Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Early morning showers gave way to a mostly dry afternoon at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia Thursday as factory teams finished setting up their pit areas, privateer racers made the most of promoter practice and enthusiasts rode for two hours in Team Hammer Track Ride sessions.

The factory semi-trucks arrived and parked Wednesday afternoon, leaving Thursday for pit set-up and running bikes through AMA Pro Racing technical inspection. Most of the riders for the top teams checked in with their mechanics Thursday in preparation for another hectic double-header weekend and the second of four events in a span of six weeks.

American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel arrived at the track mid-day, and according to Crew Chief Al Ludington, is “ready to go.” Duhamel had surgery to pin a fractured collarbone 11 days ago. The veteran racer suffered the injury on the last lap of the Supersport race at Infineon Raceway.

Erion Honda’s Roger Lee Hayden is back in the paddock and sporting a new scar on his left wrist following surgery in early April. Hayden broke the scaphoid bone in his left hand/wrist in a crash during practice at Daytona, made it worse by racing at California Speedway and was forced to have surgery at the hands of Dr. Arthur Ting to screw the fractured bone back together. Hayden missed the Infineon Raceway event, but speaking at Road Atlanta Thursday, Hayden said he could ride even though bending his injured wrist is difficult.

Hayden also said that older brother Nicky would not be able to attend the races at Road Atlanta this weekend.

One factor that may play to Duhamel’s and Hayden’s favor this weekend is the strong chance of rain, which may result in a less physical riding experience for the two injured competitors. According to the weather forecasts offered by local television stations Thursday, Friday looks to be the driest day with the likelihood of rain becoming stronger Saturday and the strongest chance for rain is predicted for Sunday.

The forecast did not appear to curb enthusiasm for the event. Late Thursday spectators were allowed into the facility and quickly began setting up their campsites and staking out their viewing areas. Meanwhile, Road Atlanta erected big-screen televisions in several areas of the track and put the finishing touches of the turn 11 sports bar, which is now located on rider’s left as they pass under the Suzuki bridge. A new hospitality area for event sponsor Darg Dog energy drink has been set-up in the sports bar’s original location.

Thursday’s activities started under rain, but after the first round of 30-minute practice and riding sessions ran in wet conditions, the rain stopped, the track slowly dried out and practice rain perfectly according to schedule. Rides for general media members on the two-seat Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki GSX-R1000 Formula Xtreme racebike, however, were postponed until the lunch break on Friday.

Some racers who did not participate in practice Thursday occupied themselves in various ways throughout the paddock. Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki’s Steve Rapp told friends about his recent trip to the MotoGP event at Jerez last weekend.

Rapp’s father lives in Spain, so he arranged to go to Spain, meet up with his father and attend the Grand Prix as guests of Team Suzuki. Rapp said he spent time hanging out with and getting shown around by John Hopkins, the elder and younger Kenny Roberts, Colin Edwards, Nicky Hayden, Troy Bayliss and Randy Mamola. “I was surprised by how many people I knew there,” said Rapp.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies proudly showed off a new stereo system added to his 1997 Jeep TJ5, which is already equipped with engine upgrades and off-road equipment.

Spies’ Jeep is now equipped with 12 speakers – including four, 10-inch subwoofers – and 3600 watts of amplifier power arranged in a custom installation.