2007 Red Bull U.S.G.P. - No Hat Trick - Pit Pass

The '07 Red Bull U.S.G.P. had all the makings of a third straight victory by an American rider at his home event. The obvious favorite was reigning MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden, who was coming off two consecutive podium finishes in the Dutch and German GPs leading up to the Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca round and already had a perfect record at the Monterey, California, circuit since the MotoGP series returned to the U.S.

As Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins hits the ground, Nicky Hayden manages to stay aboard his Repsol Honda after their collision in Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca's second turn. Hayden's race was soon over, with brake problems caused by the altercation, although he admitted that, "We still would've been in trouble with the tire situation."

But there were plenty of other American riders ready to pounce in case Hayden faltered. Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins was having his best season ever, scoring his first podium in the premier class at the Chinese round, and had been consistently among the front-runners at every race. Colin Edwards II, Valentino Rossi's teammate on the Fiat Yamaha squad, was also finishing strongly in the '07 season (including scoring a second place at the British GP) and looked to finally get his due in front of his home fans.

Casey Stoner

Ducati Desmosedici GP7

Although Bridgestone riders dominated the podium at Laguna, it appears the situation may have been dicey for them as well-take a close look at second-place finisher Vermeulen's rear Bridgestone tire on the cool-down lap.

There was even a temporary influx of homegrown AMA talent for this particular Grand Prix. In what could easily be interpreted as a tryout for a future MotoGP ride, Kawasaki brought out a third ZX-RR for the youngest Hayden brother, Roger Lee, who was busy riding for the Monster Kawasaki AMA team in the Supersport class, but sat out the Superbike race at Laguna. Then, an injury to rider Toni Elias forced the Gresini Honda team to scramble for a replacement, with the ride at Laguna going to AMA veteran Miguel Duhamel.

None of that mattered to the steamroller that is Casey Stoner and the Ducati Desmosedici GP7. The revelation of the '07 MotoGP season-where he had already won six out of the first 11 races up to that point-Stoner basically stamped his authority over the course of the weekend, by dominating practice, qualifying and the race at Laguna, where he took over the lead from fast starter Dani Pedrosa after two corners; he never looked back en route to winning by almost 10 seconds. Fellow Australian Chris Vermeulen on the Rizla Suzuki hung tough for the first half of the race but eventually had to settle for second, while Marco Melandri came back from a nasty qualifying crash involving Kurtis Roberts to finish a very well-deserved third place. Melandri later discovered he had fractured his ankle in the qualifying incident. Valentino Rossi struggled all weekend with tire grip and was only able to salvage fourth place.

Monster Kawasaki's Roger Lee Hayden was given a golden opportunity to race the Kawasaki ZX-RR MotoGP machine, and the youngest Hayden brother made the most of it, finishing a well-deserved 10th despite minimal time to get accustomed to the bike and tires.

Although very lucky to escape serious injury in this high-speed crash on the exit of Turn Six during Friday practice, the incident was typical of how Valentino Rossi's weekend went. The Fiat Yamaha rider struggled (in practice, qualifying and the race) to find the speed necessary to challenge the leaders; he finished fourth, losing further ground to Stoner in the championship.

Another AMA regular that was given a chance to race MotoGP at Laguna was American Honda's Miguel Duhamel, sub- bing for the injured Toni Elias on the Gresini Honda RC212V. The first time Duhamel even saw the bike was the Friday practice, so his lack of acclimation time resulted in the veteran French Canadian never really feeling comfortable, and he pulled in on the 11th lap.

And what of the Americans? Unfortunately, the race basically ended at the second corner for Nicky Hayden and John Hopkins. Both riders got good starts and were within the top five as the pack hurtled into Laguna's tight and slow Turn Two. The pair collided just past the turn apex, however, with Hopkins ending up on the ground and Hayden staying upright but suffering from a damaged brake line that eventually ended his day prematurely; Hopkins remounted and soldiered on to finish 15th for a single championship point. Edwards suffered from similar tire grip problems to Rossi and was never in the hunt, finishing in 11th place. Duhamel could never get comfortable on the Gresini Honda RC212V, and after circulating at the back of the pack, he pulled in on the 11th lap.

"Even though the MotoGP is probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Duhamel said, "I didn't want to just ride around there and mess up the race for somebody." Kurtis Roberts-who was called in to replace his brother Kenny Jr. on the Honda-powered Team Roberts KR212V-had a similarly short race, pulling in after a few laps with brake problems.

There was one bright spot for the U.S. contingent, however. Despite very limited time on the Kawasaki ZX-RR MotoGP machine and Bridgestone tires (instead of the ZX-10R superbike and Dunlop tires he usually rides on), Roger Lee Hayden impressed many with his spirited ride to 10th place, only losing out on 9th place to veteran Alex Barros at the final corner. It's a fair bet to say the youngest Hayden's future in MotoGP will come sooner rather than later.

Seventeen-year-old Josh Herrin (46) gave Monster Kawasaki's Roger Lee Hayden all he could handle in the AMA Supersport race, but Hayden stalked the Yamaha rider on the last lap and out-braked him into the last corner for the victory.

Aaron Yates (20) scored the Jordan Suzuki team's first AMA Superbike podium after a thrilling race-long dice with Honda-mounted Miguel Duhamel (17) and Neil Hodgson (100).

Yoshimura Suzuki's Ben Spies made it known that he'd like to move to MotoGP soon, and his performance in the AMA Superbike race didn't hurt his cause. Spies holeshot the field and immediately pulled a lead that rival and teammate Mat Mladin could do nothing about, due to the latter's poor start.