2008 RedBull Indy GP - Race Day!

We watched the weather report on Sunday morning with great interest. On Saturday, the prediction had been for increasing clouds and thunderstorms, some heavy, through out the afternoon. They couldn't have been more wrong as Saturday was hot and sunny all day. So when we saw the prediction of the remnants of hurricane Ike hitting the track midday we thought, "Yeah, right. They said that yesterday, too." Well, this time they got things exactly right. Morning warmup wasn't too bad. Little spits of rain here and there, but nothing of any big concern. The white IMS poncho was a popular purchase at the souvenir booths as was evident by their numerous appearances in the stands. However, unlike what I usually see during a wet day for the 500, many of the riders were far better prepared than having a glorified trash bag to throw over themselves. Note for next year: get wet weather riding gear for the track. That stuff looks great! Expensive, perhaps, but they sure looked far less miserable than the rest of us.


The first race of the day was the Red Bull Rookie Cup, which was an exciting race to watch. Unfortunately, the AMA riders didn't fare so well this race after taking 1st and 2nd in Saturday's race. After a yummy lunch of track fries and an giant breaded tenderloin (YUM!) we got ready to watch the 125cc race. The weather started out ok, but the track was wet and we had expected to see a lot of riders off in the gravel. However, we were surprised to see that the miscues were minimal, fewer even than one would expect during a dry race. Although the weather started out ok, things deteriorated rapidly eventually bringing a halt to the race! The wind was starting to get really bad and the rain was coming down in sheets. Well, I say coming 'down' when really it was coming in sideways! This was the worst weather conditions I'd ever seen at the speedway, including the 2005 Indy 500 when a tornado warning was issued at the end of the race! The National Weather Service had issued a high wind warning for the Indianapolis area that was supposed to terminate at 3pm, right before the MotoGP race, but it kept getting extended and turned out to be valid for most of the day. As a result of the storm, the 250cc race was postponed until after the MotoGP race.


As per usual, when it rains at IMS, the fans all seek refuge under the grandstands. The place was completely packed in! During the 500, many fans walk back to their cars and just leave, since with the conditions that we had on Sunday would have brought a complete halt to any IndyCar action. These riders, though, will ride in any kind of dry or wet weather, so the race was still on.

At long last, the weather finally broke and we made our way back to our seats, and the MotoGP race did NOT disappoint! Nicky Hayden (as close to a local boy as you can get being from KY) started 4th, but stormed through the field with a great start passing defending world champion Casey Stoner right in front of us to take over 2nd place on the first lap. In turn one of the second lap, Nicky passed Dovizioso for the race lead, a lead he would retain for the majority of the race. Every lap that Nicky would come by, there was enormous jubilation from the fans!


Valentino Rossi would eventually catch and overtake Nicky, but he would hold onto 2nd place with fading tyres as the remnants of Hurricane Ike came back for another round. The debris blowing around the Speedway was terrible, many of the grandstand flags were ripped from their flagpoles, many a poncho found their way onto the racing surface, and the power went out in many parts of the Speedway including the scoring pylon! At lap 20, the MotoGP race was terminated, and the 250cc race was canceled. I was particularly disappointed about the 250cc race as I'd really hoped to see a real bar-brawl of a race, and my fav 250 rider, Hector Barbara, was on pole and very quick all weekend. Oh well, what can you do? Some fans have been grumbling loudly about truncated 125cc and MotoGP races saying they didn't get what they paid for. Sounds to me like those "fans" only came out on Sunday. The tickets were well worth the price for us, and we enjoyed three days of great on-track action at the greatest motorsports facility in the world! We're definitely coming back next year!



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