Re: any chance mid-ohio could ever host the MotoGP USGP event?


"Mark N" <menusbaum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:xNGdneAcQ8M_En3ZnZ2dnUVZ_vGdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Speaking of tullies, I can remember tree stand's (deer hunters)near the
backstrech at RA, one of my oldest bro's just moved his huntin' lease
farther out just this year and it was only a few mile from the track

Do you think Rossi and Melandri and Capirossi will be sufficiently
impressed by a repaving? I don't think so - they'd absolutely *** their
leathers the first time they saw that banking and those walls. As they
should.

Hell no! ***'s all! Though, I could almost guarantee a "Merkan box!

Mat doesn't like Daytona because of the tire test that screws up his time
in Oz..

It runs a bit deeper than that, don't you think?

Who can really tell with that guy, he'd prolly bitch if somebody beat him
with a new broom!

- A track that is of acceptable quality - meets length minimum, isn't
too tight and slow, perhaps is at least somewhat challenging, has decent
tarmac and all the curbing, etc.

Elkhart, yes, Barber, well, maybe..

Agreed, the tightness of Barber is a major flaw.

Bamaham's a wideass track and many lines can be run, it's just not got a
straight worth a *** and 'sides I don't care for 'Bama at all, 'Sippi either
for that matter. Georgia's a whole different deal for the most part, at
least their wimen aren't all inbred and some can actually conjugate a verb!
;-)

- A track that is acceptably safe.

Ayup, both..

Not that simple. Even the AMA guys got Barber to make some changes this
year, so that's hardly perfect. And Elkhart has some real issues. First is
the Mitchell bridge, of course, but there are other corners that would
have problems for the GP guys. And given the problems they had with the
proximity of the walls at Laguna between 6 and 7, they'd have to move back
the walls and guardrails almost all the way around at Elkhart, and that
also means cutting down a lot of trees. And then there's the length.
Elkart would almost certainly have a significant amount of work to do just
to the track. 10, 15 years ago not so bad, but today?

Safe was relative, you and I both know that it wouldn't matter if some fool
spent a fortune for a one off purpose built palace for GP, those schmuck's
would want somethin' changed, if for no other reason than to show who's
boss...

- Is likely to draw enough fans to be self-sustaining.

Damnfino? The only place for sure that would draw is Mid-Ohio, if for no
other reason there ain't much else to do! (Ohio has a lot more bikes
registered than you would think, IIRC it's like third in the nation)

I think the key is the date on the calendar. If it's the only GP in North
America and it takes place during riding season, they will come almost
anywhere. But you run it in the spring or later in the fall, it gets
tougher. I think that's part of the reason that the July races at Laguna
have done so well, but the April/May ones struggled. And two GPs would
cause problems for both, I'd think - the uniqueness of the event helps
sustain it.

Late April, or May in Ga, would be great, pretty much after that it's not so
great and you'd have to wait till Oct. not to melt, or take the chance of
being drowned out by a 'cane...

Road Atlanta is a much better lay out than Barber where GP bikes would
never get out of third gear, though substantial improvements would have
to be made and I don't see Panoz doing it just for MGP. Tweak and I could
dig it for sure, I just would be surprised if it ever happened...(Mat has
issues there too, but the damn guy has sure won a shitload of races!) I
can just imagine those light powerful bikes, with the flyweight drivrz
comin' down the elevator, we'd be talkin' serious hang time ala MJ!

Yeah, it seems like RA would be a very good track for the GP bikes if they
could deal with the safety issues somehow.

Oh trust me, the Homo committee would have a field day! Heh, Panoz's boys
would prolly end up beatin' the snot out of a couple of 'um..

They/we would need a large area to draw from and I don't know where else
besides maybe RA and 'Tona that would be possible, but like I said, it
prolly ain't ever gonna happen anyway. They'll keep racing at 'Guna till
the crowd gets tired of being raped by the vendors/hotels, or gives up on
the facility, which, you and I both know can't change too much...

I don't know, I think they could do enough to the place to keep the normal
fans quite happy, the question is whether or not they'll do it, do they
have the budget? I'm sure most of the Red Bull and Yamaha money has been
spent already, and those deals have to run their course. They certainly
can put in that new bridge and throw up some more stands, but how much
will dealing with fixing the surface effect other plans? Seems to me that
the hotel bills are the big chronic issue, and that's something that will
be tough to do anything about.

I never have to get a room out there so I don't really know, but I've heard
some outrageous stories. What they've done in 'Tona is to cap room rates
during events, that is, a certain percentage over the "off season" prices,
whatever that means? By law they have to be posted in every room, so you
know if you're being screwed. Anyway, I don't stay there either, the whole
damn town's a shithole on a good day much less during Speed Week, always has
been too...

Anyway, here is my dream MotoGP calendar, safety issues aside and limited
to some extent by reality, but not much:

Spanish GP - Jerez
Italian GP - Mugello
French GP - Paul Ricard (full circuit)
Turkish GP - Istanbul
German GP - Hockenheim (old circuit)
Dutch TT - Assen (old circuit)
Belgian GP - Spa
Austrian GP - Salzburgring
USGP West - Laguna Seca
British GP - Brands Hatch
Czech Republic - Brno
Catalan GP - Barcelona
USGP East - Road A
Japanese GP - Suzuka
Australian GP - Philip Island
San Marino GP - Monza


What, no Qatar? What will all those fan's do? The horror!


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