The racing weekend that was - Wk 21

Just saw my first F1 race of the season on TV and what a race it was. After Nico Rosberg managed to keep team mate Lewis Hamilton behind him after the first right hander of the first lap at Monaco, most of us knew that the race would be pretty uneventful, since the Monaco street circuit is known to be most difficult to pass on.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikonnen followed the Mercedes duo, whilst reigning world champion Sebastien Vettel had problems with his car's KERS. This forced him into the pits a couple of times and he eventually dropped out of the race. Raikonnen suffered from some bad luck and poor driving decisions and was penalized by the marshals, while his Ferrari  team mate Fernando Alonso ran a somewhat difficult race having also suffered from KERS problems in the opening lap, but he would still finish fourth.

Race winner and son of Keke Rosberg

The race's intensity decreased as the Mercedes duo created a big gap over the third place driver Ricardo, but shot up again when Hamilton radioed in he got something in his eye, as he was following the German too close for too long. This caused him to drop back into the clutches of Ricardo, who was reeling him in at more than a second a lap. However, he could not overtake the Brit who finished in second place behind last year's winner Nico Rosberg (right).

F1 insider Allan McNish

Whilst watching the race I subscribed to the Formula One "premium" app for my iPad. I strongly recommend this for those like me who do not get F1 TV coverage throughout the season. Not only do you get a very good sense of what is going on during the race through data reporting and live track race positions, but you get also live commentary by none other than "Le Mans" great Allan McNish!

Race results, the top 6:
1. Nico Rosberg GERMANY Mercedes-Mercedes,
2. Lewis Hamilton BRITAIN Mercedes- Mercedes,
3. Daniel Ricciardo AUSTRALIA Red Bull-Renault,
4. Fernando Alonso SPAIN Ferrari-Ferrari,
5. Nico Hulkenberg FERMANY Force India-Mercedes,
6. Jenson Button BRITAIN McLaren-Mercedes.

For more info on the race click here.


The INDY 500:
In the grand daddy of open wheel stadium racing that is the Indianapolis 500, its 98th running ended in the 2nd closest finish (see pict on right), as Ryan Hunter-Ray held of three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves by a hair raising margin on 0.06 seconds. In a race that is known for early cautions due to cars sliding into the wall as drivers struggle to come to grips with different track qualifying-race conditions, the race ran smooth well into the second half of the race.

Carpenter-Hinchcliff accident

On lap 149 (of of 200) Charlie Kimball made a pretty impressive save only kissing the outside retaining wall and sliding across the track into the inside wall. Luckily the safety crew were able to fire his car back up and he would finish 31st. Just twenty laps later, Scot Dixon also got loose and hit the wall hard. He was running in the top five at the time and would finish 29th. At the next restart, a gutsy move caused pole-sitter Ed Carpenter and James Hinchcliff to wreck. The race was red flagged for an hour for debris on the track. It would re-start with just six laps to go and Hunter-Reay and Castroneves would duel it out to the finish each passing each other a couple of times, but in the end Castroneves couldn't catch the American.

It should be noted that Hunter-Reay raced for Andretti Racing, and though Marco Andretti (third gen) finished third, no other Andretti has won Indy 500 since Mario in 1969 when "Man walked on the moon".

For more on the race, click here including a good recap video by Indycar/ABC.

Race results, the top 6:
1. Ryan Hunter-Reay
2. Helio Castroneves BRAZIL
3. Marco Andretti
4. Carlos Munoz
5. Juan Pablo Montoya
6. Kurt Busch (also racing in Coke 600)


The COCA COLA 600:

Race winner Jimmie Johnson

The longest NASCAR race was an eventful one with good racing that started late in the afternoon and lasted well into the night. Pole-sitter Jimmy Johnson went in what was considered as his house, namely the Charlotte Motor Speedway, from the drop of the green flag to the checkered in commanding fashion, when he passed Kevin Harvick with just 9 laps to go. He was the last to win the Coke 600 race from pole a decade ago. This was also his 1st win of the season.
For a complete recap of the race including different videos, click here.

Kurt Busch who also raced in the Indy 500 to finish a solid 6th, unfortunately had to drop out of the race due to a blown engine.

Race results, the top six:
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Matt Kenseth
4. Carl Edwards
5. Jamie McMurray
6. Brian Vickers



NHRA's Kansas Nationals:
On Saturday night I got the feeling that the "force" would be with the women of NHRA, after seeing the rebroadcast of qualifying. For the first time in history, two women (and sisters) qualified number one in their respective classes.  And as if this wasn't enough, Courtney Force out-qualified her father John. In an interview with John's wife Lori, after Courtney's run, she said, and I am paraphrasing here: John is probably riding around on his scooter trying to cool off.

Courtney Force, 100th female winner

And on race Sunday, Courtney kept her winning ways by outrunning Dale Creasy Jr., Jeff Arend and Tommy Johnson Jr. and, as if the final had been scripted in Hollywood, she would face none other that Cruz Pedregon in the finals. Well, she outran Cruz too and in doing so, achieves the milestone 100th female win in NHRA history. Courtney Force, 25, is the youngest daughter of 16-time world champ John Force. This win pretty much cements the fact that all three Force will be back in 2015.

The other winners were; Spencer Massey in Top Fuel and Allen Johnson in Pro Stock.

For more information about the race, click here.


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Thanks for reading.

Source: Formula1, Crash.net, USA Today, Fox Sports, NHRA,
Photo credit: Mike Young, USA Today, Indianapolis, NHRA