Riders for Health always brings their best for the Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca round of the FIM MotoGP World Championship series – also known as the USGP. The race itself has been held annually outside of Salinas, California, since 2005; the Riders for Health “Day of Stars” started to take part in the festivities in 2007 making this year’s event the fourth annual. Every year they offer a US$500 (tax-deductable if you are in the right tax bracket) ticket which includes an entire day of activities hosted by he great people of Riders and stalwart supporter and co-founder Randy Mamola, a dedicated man if ever there were one. The award-winning charity only makes a limited number of tickets available, though, so always pick one up early.
The Day of Stars consists of several riding-based activities and an auction. Everything starts
on the Thursday before the MotoGP weekend, which fell on 22 July in 2010, at 8:00 AM sharp – in fact, you should be there early! It begins with a very delicious breakfast buffet set up at your HQ for the day inside the Turn 4 VIP Suite dining area. About 45 minutes later you are finally briefed on the exact details of the day’s schedule. After some time to get to the bathroom, brush your teeth, and get your gear sorted, you depart the Pit parking area and begin your ride through the Carmel Valley wine country. Mamola rides along with you as you tackle some of the most scenic and flowing roads in the state at a relaxing but fun pace. Everyone should make it safely back to the circuit at around 1:00 PM.
At 1:30 PM the fun really begins as you sit down to have lunch with past and present Grand Prix racers and other celebrities. Lunch is over around an hour later and the group heads over to Laguna Seca’s MotoGP paddock and pit lane for a special up-close tour – not something accorded to many other race fans. After you see the high-end million-plus dollar prototype machines which will be racing on the circuit come Sunday, you get to take your slightly tamer street bike out on the track for some parade laps. Even people without motorcycles get to take to the black ribbon of asphalt – and the Corkscrew - in a van to experience it first hand. After the turn at the track, the group will return to the Turn 4 VIP Suites for the Riders for Health auction.
The auction is actually open to anyone – the free drinks stop before it starts, though – and there are some rather coveted items on offer here. Among the items available, there were race-worn boots from Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner and Randy de Puniet, photos from Mick Walker and others, and work from several talented artists – all of it autographed by the subject and up for sale. Various MotoGP stars stopped by during the auction and helped out by giving short interviews and then signing shirts or personal items for the auction – along with signing plenty of free autographs for the serious fans in attendance. This year saw the Pramac Ducati team pair of Mika Kallio and Aleix Espargaro – for both of them this is the first race at Laguna Seca - stop by at the beginning and both were full of character and anecdotes which brought much laughter from the crowd. They signed shirts and those were quickly and successfully auctioned for large sums - a very good thing for Riders and their work. Next up was Alvaro Bautista from the Rizla Suzuki team. He came by with a special set of (autographed) gloves from his fifth place finish at the Catalan Grand Prix held at Catalunya in Spain during the first weekend in July 2010. It was a mark of great generosity for him to offer such an item – racers can be very superstitious, so you know they meant something to him. And, given the final price, they were quite dear to many people with money in their wallets as well.
Though the event schedule remains almost identical each year, as usual, this year’s event was special and even unique. 
It’s the best laid plans…And, that is what makes it worthwhile to attend at least one Riders for Health Day of Stars if not more. Every Dollar/Euro/Pound of the money you spend there goes to help a wonderful, almost miraculous, effort to bring health care to some of the most remote places on Earth. If you have yet to participate, head on over to riders.org and sign up for the newsletter so you have a chance at joining in next year. It is worth much more than the price of admission…and say hello to Randy for me.
BTW: Check out the sweet kicks on Espargaro (green/pink/white) and Bautista (green/pink/white/blue)…very fashionable.
