Photographs courtesy of Dorna - click to enlarge

It's been a while since we've seen the Stars and Stripes flying around a GP circuit. It's also been a while since we've seen it flying over the podium. So this weekend was a bit of a novelty in many ways.

Laguna Seca is a place that may well ring bells. Whether you're of an age that remembers seeing GP racing in the California sun, whether you remember it instead from fantastic SBK battles or even if you know it purely from your Playstation, you'll never forget the place once you've seen it. From the long, fast starting straight with its bottle testing kink over a crest halfway down to the viciously deceptive Turn Six, halfway up the long drag to the frankly terrifying Corkscrew, where the world drops away before your eyes, this is a circuit that favours local knowledge and sheer bottle above outright power. A place, then, where agility, stability and poise, not to mention sheer unadulterated talent, comes in rather handy.

Step forward, then, Valentino Rossi. And doff your hat to the undisputable master of the occasion, Nicky Hayden. the young American was in a class of his own all weekend, scorching through practice before setting an unassailable pole position time. And local knowledge being rather handy, a few other less common contenders started to appear. Colin Edwards, for the first time, outrode his illustrious team-mate right through practice although Rossi managed to pull something special out of the bag to qualify second. Troy Bayliss suddenly shone like the brilliant rider we all know he actually is, getting up into third place before being squeezed back to fourth in the dying moments of qualifying by his equally resurgent team-mate, Alex Barros. Local boy John Hopkins continued to put his former World Champion team-mate at Suzuki to shame with an excellent sixth, having also visited the front row for a while. The third row (!) was headed up by Max Biaggi, who had a pretty torrid time of qualifying and practicing on a circuit that he, like most others, has never been to before, while Ducati's Carlos Checa did well to get the big and rather unwieldy Desmosedici into eighth. Makoto Tamada qualified a solid but uninspiring ninth. Rounding out the top ten was Shinya Nakano on the fast but fractious Kawasaki.

But what of the two Telefonica Hondas? Marco Melandri struggled hard to get into a rhythm around the challenging circuit, falling foul of the rapid camber change at the Corkscrew on his way to a disappointing eleventh. But Sete Gibernau fared even worse, remaining on the bike throughout but still qualifying a lowly thirteenth, a full two and a half seconds off pole.

So. Time to race.

It'll be no surprise to hear that race day dawned clear, dry and sunny. As do most summer days in California. When the lights changed young Nicky Hayden made no mistake, nailing the Honda off the line and immediately opening a gap over the pursuing pack. Actually, that's an understatement. Hayden simply cleared off, pulling further and further away from Rossi, who appeared to be the only rider able to stay with the blistering pace. Troy Bayliss, John Hopkins and, surprisingly, Max Biaggi were all tussling slightly further back while behind them Marco Melandri completed his staggeringly bad weekend by losing the front on the brakes into the last corner, skittling the unfortunate Alex Barros at the same time. Colin Edwards went backwards, finishing the first lap behind Sete Gibernau who rode like a man possessed to climb from his fifth row start to finish the first lap in sixth place.

From there on, Hayden continued to pull away. Rossi continued to follow, always in touch but never threatening. Troy Bayliss yielded to the pressure of, respectively, Edwards, Gibernau and Biaggi to drop to sixth. John Hopkins wilted as well, falling back to eighth. In fact, everyone seemed rather ragged and nobody seemed able to keep up. Except for Colin Edwards, who did the unthinkable and mugged Valentino Rossi, his team-mate, on the entry to the Corkscrew, making a firm but fair pass before reeling off a string of blindingly fast laps that saw him, ultimately, close to within two seconds of Hayden before the chequered flag. More importantly, he opened a convincing gap over Rossi before The Doctor made a typical late surge to get within half a second. Max Biaggi rode a spirited race, holding fourth place despite the best efforts of a rejuvenated Sete Gibernau who came a magnificent fifth. Then there was a gap.

A long gap.

Long enough to put the kettle on, in fact, before Troy Bayliss streaked over the line a tenth of a second ahead of Makoto Tamada but twenty two seconds behind Hayden. John Hopkins, a second or so later, finished just half a second in front of ninth placed Shinya Nakano while Loris Capirossi came in tenth. Then came another extraordinary gap before the rest of the pack, led by Ruben Xaus. Last points earning position, and richly deserved, went to Shakey Byrne on the KTM/Proton/Roberts. Ironically just one place behind the boss's son, Kenny Roberts Junior. Now that might have taken some explaining.

As for the rest of the field, Carlos Checa took an early bath, bouncing the Ducati through the gravel trap on lap eight

In two weeks time the MotoGP circus comes back across The Pond to the British round at Donington Park. That's a circuit that one Dr Rossi likes a lot. So though the new boys may have got a taste of glory this time, I'd be reluctant to put money on their having time to get used to it.

Results

1 N Hayden, Honda
2 C Edwards, Yamaha
3 V Rossi, Yamaha
4 M Biaggi, Honda
5 S Gibernau, Honda
6 T Bayliss, Honda
7 M Tamada, Honda
8 J Hopkins, Suzuki
9 S Nakano, Kawasaki
10 L Capirossi, Ducati

Championship Standing after 8 rounds

186 V Rossi
107 M Melandri
100 M Biaggi
95 S Gibernau
93 C Edwards
85 N Hayden
74 A Barros
55 L Capirossi
55 S Nakano
47 T Bayliss