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Laguna Seca is nestled in hills that surround the Monterey coastline where in the 19th century whaling was one of the biggest businesses in town. Nowadays, tourism is the bedrock of the local economy - but this weekend WorldSBK comes to town and hunting is back on the menu.

Courtesy of a 66 point lead in the standings, Jonathan Rea is the man with the target on his back and the likes of Chaz Davies and Tom Sykes are the hunters. They won't be armed with boats and arrows, however - their mounts are much more impressive and with a big crowd expected this weekend it should be a fantastic spectacle.

Laguna Seca is without doubt one of the world's greatest race tracks. It's one of the venues that excites the entire paddock and this weekend's racing looks set to be a great advertisement for everything that makes WorldSBK so exciting.

Depsite Rea's championship lead, it will be the Ducati of Chaz Davies that will start as the favourite. The Welshman has raced at the Californian track in MotoGP, the American championships and WorldSBK and his double win last year were the start of a terrific run of form for Davies. This year he has consistently been one of the closest challengers to Jonathan Rea but his results at Misano put a dent in his title challenge - now he is focusing on winning races for the rest of the year to cut that deficit.

Davies has shown time and again that he is a very dangerous competitor. When he has been backed into a corner he has been exceptionally competitive and he will be keen to enter the summer break on the back of some serious Californian success.

Sykes is in a similar situation, with the Kawasaki rider having proven again this year that he can be almost unbeatable when he has his bike working as he needs it. His Thai and Malaysian wins stand out amongst the most impressive rides of the season. The problem for Sykes has been consistency and he needs to mark this weekend with wins, otherwise the scales in the Kawasaki garage will not tip back his way in 2016.

Beyond Davies and Sykes, the Honda and Yamaha riders will be confident of a strong weekend. Nicky Hayden is the man not to be underestimated at Laguna Seca. His local knowledge played a key role in claiming two MotoGP wins and the American has had an impressive start to his rookie campaign, taking a first podium in Assen and following it up not long after with a maiden win in Sepang. With a whole new bike and new tyres to learn in his first year in WorldSBK, his rookie campaign has been impressive so far. His performances when compared to his teammate, Michael van der Mark, have been eye catching at times and now Hayden will feel that he has the experience to be able to push forward and take more podiums, added to the home advantage of racing in front of the American crowd. Simply put, the man with the most experience at Laguna now has a lot more experience of his bike, team and tyres – and the combination could prove another firework display to round out the recent 4^th of July celebrations in the US.

For his teammate van der Mark, Misano saw him back on the rostrum after a relatively difficult run of form. The Dutch rider, in only his second year in WorldSBK, has had podiums and pole positions and will go into this round expecting to challenge for a fifth rostrum finish. The Honda has made huge steps this season and should be a competitive package around Laguna Seca.

The blue bikes of Yamaha have had a difficult season up to now upon their return to the WorldSBK paddock. Both Alex Lowes and Sylvain Guintoli have had more than their fair share of injuries and with Guintoli still injured, the burden will fall on Lowes to challenge for the Japanese marque's first podium of the season. Lowes has been riding well this year despite fracturing his shoulder and collarbone. The Englishman missed his home round but the performance of the bike at Donington Park will give Yamaha plenty of hope that they might break their duck this weekend.

During the Californian Gold Rush, there were hundreds of thousands of people that came west in search of striking it lucky and hitting the jackpot of a gold reserve. This weekend the WorldSBK paddock flies westward with 50 points up for grabs. Like the miners in search of their fortunes, there will only be a select few that strike gold this weekend as WorldSBK takes on the 3.6km Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.