MotoGP: Laguna Seca lives up to reputation

Laguna Seca is the land of surprises. For example, Nicky Heyden has been known to win here. Twice. Out of only three wins. On a Honda. In fact, as of today, Heyden's website says "For all four seasons of his Moto GP career, Nicky has raced as part of the prestigious Honda Repsol team." Heyden is on a Ducati this season - his best result so far this year being a ninth.

Honda have not won a Moto GP for more than a year. Pedrosa, formerly Heyen's team mate was their last winner in Barcelona last year. Pedrosa and his team-mate Dovioso both dropping it the turn one, albeit on different laps in Assen, the signs for a Laguna Seca Honda win were not looking good.

Before a crowd that in Europe would be regarded as small - just 50,000 people turned out to watch the race - Danni Pedrosa turned in a spectacular performance. With Jorge Lorenzo riding with a dislocated collar bone and a fractured bone in his foot after a serious crash in qualifying (immediately after he set the fastest time to grab pole) and Stoner still far from strong enough to battle for the full length of a race, Pedrosa's win might appear to have been a bit lucky. Except that he outpaced Valentino Rossi. As Pedrosa's tyres went off in the last two laps, he rode just out of Rossi's grasp, helped by a seemingly oblivious to pain and frankly kamikaze Lorenzo who was determined to pass Rossi at any cost: and it almost cost him another heavy fall as he dived inside Rossi with two laps to go - misjudged the braking point and had the mother of all wriggles - avoiding the high-siding that would have caused more injury, he lost ground to Rossi who, with a lap and a half to go, sensed Pedrosa was on the limit and changed tactics from taking a comfortable second too far back to challenge to suddenly being in with a chance. Hauling in Pedrosa, Rossi almost got alongside in the entry to the last corner but had to back off - just a couple of inches short of a crash. Pedrosa tore to the line just three hundredths ahead of Rossi.

On the podium, all three top riders struggled to climb up the steps. Lorenzo, partially out of leathers and with an icepack inside his undershirt held his right arm stiffly but did not strap it up. Yesterday, he was carried into the press conference on a chair, unable to put weight on right foot. And in the press conference, the mood was subdued. All three riders were both physically and mentally drained. Rossi's grin - so omnipresent it sometimes seems as if his face is made that way - was absent. Lorenzo held his arm up. Pedrosa slumped on the table.

As always, Laguna Seca lived up to its reputation. And Heyden, the local specialist, dragged his Ducati up to fifth - so at least the marketing men will be happy that he's going to get some headlines in the USA and help sell some bikes which is, after all, why Ducati brought him in. But that fifth was more than nine seconds behind Casey Stoner who, it has to be remembered, can hardly walk due to illness.

Stoner, who has now been subjected to a battery of tests in recent weeks for the as yet undiagnosed bug that saps his strength and renders him exhausted after a few laps, has elected to remain in the USA for at least the next few days. It's two weeks until the German GP at the Sachsenring and he hopes that both rest and extensive testing will cure and diagnose the problem which has, from time to time, been referred to as "a virus."

The Sachsenring is a track at which Valentino Rossi is the outstanding specialist in one corner, a specialism that usually brings him up the order even when his pace around the rest of the track isn't up to much - at least by his standards. With Stoner winning there last time out, and Hayden collecting his only European win there, the teams are looking forward to what might just turn into the race of the year. If everyone is fit.