McLaren, Maserati, Mercedes, And MotoAmerica, Oh My!
In was an honor for MotoAmerica to be invited to participate in the Velocity Invitational, which took place this past weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. The three-day celebration of speed featured pretty much every iconic race car that you could imagine, and eight MotoAmerica riders also got to do demonstration laps on track, including four-time AMA Superbike Champion, two-time Formula Xtreme Champion, and 750 SuperStock Josh Hayes; AMA Superbike Champion, MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 Champion, and Daytona 200 winner Josh Herrin; two-time MotoAmerica Stock 1000 Champion Andrew Lee; MotoAmerica Supersport Champion Bobby Fong; MotoAmerica Mission King Of The Baggers Champion Kyle Wyman; MotoAmerica multiple race winner and Mission King Of The Baggers rider Travis Wyman; MotoAmerica Superbike team owner and rider David Anthony; and Mission King Of The Baggers and Hooligans Series rider Frankie Garcia.
We sent our intrepid photographer Brian J. Nelson to the Velocity Invitational to capture the color, excitement, and pageantry of the event, and here’s a sample of what BJN saw and photographed:
The starting grid for MotoAmerica’s demonstration laps with three Superbikes, a streetbike, three King Of The Baggers bikes, and a Hooligan bike all lined up and ready to launch.A Ferrari 250 GTO. By the way, the GTO stands for “Gran Turismo Omologato” or “Grand Touring Homologated.”A pack of snarling, modern-day Ford GT supercars laps the dry lagoon.A classic Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR gets a little sideways through the Corkscrew.The Team Camoradi Maserati Tipo 61 “Birdcage.” This bird has flown.The Dan Gurney All American Racer Toyota MKIII as raced in IMSA GT by Juan Manuel Fangio II and PJ Jones. That ain’t no Prius.Ford CEO Jim Farley gets a few pointers from Harley-Davidson factory rider Travis Wyman on how to muscle a King Of The Baggers race bike. Lean her over, Jim.The Vodaphone McLaren MP4-27 Formula One race car. It takes a team of 10 technicians just to start the machine, and when it goes, it really goes.Mario Andretti’s iconic Lotus John Player Special Formula One race car. Smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em. The tires, we mean.Talk about iconic. Is there anything more so than a Porsche 917 in blue-and-orange Gulf livery? No, there is not.Jake Gagne’s 2021 HONOS Superbike Championship-winning Fresh N’ Lean Attack Performance Yamaha YZF-R1 leads the way onto the front straight at Laguna Seca with guest rider Josh Hayes behind the bubble.Niki Lauda’s Ferrari 312 T2 Formula One machine. Can you say “Rush”? We knew that you could.
