WSBK Laguna Seca 2013

WSBK, Laguna Seca 2013 fell on LB’s birthday, so we made a long weekend of it. Booked four nights at Bernardus Lodge, which turned out to be a great move. Just a short drive over the hill and the track was right there. Unfortunately we couldn’t use that route Friday as we had to drive into Monterey to pick up our passes. Took advantage of the detour and stopped at the Wagon Wheel to fuel up for the day.

At the Wagon Wheel. Hearty (and possibly not heart healthy) food.

Drive into the track and the weather is perfect. Not a cloud or fog to be seen. Almost being October I deliberately did not take a hat thinking it would be cool, and the sun not so intense. Big mistake, guess I’m a little thinner on top than I thought, as I got a bit of a burn. No worries though, picked up a hat and was good to go for the remainder of the weekend. Probably could have used a sombrero instead of baseball cap..

Friday morning and the weather is perfect.

View of the paddock from the stands at Turn 4. A normal light Friday attendance.

AMA Superbike, but missed the Rider/Team name

Kevin Pinkstaff, AMA Nation Guard Superbike

AMA Superbike, Unknown and Chris Ulrich

Traylor Knapp, AMA Nation Guard Superbike

Josh Hayes, AMA Nation Guard Superbike

David Anthony, AMA Nation Guard Superbike

Traylor Knapp, AMA Nation Guard Superbike

Tom Sykes, WSBK

Marco Melandri, WSBK

Coming thru Turn 4

Danny Eslick, Wildcard, WSBK

Nicolo Canepa, Filling in for Carlos Checa, WSBK

Nicolo Canepa, WSBK

Tom Sykes, WSBK

The stands here at Turn 4 are pretty decent. Good view exiting Turn 3, up the short straight to 4 and then a short view towards 5

And a decent view without too many obstructions, and moderately close to the track

Ayrton Badovini, WSBK

Working on exposures, and shutter speeds.

Tom Sykes, WSBK

Eugene Laverty, WSBK

Leon Haslam and Chaz Davies

Michel Fabrizio

Moved up to the corkscrew for drinks and some different shots.

Roger Hayden

Tom Sykes, WSBK

Roger Hayden, Wildcard, WSBK

Not sure if this is Baz, or Salvadori

So for dinner, we headed into Monterey and stopped at Hula’s Island Grill for some Ahi tuna wontons, Calamari, Salmon, and of course some excellent Mai-Tais

Ahi Tuna Wontons with Ginger-Wasabi

Saturday morning free practice from the front straight. Took some work (about an hour) to get our tickets. Quite a bit of confusion between Laguna Seca and WSBK/FIM. We did get to see the dirty underbelly of the racing organizations as we were sent from one office to another. All worked out eventually though, and met some nice folks who really wanted to help, but had no idea what what going on. Not really their fault, just poor communication between the two organizations.