MotoGP Day 2: Practice & Qualifying

We woke up around 8 and hung around while Kevin made his breakfast anxiously awaiting our first look at the bikes. Free practice started at 9:55, we were still in camp a half mile from the track, and had we not been able to hear the loud drone of MotoGP engines we wouldn't have known. We quickly grabbed our stuff amd hopped on the shuttle to the track.

5 minutes later we were dropped off 15 yards from turn 5 while Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden blew by. If you've watched an AMA race, those bikes are nothing. If you've watched MotoGP on TV, you've seen nothing. These bikes are so fast, so loud and reach such insane lean angles that there were only 3 types of responses: 1) holy shit 2) no way 3) mouth agape complete silence. Pictures and video do absolutely NO justice. You HAVE to see these things in person to fully appreciate the bikes and riders. Quite a first impression.

We decided to move from the entrance of turn 5 to the exit so Mike and Kevin could get head on action shots. It really was a great location and we spent the entire practice shooting pictures and video. The highlight (or low point depending on who you are) was Nicky Hayden lowsiding in our turn. They brought his bike around and parked about 15 feet in front of us while Nicky came oit of the gate and stood less than a foot from me! ill post photos and video when i get home.

After practice Mike and I had lunch at the Parts Supply hospitality tent then met up with Kevin and headed down into the paddock with my 3x5 foot Hungarian flag as my cape. After talking with the Arai guy (who by hand guessed my head circumference within .1 of centimeter) and yelling in Hungarian into the track announcers mic (his permission of course) we headed to the MotoGP pits directly behind the garages. This is the spot to see all the riders and get pics and autographs. Of course everyone wants to see Valentino but I was most excited for fellow Hungarian and 2007 125cc World Champion and Scot Honda rider Gabor Talmasci. We stopped and took pics of the Yamaha pits and I joked with a Ducati mechanic who admitted that if he had half a million dollars he wouldnt be here (some people complain no matter what). The Scot Honda pit was the last stall and luckily the area was empty of all the fans. As soon as we reached their pit I saw Talma and his manager Stefano so I went over and started speaking with them in Hungarian. They're both incredibly nice people and I was surprised when they asked me questions about myself. After taking pics with Gabor I continued talking with Stefano about his work with Gabor and racing. When I mentioned that I wanted to give Gabor my flag after the race he casually mentioned that I should just run onto the track, clearly he's used to the European way of doing things. I mentioned the police would detain me for such a courageous act he told me to return tomorrow before the race and height get me "over there" as he pointed to the other side of their garage....lets keep our fingers crossed.

We hiked up the hill to watch qualifying from The Corkscrew. Now my camera sucks for taking action pics so I mostly took video but Mike and Kevin were in photo heaven, and if you see their pics you'll see why. I also recorded the bikes accelerating out of The Corkscrew since the sound is so amazing (have you ever felt your eardrums vibrate?). For the last 10 minutes Kevin and I watched from atop turn 6; awesome because you're basically standing on top of the bikes. This is also when Dennis called so he heard the action.

After qualifying we went over to the manufacteres displays and bought some schwag then headed back to camp exhausted. Kevin made a delicious steak and potatoes dinner, we hung out and watched the Catalunya GP on his comp, hung out some more and now we're going to bed.

Happy 4th of July and even though everyone at out camp is quiet I hope everyone got see some loud colorful shit explode.

The race is tomorrow, dont forget to follow me on twitter, type in thomaspapp to search me.