The racing weekend that was

MotoGP, the Italian GP at Mugello:

Mugello Areal photo

On Saturday, Dani Pedrosa riding his Repsol Honda took provisional pole position at Mugello with a 1 min 47.284 sec on his last lap. However, not to be out-qualified, Jorge Lorenzo (Factory Yamaha) was aiming to take pole away from Pedrosa when an "apparent" electronic problem cut-out the engine at the very final corner and the fellow Spaniard had to settle for second. Third on the grid and flying the home crowd colours was Hector Barbera aboard the Pramac Ducati.

Jorge Lorenzo (Spain)

It was a different story on Sunday though, as Jorge Lorenzo put the hammer down and broke clear of Dani Pedrosa, as he sliced under pole man Pedrosa at the apex of turn one. After hanging on to Lorenzo for the first half of the race, his searing pace was too high for a "worried" Pedrosa, who slowly slipped back. As the checkered waved, Lorenzo was 5.223 seconds clear of second place finisher Pedrosa.

Casey Stoner's hopes of retaining his World Championship crown have suffered another set-back [last week he crashed out of the race] when they made a costly mistake by opting to run the "special" harder tires. From the very get-go Yamaha rider was running towards the back of the chasing pack but an error on lap ten saw him drop further to tenth. He would finish in eight place.

Valentino Rossi was one second away from a podium finish, while Andrea Dovizioso completed a hat trick with his third straight podium finish. For more race results, please click here.

Lorenzo's fifth win of the season puts him 19-points clear of nearest rival Pedrosa and 37-points ahead of reigning champion Casey Stoner, at the season's midway point.

So, the cat and mouse game continues on July 29 for the Red Bull US GP, at Laguna Seca, one of America's legendary tracks. For more info, please click here. To watch a one-minute video by MotoGP of last year's race, at Laguna Seca, please click here.


NASCAR, at Louden, New Hampshire:
It would be a dramatic finish to the LENOX Industrial Tool 301 race as the with 65 laps to go to the end of the race, a miscommunication pushed the race leader Denny Hamlin back to 13th place.

NASCAR has a short video on the final laps of the race. Please click here to watch it.

The pit stop that cost Hamlin the race

Denny Hamlin dug deep and raced hard to try and catch Kasey Kahne, who inherited the lead due to Hamlin's pit stop miscue. He had wanted 2 tires changed [right side only] but his crew chief Darian Grubb somehow understood a four tire change which cost them precious time. In the end, he passed 11 out of 12 cars in the final 65 laps but he didn't have enough time to catch up to and pass race leader Kasey Kahne, who ended up winning the race.

Race results:
1. Kasey Kahne, 2. Denny Hamlin, 3. Clint Bowyer, 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. , 5. Brad Keselowski

The next event is the Crown Royal race at Indy. For more info, please click here.

Thanks for reading.

Source: MotoGP, Crash.net, Wikipedia, NASCAR.
Photo credit: MotoGP, Getty Images.

The racing weekend that was - UPDATED

Formula One, at Valencia, Spain:
The F1 circus came back across the pond this weekend for the running of the European GP, and it looked as if the "no-repeat" streak of winners would hold again this weekend. Vettel took his 33rd career pole, now third best in F1 history, while past champions like Alonso (P11) and Schumi did not even make the Q3 cut.

Vettel's stricken RB being hoisted away

At the start of the race, Alonso, Kimi and Romain Grosjean all made spectacular starts. As was expected, the Red Bull Racing F1 car of Sebastian Vettel blasted away from pole and created a considerable lead.
But around the midway point, Vettel's dominance of the race came to an abrupt end with engine problems. Fellow Renault engine driver Romain Grosjean (Lotus) also dropped out of the race due to a problem with its engine's alternator.

The second part of the race saw the Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso in the lead, followed by Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Pastor Maldonado (Williams). As Hamilton's tire started to go away in the closing stages of the race, he fell into the clutches of the Venezolean who was pushing the Brit very hard into making a mistake. Well, Hamilton did make a mistake that cost them both dearly. Lewis dropped crashed out and Maldonado finished tenth but a penalty for causing the accident, which in my opinion he did not deserve, set him back two positions. To watch a video of the incident, click here.

From left, Kimi, Fernando and Schumi

As the checkered flag waved, it was Fernando Alonso followed by Kimi Raikonnen. The Fin, ex Ferrari Champion and now driving for Lotus, again came up short whilst chasing the red Spaniard. And remarkably, the third place finisher was none other that the Mercedes of Micheal Schumacher. As Schumi was cruising through the race he did not even notice that he was third.
I guess he just drives as fast as he can. This is evident by his post race interview remark that he was surprised to finish third.
The suits from Mercedes won't be happy with that remark.

Alonso waving the Spanish flag

A jubilant Alonso stated: "Nothing compares to this...I think, from the emotional side, this is the best win. The emotions that I felt on the in-lap, or during the podium ceremony or right now, doesn't compare to anything before. I confirm that this is the best feeling of victory by far, because of the whole situation in Spain [Spain qualifying for euro Cup semi's and economic situation], the grandtands, the weekend in general, how they support us."

As I watched the race finish, the first thing that came to mind was that it would be a podium of past F1 Champions with Ferrari.

Kimi: "just didn't have enough tires"

And the post-race interview was fun to watch; Alonso full of emotion, a surprised Schumi that didn't know where he was, and Kimi just being Kimi. Born cool, that is just how it is. To watch the video, please click here.

All in all, an awesome race that makes me want to keep watching F1. The only thing that is sad is to see Lewis keep making these mistakes that in the end will cost him being considered among the great's. To finish first one must first finish!

The next race, round 9, the British GP at Silverstone on July 8 next.


ADRL, at Virginia Motorsports Park:

Mother Nature did not cooperate Friday night when rain and strong winds postponed, then cancelled all together the qualifying sessions. The action continued on Saturday morning, bright and early, with lots of holeshot and upsets.

Below follows the winners in their respective categories:

Mick Snyder (Pro eXtreme), first driver in PX history to win three straight races, and did this against Tim Tindle on a holeshot win, 3.665 at 208.23 mph.

Doug Riesterer (Pro Nitrous), ran a 3.74 at 195.11 mph to beat Burton Auxier. Riesterer remarkably didn't make a qulifying pass until the final session but made it count.

XTF winner Brad Brand

Brad Brand (XTF- Extreme 10.5)) barely avoided touching the left guardwall en route to his first ADRL victory. This came against Alan Pittman in a highly entertaining come-from-behind victory, 3,949 at 185.72 mph.

Casey Stemper (Pro eXtreme Motorcycle) beat Eric McKinney in the finals eventhough his bike caught fire. He beat Eric with a 4.034 at 164.77 mph.

Richie Stevens Jr. (eXtreme Pro Stock) beat Dean Goforth with a 4.091 at 176.33 mph, picking the perfect time to make his quickest and fastest time of the weekend. Stevens: "This feels awesome".

Fredy Scriba (Pro Modified) made an impressive run to knock out Rickie Smith with a 3.981 at 188.25 mph. "This was really cool. It was definitely a tuner's weekend, but all the hard work we put in really paid off", Scriba mentioned on his performance.

Clash of Titans winner Teets

Terry Teets(TS), driving in the Top Sportsman and hailing from Virginia, who won the $10k Summit Clash of Titans, when he beat Richmond-area native William Brown III. Teets winning et was 4.444 at 163.59 mph.

The next race is the Summer Drags at US 131 Motorsports Park, Juny 13-14 next.



NASCAR, in wine country:
Sunday's running of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma, California, was an action packed road course race out West that left many begging for more.

Even though I didn't get a chance to watch this race "live", from Nascar's race rewind video, you see that racing on road courses can be as entertaining as on oval super speedways. To watch the short but entertaining video, please click here.

In the end, Clint Bowyer won the race, followed by Tony Stewart (2), Kurt Busch (3), Brian Vickers (4) and Jimmie Johnson (5).

Clint Bowyer on winning: "...You know, [Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch] behind me were champions of this sport, and that's big, to be able to hold them guys off."

The next race is the Quaker State 400 (Kentucky) on June 30 next

Thanks for reading.

Source: Crash.net, ADRL, Nascar.
Photo credit: Crash.net, ADRL.