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What You Missed at Laguna Seca

“Gentlemen, start your engines!” On July 9, 2005 at 7 a.m., my 16-year old son, two of his friends and I took off from our starting line, Oakland, for the races. Our finish line was the Moto Grand Prix Championship Motorcycle races at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey. At the generous invitation of the Regione Piemonte, we had VIP passes to the MotoGP, an elite race with motorcycle riders participating from the U.S. and Europe. The race took place over three days including two days of practice runs. The track, a 2.2-mile, 11-turn road course, has some incredibly dangerous hairpin turns. Some consider the course unsafe by modern standards. The bikes raced are prototypes, built just for racing and capable of speeds in excess of 210 mph. This was the first MotoGP championship held in the U.S. since 1994, and a sell-out crowd of over 55,000 fans packed the grandstands and surrounding hillsides. I never saw so many folks tattooed and clad in leather; coolers crammed with beer; and motorcycles resting on kickstands in my life; but I don’t get out much nowadays.

As we slowly approached Laguna Seca, an ancient sunken dried-up lakebed, we all felt an immediate adrenaline rush. Before we even saw the racetrack, the sound and vibration of the racing bikes coursed through us. Suddenly it became clear what the appeal of all this smell of burning rubber and gasoline, and intense whining of motors was all about.

But then, imagine spending 5-straight hours with a group of 250 charged-up Italians at one of those big Italian American banquets, where you can’t even hear yourself think for the din. Pause, change scenes: now you are in the huge, white VIP tent at Laguna Seca, but instead of charged-up Italians, you have 21 charged-up Ducati, Honda, and Yamaha supermotos in addition to the Italians. Got the picture? Add to that, spending 11 precious hours behind the wheel of my VW Passat, being directed to the VIP parking area only to find out it was all filled up, driving around the track, not on it, for over an hour looking at all the lucky people who had already found the perfect parking spot, getting dust all over my car, inside and out, that I had just washed the day before, and you will understand what kind of day I spent. Well, that was the hard part. The easy part was rubbing elbows with the rich and famous, sporting my flashy VIP pass around my neck, stealing a hug from handsome rider Roberto “Roby” Rolfo outfitted in a skintight red and white body suit, taking the pit tour and watching the men goggling over the blond chicks in hot pants and white boots handing wrenches to the mechanics like nurses handing instruments to a surgeon, receiving a nifty book bag filled with cool brochures from the Regione, and stuffing myself with delicious free food and drink.

The Regione Piemonte in addition to l’Unione Europea, and il Ministero dell’Economica sponsored Roby Rolfo and the VIP reception. In sponsoring this event, the Regione was taking advantage of the interest and excitement created by the upcoming winter Olympics in Torino to promote the winning spirit of the region on an international level: the winning spirit expressed through its continuing history of strong entrepreneurialism and the high quality of its products. Businessmen and government representatives from Italy and America were invited to strut their stuff. In our large, air-conditioned room, we enjoyed beautifully set tables, a large buffet of hot and cold continental dishes, a well-stocked wine/beer bar, and a deck overlooking the pit and starting line. The Regione furnished us with plenty of brochures on tourism, food, wine, and other products from Piemonte. Some of the businessmen from Piemonte had their catalogs available as well. I had a lot of fun eating, drinking, talking, and watching.

Twenty-five year old Roby is a local boy from Torino who has been playing with high-speed motos since Daddy put him on one at age 14. Before that he was a very competent bicycle racer. This season Roby is riding a Ducati. Although the Ducati factory is located in Bologna, many of the components are manufactured in Piemonte. After Sunday’s 32-lap main race, our boy came in 18th, Valentino Rossi, the favorite to win from Emilia-Romagna, came in third, and Nicky Hayden, an American came in first.

All in all, it was an exciting day for me. Although, I have to admit, nowadays it doesn’t take much to get me excited. I wouldn’t have missed this event for the world. Daniel and his friends had a good time too.

Kathleen Maggiora Rogers