “Traditional Turn 4″ portion of the track, a rider can make huge gains in Turns 15 and 16 down the straightaway through Turn 1.
That’s my lap around the track. Next week I hope to have a few videos from my new bike camera — that is sweet!
Ride safe.
JK