The racing weekend that was - UPDATED

MotoGP at Le Mans:

At a race that saw reigning world champion and Ausie rider Casey Stoner announce his retirement from racing at the end of 2012, another great stepped forward and confirmed that his retirement would be just two seasons away, at least, so thought the seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi before the race.

Lorenzo on his way to win at Le Mans

On Race Sunday, Yamaha star Jorge Lorenzo delivered a rain-riding masterclass and so regained the MotoGP World Championship lead.

At the beginning of the race, Lorenzo was able to pull away from second place rider Casey Stoner, who had to wait for his tires to generate sufficient heat. When they did, Lorenzo was long gone!

During the middle stages of the race the Ausie was able to reel in the Spaniard, cutting the lead to just three seconds, but Stoner was unable to keep the pace, and to add insult to injury, had to redirect his attention to a fast charging Valentino Rossi.

Rossi passing Stoner for 2nd

This would turn into one of those epic battles (Jerez 2011) in the rain, with them swapping positions to the crowds delight. After Rossi had put a move on Stoner at the chicane and the Ausie answering back in kind in the next corner, Rossi made the same pass stick just a couple of laps later. At this point, the stands errupt into cheers as "the Professor's" fans are at each race, especially after the he struggled so much with the Ducati's performance.

At the end of the race, as the fans made their way onto the track, the Italian superstar stopped at each corner to salute them. Lorenzo had won the race, but to the fans, Rossi was the ultimate winner riding on a Ducati.

And as the icing on the cake, Rossi and Schumi feature in a Monster Le Mans Movie, Monster was the main sponsors of the race. To watch it click here.

The next race will be the Gran Premio Aperol de Catalunya on June 3, 2012. for more information, click here.


Nascar, at Charlotte for the All-Star:
Last Saturday night, Nascar had its All Star race and what a culmination to a week's long festivities it was. The field consisted of Sprint Cup race winners from 2011 and 2012, along with the previous cup's winners and All-Star champions of previous years. So all top notch proven drivers. And to top it off, this was not a points-paying race, so the drivers would have nothing to loose.

There would be four 20-lap segments with the leaders of each segment taking the four leading spots for the final 10-lap dash at the end. By the way, the race winner would take home a cool one million dollars.

The first segment's winner was Jimmy Johnson, last weeks race winner as well. On lap 15 he was able to take the high line through turn four to swoop past Kyle Busch for the lead. As Johnson had secured the pole position for the final segment, he dropped way back at the start of the second segment to stay out of trouble and keep the car in tip-top shape.

The second segment went to Matt Kenseth, who was able chase down Denny Hamlin, who had a great start. During this segment, 2011 All-Star race winner Carl Edwards engine let go and caused him to drop out. However, since he's close with the Nascar announcers, he went back the booth (called Hotel) and helped them with insight and commentary. (In what other form of Motorsport, and at this level, do you find this?)

The third segment went to Brad Keselowski, as he won over Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart. Kahne pulled up to Brad's rear bumper towards the end of the sement, but could not find a way to get passed.

The fourth and final 20 lap segment was won by Dale Earnhardt Jr, who passed Kurt Busch going down he back stretch three laps into the race. AJ Allmendinger and Kasey Kahn quickly followed Dale Jr. until the race was abruptly halted by another Ford letting go. This time it was Carl Edward's teammate Greg Biffle's car that blew up in unequivocal fiery fashion.

Now, instead of me telling you what happened in the final segment, the ten lap shootout, the folk at Nascar are such great petrol heads that they allow their races to be shown on YouTube. Below you will find the video of the last segment (the race ends in just a couple of minutes).



Again, I must commend Nascar for not just their competitive racing series but ensuring it is the most entertaining one as well.

The next race is this Saturday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway, for the Coca-Cola 600. The race starts at 5.30 pm and will be televised by FOX.

NHRA, at Topeka:
Grubnic, Beckman, and Johnson got Wally's at the Dollar General Summernationals at Heartland Park Topeka.

Grubnic (near lane)  wins of Massey

In Top Fuel, Australian native Dave Grubnic edged Spenser Massey at the finish line and got his first win since 2006. The win against DSR put a big smile on teamowner/tuner Connie Kalita face.

Even though the air quality was great for the semi's and final round, the proper track setup remained elusive for many T/F and F/C crew chiefs. On a side note, Steve Torrence put on a hell of a drive when he saved his rail when it lost traction and got completely sideways, almost to the point of no return. A great driving job!

Beckman (far lane) defeats 

In Funny Car, "Fast" Jack Beckman raced to his first win of the year with a 4.158 seconds at 303.09 mph. He used a quicker reaction time (a near-perfect .004) to defeat his teammate Ron Caps (Napa), who ran a quicker but losing time of 4.107 at 304.39. Since early April, Beckman and Capps switched cars and crews within their Don Schumacher Racing (DSR). Since the switch, Capps has been to four consecutive finals, but Beckman has struggled until this win on Sunday.

In Pro Stock, the KB boys were looking for their 100th win and Greg mentioned that he'd like to give the Pontiac GXP their last win, before they switch to the new Camaro's. And even though the pair sliced through the field like a knife through butter, and eventually met each other in the semi's, with Greg edging out Jason Line, Allen Johnson was sick and tired of "them boys winning every time" and sought to put an end to it. And so he did, albeit with a little bit of luck, for Greg encountered problems with tire shake which caused his car to veer hard to the right and had to correct. This cost him the race.

All in all, Allen Johnson's Mopar performed in a consistent fashion, which is what they set out to do after they qualified in the top spot. Erica Enders ran great but lost out due to a red light in the semi's.

Below a video of Friday night qualifying session along with some interesting insight from Allen Johnson.

Alund's new Camaro

Multiple times FIA European Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Alund was stateside to take delivery of his new Jerry Haas Camaro, and used the opportunity to try and qualify into the race. Unfortunately, he did not make the cut, as the Pro Stock category is one of the most competitive in NHRA. Out of 23 that entered the race, only the top 12 get to race on Sunday.

The next race will be the always entertaining Old Bridge Township Raceway park in Englishtown on May 31- June 3. For more info, click here.

Thanks for reading.

Sources: Crash.net, Nascar, NHRA