Written by:
SPEED Staff
SPEEDtv.com
PROGRAMMING NOTE: MotoGP Qualifying from Laguna Seca will air on SPEED on Saturday, July at 10:00pm ET.
Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen is looking to make it three podiums in a row at Laguna Seca this weekend as the team travels to America for the US GP.
Vermeulen heads to a track where he has enjoyed the most success in his MotoGP career - a pole position during his American Grand Prix debut at the circuit in 2006 should have been followed by at least a podium on race day, but bad luck intervened as he finished fifth. In 2007 and 2008 Vermeulen made up for that by scoring successive podiums and showing that he has become something of a Laguna Seca specialist. He will certainly be aiming to repeat - or better - last year's third place as he aims to improve on the progress he showed at Assen last weekend.
Loris Capirossi will be determined to show the American fans what he is capable of on a Suzuki after having to battle against injury at Laguna last year and never really getting comfortable on the 3,610m track. Capirossi was cruelly robbed of a hard fought sixth place last time out in the Netherlands after another rider forced him into the gravel on the last corner and will be eager to put that behind him as he continues to make improvements to the Suzuki GSV-R.
The Laguna Seca circuit is situated on the Monterey Peninsula about 160kms south of San Francisco. The track was built on a dried up lake within a field artillery target range and maneuver area belonging to the US Army and today it is part of the Monterey County Parks Department. The track features one of the most incredible turns on any racetrack in the world. The famous ‘Corkscrew': a left and right hand combination with a huge drop in elevation, where the riders feel like they are falling off the end of a cliff after reaching the turn by a blind crest on an uphill approach. It certainly is the focal point on the circuit and a place where lots of exciting action happens.
