Tricky Track Draws Rossi’s Concern

World championship motorcycle road racing returned to Laguna Seca on Friday, luring a crowd estimated at 38,000 for practice for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, but bringing some criticism from the top rider in the field.

Valentino Rossi, the magnet drawing most of those fans to Round 8 of the MotoGP championship series, expressed concern about the safety of the track.

“This track is pretty dangerous in many points, but there are some places where it’s very, very dangerous,” the six-time world champion said.

“If we don’t make some changes to this track for the future, we might not be able to race here again.”

Rossi said he and other riders planned to meet to discuss the safety issues.

Track officials did not respond to Rossi’s comments.

Rossi rode his Yamaha cautiously and studied the tricky, treacherous 11-turn, 2.238-mile hillside course. The Italian superstar, who has started on the pole in four of the seven MotoGP events this year, will be favored today when the 23 riders qualify for Sunday’s 32-lap race.

Because this is the first time since 1994 that the world championship has been at Laguna Seca, and because the track has so many turns and almost no straightaway, race officials gave riders an extra hour of practice to learn their way around.

Nicky Hayden, 2002 national superbike champion before moving up to Grand Prix, had the day’s fastest lap, 95.874 mph on the Repsol Honda. It was here that the Owensboro, Ky., rider notched the first of his 35 American Motorcyclist Assn. wins, in 1998 in the 750 supersport class. He also won the Laguna Seca round of the 2000 superbike series before moving on to Grand Prix competition.

Hayden’s speed, though unofficial, was the fastest ever recorded on a motorcycle on the course. Ben Bostrom of Las Vegas had a 94.891-mph lap last year in superbike qualifying.

Second fastest was Troy Bayliss, an Australian who raced here with the AMA, followed by Max Biaggi of Italy, the only rider among the top six with no experience at the track. Next was Alex Barros, a Brazilian veteran who finished second to John Kocinski in the 1994 USGP. He is the only rider from that race in today’s field.

Edwards, from Conroe, Texas, and Suzuki rider John Hopkins, of Ramona, Calif., were fifth and sixth.