Misano- MotoGP

Well its been forever since I've written and as most of you know, I'm actually home in California and have been for about a week. But I'd like to continue to write about my experience now that I have the time and hopefully it will express a more accurate depiction of the time that I had in Italy... because I've noticed that describing it to my family and friends after being home... I've been so happy to be home that its created this natural feeling of dislike for Italy when really I had some truly awesome times and seeing the Italy MotoGP was one of the greatest highlights of my trip. So here it goes! My trip to Rimini aka San Marino... aka Misano.

Ok so one of my goals in life had been to see a MotoGP in a different country. I've seen it in Monterey at Laguna Seca and those times have been fantastic but I've always been curious what it would be like to see it in a different country. Before I had even gone on this trip, I was drooling at the notion of what it would be like and I was not dissapointed at Misano!

As my time was coming to a close in Italy, I really didn't know for sure if I would be able to afford going to the MotoGP but my friends had encouraged me and said to me "Laura... seriously you gotta do this. If this is something you gotta do in your lifetime and you're this close, you gotta do it!" Everything had to be played pretty tight though. My funds through my credit card and everything else were running low and the family I worked for gave me so little money. Fortunately for me it was just enough cash, and in Italy cash is king! The only thing I prepaid in advance was my ticket for the race, and 2 euro down on the hostel I would be staying at in Rimini. I had very little leeway between how much I could really afford and the time I could spend there and consequently everything was spur of the moment. I bought my train tickets the day of at the train station and was off on my trip!

So I took the train to Rimini on the Adriatic Coast of Italy, which is north eastern coast side of Italy not too far below Venice. When I had gotten to Rimini, I had to take a bus to my hostel and by this time I was still excited but exhausted. The hostel I stayed at was a bit strange, apparently it was supposed to be "Vulcan" weekend (for those of you who remember Spock is a Vulcan). I tended to find more though that perhaps the Beatles were staying there as every male had his hair cut like they were the Beatles and the music playing sounded very similar to Beatles. I can't tell you how weird it is to see Italians dressed like Brits, its just too un-natural! I didn't fit in with this crowd so I went to bed early, about 9:30 and woke up early for my big day at the race track.

The next morning when I woke up, it was an absolute beautiful day. I was used to the weather being SO hot and humid that having a nice cool breeze with a few clouds was just wonderful. When I had gone downstairs I managed to find some Rossi fans that were English and they seemed to know what they were doing so I tagged along with them. The free shuttle bus we took was filled to the brim with mostly English speaking people from all over the world, almost all had Rossi shirts on. It was very strange for me to hear so much English, I was used to hearing Italian. As we passed people in the streets, they all yelled "ROSSI!! ROSSI!" and so began my day of Rossi mania!

Everywhere at the circuit, there are nothing but Rossi fans. It was crazy! There was sooo many people too, it was nothing like Laguna. I had this excitement in my stomach, butterflies... it was like I was doing my own trackday. When I had gotten inside, I was supposed to sit in the grass areas, but there was almost nowhere to sit! It was already full of people and their eyes all glued to the track. Soon after I had arrived the practice session for the 800ccGP riders had begun and everyone stood on their feet to see Rossi. The noise from so many cheers and the horns and everything else going on was incredible. I took many pictures of the practice session of all my favorite riders, its so crazy how far they lean their bikes over almost dragging their whole legs on the pavement. I was surprised that many Italians seemed to like Nicky Haydn, the American on a Ducati.

I walked around for a bit and purchased a Lorenzo t-shirt which I put on right away. For those of you who don't know, Jorge Lorenzo is a Spaniard who is Valentino Rossi's teammate but also his rival. Both are fantastic riders, Italy is Valentino's homeland though so wearing a Lorenzo shirt was about as blasphemous as you could get! There were times when I got boo'd and jeered for my support of Lorenzo but it was all good and fun.

I found a nice spot that was close to the track where I could take some nice pictures. I think they speak for themselves really. The actual race was not altogether very exciting, it was all about the people around me. Italians love their Italian riders and are always very expressive about who they like and dislike. The crowd would go from an uproar, to boos and jeering... always cheering of course for their favorite Italian riders though with lots of horns. Imagine you are amongst a huge crowd of people and their is non stop noise, and the only thing you can hear above the people is sound of motorcycles zooming by. It was bloody fantastic! Rossi of course won his race and his fans are so crazy they climb the fences and run out onto the racetrack the moment the race is finished. In America I think the security guards would have arrested those people but in Italy it seemed like commonplace. Everyone rushed to track to see Rossi, I didn't get to stay too much longer as I had a train to catch.

I made it back to my train with 10 minutes to spare and I made it back to Rome that night with no problems whatsoever.

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