Beer, Wine, Racing and Good Company

Sorry for the delay in the updating. I guess the price of fame has it's downside (there goes that British self deprecating humour again...) and I think it's my mind. There's nothing worse than getting to your hotel after an awkward 120 mile from the Central Coast, only to find that early onset of senility has set in and in fact you booked your hotel for the same weekend that you were at Fontana. "No really" I said to Sarah on the front desk, I have the confirmation here (after running out to the parking lot to get my laptop), only to be shot down in flames when my wife pointed out that indeed Mr Organised here had booked this hotel for the same weekend as Fontana. Oh well.

Anyways, this weekend was a lot of fun, in part because my wife comes with me on this trip and this time I even gave her a camera (a 1DMK2N and 70-200f2.8) and after some brief instruction just said take some pictures of what you see, have fun. She did and this was one of her shots. I think it's pretty impressive for a first time out, even with the hay bales!Infineon is always a good weekend. The vibe within the media centre is good. John Cardinale, Diana and Chuckie the Chief Track Photographer work hard to make sure everyone can do their job, so thank you. What no one was prepared for was the heat on Friday. Oh my, the week before all of us were being mildly roasted and blow dried in Fontana. Friday, in Sonoma, we were being broiled. On Saturday, following the Superbike race, Mat Mladin actually said what many folks had been thinking about the possible outcome of next year, to which many folks clapped and whooped, but so much has been said elsewhere I don't need to re-iterate. Sunday arrives, and everything, and everyone is a lot cooler (including Mat...).One thing I would like to say is a big congratulations to Danny Eslick,who came in third during Sunday's Supersport race. Nice work mate. We'll see everyone in Utah. World Superbike and the AMA Superbike series are coming together. It's going to be a very busy weekend.

Cold Hands and Woolly Jumpers - Testing Sheep

Onto testing...
Sonoma is one of those areas that is into the alternative resource lifestyle, be it organic produce, meats, dairy and of course beer and wine. It is also close to the home where Yamaha riders Eric and Ben Bostrom grew up.With that in mind, how cool is it when a racetrack allows animals to clear grasses that grow abundantly around the racetrack. That's what they do at Infineon Raceway near Sonoma. Yes they use sheep! How truly wonderful. It also makes for a pleasant lunch break, simply unwrap your packed lunch, sit up on the hills and let the bleating surround you. Wonderful. At Laguna Seca (above), Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasaki were in attendance. At Infineon, all the factory teams bar Erion Honda were there. As is the case the weather at Laguna was wonderful, albeit very windy and cold. At Infineon, it was a bit muddy weather wise. Fortunately dry but the sun couldn't make up it's mind.Sometimes I do forget how far Infineon Raceway is from my home in Capitola. However, I never ever get tired of driving over the Golden Gate Bridge. You would never think that, especially as I have lived here in California for 18 years this coming September. But each time I drive the bridge I'm reminded of the opening sequence of the "Streets of San Francisco", the TV show with Michael Douglas and Karl Malden.  With similar nostalgia, I'm also reminded of how my grandmother could never cook fish fingers properly, as we would always watch "The Streets of San Francisco" at her house at tea time on Saturday afternoons when I was a little boy growing up in the UK.  They'd be still frozen in the middle.  Sort of like a modern day fish popsicle.  I'd still eat them though, not wanting to be ungrateful.

Oh...and for something different, here's some video shot with a Canon G9 from the Laguna Seca test.


That's all from me for now. AutoMotoPhoto® is updated with some images from testing. Next week I'm off to Barber Motorsports Park near Leeds in Alabama. Looks like there's going to be a race a happenen'