This weekend’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix is one that the Ducati squad are excited about. For Nicky Hayden it is his home event and the scene of his first ever MotoGP victory in 2005.

“I can't wait to get to Laguna, a circuit that is extremely special to me,” states the American. “It is tough but really nice and it is where I won my first GP. I'm not just saying it because I'm American but it really is a unique place. There isn't really a straight – all the corners run into each other and they are a mixture of fast and slow bends. The Corkscrew is unique, a three-storey drop with a blind entry – you feel like you're taking off into space!”

“Another thing about Laguna is that you can't afford to run off line at any point because the exit to one corner is the entry to the next and you have to get your line right. At Sachsenring we had a tough weekend but recovered in the race and found a good feeling for the bike. That makes me confident for this weekend.”

Also anxious for the ninth round at Laguna is colleague Casey Stoner, who was victorious at the circuit in his own title winning year of 2007. The Aussie is enjoying a run of three consecutive stage appearances and is getting close to finding his known form.

“Laguna is a circuit I have always liked because it's tough but great fun and it follows the natural undulations and direction changes of the land. I also enjoy the raucous but respectful atmosphere that the American fans provide,” says the 24 year old.

“Naturally I am looking for a good result but I don't want to make any predictions because recently we have been close to the front without managing to finish with the result we want. We're not far off - we just need a little more grip, stability under braking and handling, which would give us the extra tenth or two we're missing.

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Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and Monster Yamaha Tech 3 pair Ben Spies and Colin Edwards, arrived to a special showing prior to the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix this weekend, the trio visited American television personality Jay Leno’s private garage to look at his extensive car and motorcycle collection.

Lorenzo was also a guest in the audience whilst filming Leno’s ‘The Tonight Show’, and then united with his fellow MotoGP competitors, along with legends Eddie Lawson, Kenny Roberts and Wayne Rainey as guests of Leno, who showed his private collection of over 200 cars and motorcycles to the champions.

Americans Spies and Edwards had the pleasure of their families present, the rookie spoke of his aim for a second podium of the year amongst his home crowd at Laguna Seca, while Edwards was keen on receiving updates to his YZR-M1 engine. Championship leader Lorenzo is looking for more good results after having crashed at the track in his debut premier session in 2008 and arriving third last season.

Leno was given a Yamaha superbike which included a Troy Lee designed helmet, incorporating the designs of Lorenzo, Spies and Edwards.  Alpinestars leathers were also a gift to the presenter, whose collection was instantly impressed the racers.

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Rizla Suzuki competitor Loris Capirossi arrived on his Suzuki GSV-R in 11th position at the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland on Sunday, while colleague Álvaro Bautista was made to skip the second half of a race that was red flagged. Capirossi and Bautista were both challenging for top 10 places over the first part of the event, before Randy de Puniet smashed out on lap nine.

Capirossi was in close vicinity to the accident but missed the falling rider, however Bautista was not so fortunate and had to take evasive action to avoid De Puniet, but could not steer clear of the stricken Honda. The race was immediately red flagged due to De Puniet’s injuries and the three crashed motorcycles on the track – Aleix Espargaró was also involved in the incident. Sadly for Bautista and Espargaró they were unable to join the restart, due to the regulations, and had to sit out the second part of the race.

Capirossi started part two of the race from 11th on the grid, however was not able to find grip from the wheel he used for the restart.

Álvaro Bautista states, “It has been a bit of a disaster today. I didn’t start that well and I couldn’t get enough warmth in the right-side of the tyre early on. After the first few laps I managed to get a good rhythm and was able to stay with the group for top-10 positions. After nine laps Randy crashed and I had some riders in front of me and I couldn’t see where his bike was on the track, but when the other riders disappeared I saw the bike in front of me and I couldn’t do anything to avoid it, so I crashed. I then couldn’t get to the box with my bike, so I couldn’t start again. The regulation is the regulation, but in this case maybe there could’ve been an exception because I crashed because of Randy not for something I had done. We must continue learning, like we have done this weekend, because at the moment this is the most important thing.”

Loris Capirossi adds, “Overall we worked quite hard this weekend to find the best setting and we wanted to make a modification today for the race in warm-up, but unfortunately it was wet so we couldn’t try it. We decided to try a different setting in the race and some electronic modifications and in the first part of the race it worked really well. It was the best the bike had been all weekend and I had a good feeling and was sure I could get past some of the guys in front of me. After the red flag we decided to change to a used tyre from yesterday because there were no new ones left, and it just didn’t work and I had no feeling at all from the beginning until the end – zero grip! I ended up fighting with De Angelis to keep my place.

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Randy de Puniet incurred a successful two hour surgery on his left leg to insert a titanium rod, after fracturing his left tibia and fibula in a crash recently at Sachsenring.

The operation was done at a hospital in Hartmannsdorf where De Puniet was flown by helicopter from the track. LCR Honda have announced the surgery was positive, and De Puniet will exit the hospital tomorrow (Tuesday, July 20th) to commence rehabilitation.

“As riders we always risk crashing and breaking something, but it’s always when you are not thinking about crashing that you do,” says De Puniet. “When Kallio accidentally hit my leg after I crashed I immediately knew I had a serious problem. However, the surgery went very well and now I am feeling better. I want to thank Doctor Costa and all the medical staff here for the good job they did. They say that I need a six-week recovery period before starting to race again, but I will try my best to be back in Brno (August 15th).”

LCR Honda have officially confirmed that Roger Lee Hayden, younger sibling of 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky, will race the squad’s satellite RC212V at the Red Bull US Grand Prix this weekend. The agreement facilitated by American Honda, allows Roger Lee Hayden to compete in his second MotoGP event at the track after having raced there to arrive in seventh place in 2007 on a Kawasaki.

LCR Honda Team Manager Lucio Cecchinello comments, “I was a rider and injured myself several times so I understand Randy’s condition and how he feels. I am still here with him at the hospital and Doctor Costa and Doctor Ulf are very confident about his recovery. He is a tough rider and I am sure he will be back soon.”

“After yesterday’s bad news we had a meeting with Randy and Honda to take a decision for the following race,” continued Cecchinello. “Despite this unfortunate experience we decided to go on with our job and we agreed to replace Randy for the US GP. Thanks to the cooperation from Nicky Hayden and Kevin Schwantz, we went for the best choice: Roger Lee Hayden. He has plenty of experience at Laguna Seca and we will do our best to support him.”

Roger Lee Hayden adds, “First of all I want to wish Randy a speedy recovery. It’s never nice to see another rider on the sidelines due to injury. I'm very happy that LCR has chosen me to fill in for Randy this weekend at Laguna Seca. It is a track I like a lot and I hope to do a good job for the team and for all the American fans.

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Sachsenring arrives at round eight in the 2010 year.

Heading the Championship on 111 points and 17 above the others in the 125cc competition is Toni Elías, the Gresini Racing racer will look for improvements from last season as he attempts to keep his lead. His only stage appearance at the German circuit was in 2001, when he ended second.

It will be a tough race for the Spanish competitor with a talented Thomas Lüthi quickly gaining points. The Interwetten Moriwaki racer has claimed the podium in the prior three races, four times in the seven events this season which accounts as the most top three finishes of all competitors in the session. His best result at Sachsenring arrived in his 125cc World Championship title victory year of 2005 when he arrived second.

In third and fourth positions respectively are Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) and Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP), both separated by only 1 point on 77 and 76. The Spaniard was victorious from pole at Sachsenring last year, while Tomizawa gained points in the 250cc session in his first race there last season.

The top five is concluded by Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) who is on 70 points.

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Andrea Iannone finished the second and final day of the private Moto2/125cc testing at Motorland Aragón with the quickest time again, his lap of 1’55.424 was only six/hundredths slower than his prior day’s best time, now a new track record.

The Italian of the Fimmco Speed Up squad was united by three other racers under the 1’56” mark on Wednesday, Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar), Toni Elías (Gresini Racing) and Roberto Rolfo (Italtrans STR). Current 125cc World Champion Simón fell at Turn 2 but was not injured, arriving back to the circuit to finish 28 laps by 1pm, his best time put him 0.144s behind Iannone. Championship leader Elías was 0.423s further on Iannone’s time and 0.065s in front of Rolfo, whose final lap placed him fourth in the standings.

Following his recovery from surgery for his collarbone, Tom Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2) was fifth fastest with 1’56.033, whilst British racer Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) came inside the top six.  Raffaele de Rosa (Tech 3 Racing) and Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2) are also included in the top eight on day two. Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP) was 13th quickest with a tough day, he had two smashes luckily with out injury.

Swiss chassis maker Suter were on circuit again with German competitor Arne Tode, providing their squad with an redeveloped chassis design and suspension settings. Suter reported receiving good feedback on the fresh amendments.

In the 125cc session, Marc Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) was also quickest on day two with a best time of 1’58.619.

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Casey Stoner’s second recurring stage appearance at Montmeló on Sunday is another forward step in the direction that the Ducati Team racer needs to move, he feels that without a minor error on lap six, that he could have battled with Jorge Lorenzo for the win.

Following a tough start to the year, Stoner eventually claimed third position on the podium last weekend at Assen, and follows it up with a repeat performance at Catalunya on Sunday. He was in third position and challenging with Andrea Dovizioso as the duo kept close tabs on leader Lorenzo, when a minor detour off circuit sent him back to fifth.

Stoner recovered for the rest of the event to arrive third, but discusses that he had the speed to take the lead. “Without a small mistake of my own I think we could have been pushing for the lead for most of the race,” he says. “We had the pace to do that and the bike felt quite good, but unfortunately I just got the draft of both of them going into that turn, and the slipstream coming off the back of them buffered me a bit and brought the rear of the bike up. There was no way I was going to stop for that corner. So I thought it was better to play it safe and not hit anyone and finish the race.”

“I’m a little bit disappointed because I thought I could at least have been second. I thought I had the pace to close down on the front two but unfortunately I just couldn’t overtake the people in front of me and that was our biggest battle today. We’ll look forward to next week and try and solve these issues, but we’re feeling a lot more confident with the bike.”

Stoner arrived behind Dani Pedrosa, when asked about the difference between himself and the Spanish racer, he resonds, “Dani got all his exits right, he was braking quite consistently but with the gaps he was pulling out of every corner into the next one it was just impossible to close. I was already having small problems with the front end which was wanting to close, so there was no sense in going in there and risking it by doing a daring manoeuvre on the brakes and bringing us both down. It was better for me to pick my point and try and get past, but he didn’t make any mistakes and I give him credit for that.”

Looking ahead to Sachsenring, Stoner comments, “We have always had pretty good races there and I’m definitely looking forward to it after a race like this.

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