Day 4, Practice and Qualifying Day

We arrived at the track at 7am this morning, very early, but we knew the day would be jam-packed with activities. We checked into the Corner 9 Hospitality facility and got breakfast. After breakfast we took advantage of our paddock passes, walking literally “behind the scenes” where all the action is.

We were even allowed behind the fencing where the public can not go, right next to the riders’ campers. Rob shouted a hello to Hiroshi Aoyama, who amazingly was back riding this weekend after cracking his spine just nine weeks ago.

We also saw Colin Edwards with his cool t-shirt gun shooting shirts over to fans.
We then watched the second Free Practice for all 3 classes: 125cc, Moto2, and MotoGP. The view from our seat location was excellent, unobstructed by any fencing since we were almost in the top row.

After lunch we watched qualifying for MotoGP. It was a 60-minute session, as usual with the last 15 minutes being the most exciting as the riders push the limits for the fastest times. Star Valentino Rossi wrecked out nearly in front of us. He hung out for five minutes watching the rest of qualifying until he could catch a ride back to the garage. We had a great location to see the riders that crashed out getting rides back to the paddock.

For the first time in his rookie MotoGP career, American Ben Spies qualified first and will start tomorrow’s 2010 Red Bull Indianapolis GP from pole position. The entire track was alive with excitement, even people who don’t follow MotoGP knew that something special had happened.

Our favorite, Nicky Hayden, will be starting from third position, placing two of the three Americans on the front row!

After qualifying, we sped over to the Brickyard Crossing to line up for the Lap of Champions as part of the PBTF’s Ride for Kids event. We got there just as everyone was gearing up, with former champion Kevin Schwantz leading the pack.

Our lap around the track was truly the highlight of the day, if not potentially the entire trip. We entered near turn 5, feeling that we were truly experiencing a once in a lifetime moment, with the track crew waving colorful flags for us in celebration. We were amazed at how tight some of the turns are, going only 20 mph when the racers typically go three times that! We were able to feel every bump and ridge in the track. On a few turns, Rob leaned the Goldwing into the corners.

On the last turn before the front straight, Rob smugly remarked, “Hmph! That’s the turn Dani Pedrosa pitched it away last year—it wasn’t that hard!” Coming down the front stretch in front of the grandstands, we were all smiles envious of what the riders experience in a real race, albeit 150 mph slower! We got amazing video footage of the entire event, which took us only 6 minutes.
Rob said if he could shave off 4 minutes 20 seconds, he’d be on pole position! To put the speed in perspective, the MotoGP riders would have lapped us three times at that rate! We wish we could have gone around another time, but we’ll have to wait for next year.

After dinner, we made our way over to the Indiana State Fair Grounds to watch flat track action at the Indy Mile. The racing at the Indy Mile was awesome. Both single and twin cylinder motorcycles roar around this one mile dirt track reaching speeds over 100mph.

As a special bonus, Nicky Hayden was the grand marshall of the event. He came out and actually raced around the track five or so times. What a blast! The attendance at the track was packed, and it was special to see how much the locals love this sport. We didn’t get back until 1am, so tired from the day that Michele said she was too tired to blink!

As the photo curiosity of the day, Michele saw this "odd" building across the street from our restaurant.