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 The record three-day crowd of 153,000+ taxed the infrastructure of the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Plans are already underway to improve things for 2006 and beyond. |
 The infield exhibit and Yamaha marketplace were packed with fans in between the race action. Souvenir sellers sold virtually everything they brought with them. |
  King Kenny Roberts (right) and son Kenny Junior pose with their respective race machines of the past and present prior to the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. |
 Looking down the tailpipe of the KTM-powered Team Proton KR MotoGP race bike. Rider Shane Byrne scored the first-ever point for KTM in MotoGP at Laguna Seca. |
 Yamaha made the most of its 50-year anniversary celebration by painting all of their race bikes at Laguna Seca (including Rossi’s #46 M-1 MotoGP racer seen here) in the vintage Yamaha Bumble Bee yellow and black. |
 Parts Unlimited’s Rob Buydos was the emcee as AGV hosted a small group of Parts Unlimited sales reps and other guests to an evening with the reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi at the Parts hospitality area. |
 Rossi seemed to enjoy the Q&A session with Buydos as much as anyone there. He truly looked comfortable mixing with the Americans in his first-ever United States racing appearance. |
 Parts Unlimited’s Tim Crowder gets some items signed by Rossi. |
 Our own Jen Emde, Managing Editor of Parts Magazine, also got a few collectibles signed by the champ. |
 We spotted Icon gear on many of the sportbike riders hanging out on Cannery Row during the weekend. |
 During the week, Yamaha hosted a gala reception at the Monterey Bay Aquarium to honor its Yamaha Weekend of Champions riders. Bob Starr welcomes the guests. |
 Parts Unlimited’s Jeff Fox welcomes legendary basketball star Michael Jordan to Laguna Seca. Jordan continues to increase his involvement in the motorcycle sport. |
 Don Emde, Parts Magazine publisher and winner of the first-ever Daytona 200 for Yamaha, was one of the Yamaha Weekend of Champions riders on hand at Laguna Seca. |
 Current Yamaha team riders Valentino Rossi (thumbs up) and Colin Edwards joined Wayne Rainey and the rest of the Yamaha Weekend of Champions group for a photo at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. |
 Fans swarmed the Yamaha Weekend of Champions tent all weekend long in search of autographs of legendary riders like 4-time World Champion Eddie Lawson (right). |
 Yamaha Weekend of Champions emcee Larry Maiers with two of the greatest Grand Prix legends from days gone by: Giacomo Agostini (left) and Kel Carruthers (right). |
 In addition to the riders, the Yamaha Weekend of Champions exhibit featured many of the actual championship-winning machines from the past. |
 A new member of the Parts Unlimited racing family is Ben Spies. He had a decent weekend at Laguna Seca with 4th place finishes in the Superbike and Supersport races. |
 The Parts Unlimited dealer hospitality area at Turn Five was a great place to watch the races. |
 The head of Dunlop Tire’s U.S. roadrace program, Jim Allen (right), talks with Eric Bostrom about his tire options for the Main event. They obviously made the right choice! |
 A few lucky members of the Parts Unlimited/Drag Specialtes contingent at Laguna Seca got a tour of the Michelin tire area in the pits. While they were there, MotoGP star Marco Melandri stopped by and agreed to a group photo. Pictured here are (front row l-r): Todd Cooperider, Lou Lopez, Melandri, Lee Holmberg and Mike Garrett. (back row l-r): Don Gonzales, Bernard Jarrousse (Michelin), Dave Segler, Barry Vassar, Gary Hon, and on the right from Michelin is Nicholas Goubert, manager of Michelin motorcycle racing activities. Dan Wildhirt photo courtesy of Michelin. |
 Parts Unlimited’s Tire Paul Anderson (right) welcomes Supercross King Jeremy McGrath to the Parts Unlimited hospitality center. |
 It wasn’t hard to find where the Parts Unlimited group was set up at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. |
 Right from the start of the Superbike final, it was obvious that Parts Unlimited/Austin Ducati rider Eric Bostrom (32) was going for all the marbles. |
 2005 Superbike points leader Mat Mladin chases Eric Bostrom. The expected battle to the finish did not materialize as Bostrom was the strongest rider of the field and pulled away. |
 After breaking free of Mladin midway through the race, Bostrom cruised to an impressive second win of the 2005 season for the Parts Unlimited/Austin Ducati team. |
 Eric Bostrom celebrates his Superbike win on the podium with runner-up Mat Mladin (left) and Aaron Yates. |
 Team Yamaha rider Jason DiSalvo gave the Laguna Seca fans an exciting final event of the weekend with a thrilling last lap pass to win the Supersport race. |
 Valentino Rossi was the odds-on favorite, but Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards used their previous experience at Laguna Seca to hand Rossi his worst finish of the year… 3rd place. |
 Nicky Hayden broke away from the pack early and maintained an approximate 2-second lead all the way to the finish. It was his first-ever MotoGP win. |
 John Hopkins rode hard to score a good finish for Suzuki and America at Laguna Seca. He leads Honda rider Sete Gibernau and Ducati’s Carlos Checa in this photo. John finished 8th and Gibernau 5th while Checa crashed and did not finish. |
 Even in Hollywood they would have a hard time scripting a motorsports story greater than this year’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. |
 Earl Hayden got one of the greatest gifts imaginable from his son at Laguna Seca: the chance to ride along on the victory lap of the biggest day so far in Nicky’s racing career. |
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he
largest crowd in the history of Monterey, California’s Mazda
Raceway Laguna Seca was on hand the weekend of July 9-10 to witness
motorcycle history. The event, which was sponsored by Parts Unlimited,
Red Bull and Yamaha, was the first-ever race in United States utilizing
the dramatic four-stroke MotoGP race bikes. Before the weekend was
over, American Nicky Hayden scored his first-ever MotoGP victory, besting
fellow countryman Colin Edwards by approximately two seconds.
Parts Magazine
Volume 12 #8
Parts Magazine Index