Well, it looks like the worst news I’ll have this week is that Mighty Casey will miss the next few races due to non-injury health issues. More details are at MotoGp.com or John’s World (www.roadracingworld.com).
Sucks for those of us heading to Indy to see our heroes, and has big implications for the points chase the rest of the year. Hopefully his doctors down under will be able to glean what afflicts him (free sticker if you tell me what that quote is from.) Having had my own mystery illness a couple years back which took a long time to diagnose and longer to treat, I have a lot of sympathy for him, especially since he was in pretty good form and the next few tracks are friendly to the GP9. Our best wishes to the Champ, heal up quick!
We still have a few tickets for the Project Mugello seats for the Indy Red Bull GP. If you’ve never been to an international race, you deserve to go to treat yourself to this one! Last year, weather notwithstanding, we had a fabulous time and got to see Nicky Hayden hauling the mail through some of the most atrocious met conditions ever. The local hero Nicky will be there this year and looking forward to seeing him showing what he can do at the brickyard. Don’t miss the festivities and if you go don’t forget the Indy Mile on Saturday night, a very American form of racing that is the great race- and people-watching event of the US season.
Indy is only a day’s ride from us here in the Southeast- several of us will be leaving Thursday morning to take the long way through North Georgia, Tennessee, and the Kentucky hill country, it’s a gorgeous ride. Come and ride with us! It’s about 700 miles if you go the indirect route the way will be going but you’re welcome to split off anytime you want and we’ll be doing about 500 miles the first day and then zipping into Indianapolis on Friday morning to give us a chance to rest and refit before the track festivities on Friday afternoon and evening. Red Bull always puts on a great show. There are events scheduled downtown and in Broad Ripple as well as track and Ducati Owner’s Club events all over the place. Hotels are reasonable, especially for those used to the extortionist Laguna pricing, and while we don’t have the Pacific nearby, there are waves in the cornfields too and the city really turns out to support the racing.
Speaking of which, you’ll notice your Ducati tickets (you do have them, right?) contain a blue wristband that gives you free parking on the back straight. That’s a good thing, but a better thing is to park either in the Museum/giftshop lot or better still in the Ducati Island area, which will require a red Ducati wristband. These are available either in the Ducati Island area with proper Ducati ownership documentation _or_ ahead of time at my friend Bill Carr’s dealership in town, Ducati Indianapolis. They’ll also be having shindigs and whatnot most of the weekend, so that’s the hookup for today. Stop by and tell them I sent you.
Only a couple short weeks til it’s time to head out-don’t miss the GP, it is the coolest spectacle! This is racing at it’s best. I’m starting to get psyched and trying to figure out what I’m riding. Might have to Motard it. But a tour-test of the Streetfighter sounds like fun too. Decisions, decisions.
Seeyou there!
PB
