The racing weekend that was - Wk 20 UPDATED

In MotoGP at Le Mans:

The always fun loving Italian on the podium

Le Mans turned out to be a sensational race, with loads of passing, bumping and falling. Though Vale put on a great ride, he could not reel in team mate Jorge Lorenzo who led from start to finish. This was the Spaniard's second race win in a row. And though phenom Marc Marquez did not do well at the start, by overshooting more than once, he did manage to save his race by separating the Ducati riders, in spite of a valiant effort by Iannone at the end.

The race marked Dani Pedrosa's (Honda) return to action after mission three events due to arm pump surgery. Towards the mid point he went down but manage to get back on the RC213V and finished the race in 16th place.

Fifth place finisher Andrea Iannone dislocated his left shoulder in a Tuesday testing fall at Mugello but come race day dug deep down to still ride a great race.

Jorge at Tertre Rouge

Lorenzo on winning: "...But you know myself, Marc, Valentino, we have talent and we have to wait for all the circumstances to be on the right way and Marc is going to come back. He is going to win races and be competitive in the future. Obviously we have to try to keep this [championship] points advantage."

However, Andrea Dovizioso thinks differently from Jorge Lorenzo regarding Marc's pace.

"It is always difficult to understand details if you are not on the bike, but my opinion is that the talent of Marc hides some limit of the Honda. Because he is the only one who is able to go fast. Also last year and especially this year. So I believe Honda at the moment does not have the right balance."

Top five:
1. Jorge Lorenzo, ESP, Movistar Yamaha
2. Valentino Rossi, ITA, Movistar Yamaha,
3. Andrea Dovizioso, ITA, Ducati
4. Marc Marquez, ESP, Repsol Honda
5. Andrea Iannone, ITA, Ducati

Next MotoGP will head to the Gran Premio d'Italia, at Mugello on May 29-31


V8 Supercar from Winton Raceway, Australia:
One of the editions of arguably the most thrilling racing series South of the equator was run last Sunday down under. If you haven't seen a race yet, be sure to look one up.
Chaz Mostert led most of the race after having started from pole. However, towards the end his team mate Winterbottom took over first place when Mostert slammed his Falcon FG X rearwards into the tire wall. For more on the race, including a short video, please click here.

Top five:
1. Mark Winterbottom, Prodrive Racing, Ford Falcon,
2. Fabian Coulthard, Freightliner Racing, Holden Commodore,
3. Craig Lowndes, Red Bull Racing, Holden Commodore,
4. Michael Caruso, Nissan Motorsports, Nissan Altima,
5. Garth Tander, Holden Racing Team, Holden Commodore

Next V8 Supercar race, SKYCITY Triple Crown in Darwin, June 19-21


NHRA at Atlanta for the Summit Race.
A bit late with our review for I just finished watching it delayed coverage. It turned out to be a great race for a couple of racers, namely Leah Pritchett, Tim Wilkerson, Hector Sr. and Greg Anderson.

In Top Fuel, Leah Pritchett (pictured on the right) qualified in the number three spot (her best ever) and later went all the way to the finals. In doing so she won over "The Greek", J.R. Todd and none other than Larry Dixon. Unfortunately Antron Brown got the better of her. Still, an outstanding performance by the Dote racing Team Gumout Dragster. Brown's winning time was a 3.887 at 310.48 mph.

In Funny Car, Tim Wilkerson kept focusing on his rounds and made it all the way to the finals. He kept his cool and outran Ron Capps with a 4.318 at 260.31 mph, and in doing so made it to the winner's circle for the first time since 2011 (Seattle). This was Wilkerson's 18th career win and his first at Atlanta. Great job Tim and crew!

In Pro Stock, Summit Chevy racer Greg Anderson experienced a stuck WOT during the burnout of the first round of elimination. Thinking he must have hurt the engine he immediately moved the car out of the groove. But when his crew chief Rob Downing radioed him that all seemed ok, they hurriedly pushed the car back to the starting line. Forced to stage right away they barely got the wheelie bars adjusted. Funny thing is that his opponent had to lift off early and had to watch Anderson make a good pass and earn the win. Moral of the story is to "never give up".
Anderson would meet his team mate Jason Line in the final who took home the "Wally" for the Summit KB Racing Team.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, the four women rode good but kept loosing by red lighting. In the end, it was Hector Arana Sr. who got a emotional win. This was his first win since 2009 and seventh overall.

Arana on his final round at Atlanta: "I knew I could keep winning, but I had to believe in myself. In the final, the bike jumped like a Bronco. It pulled to the right, but I was not going to give up unless he  [Eddie Krawic] was way in front of me. As long as I had control of the bike, I was staying with it."

The next race is the 27th Annual NHRA Kansas Nationals, on May 22-24.


Source: Crash.net, V8Supercars.com, MotoGP, NHRA

Photo credit: V8 Supercars, MotoGP, Leah Pritchett

The racing weekend that was - Wk 35

MotoGP at Silverstone:
After loosing his first race of the 2014 season, Marc Marquez got back his grove..... in that he shot back to the top with an incredible performance that saw him make his Repsol Honda perform slides that stunned his crew, let alone the race commentators. Though it was a close battle between the Spaniards, Jorge Lorenzo said he was "very proud" after coming off second once more in a MotoGP head-to-head with Marc Marquez at Silverstone.

In the picture below Lorenzo follows Marquez ever so closely around a curve.

Lorenzo led for most of the race with Marquez sticking to his rear wheel. With seven laps to go Marquez made his first move for the lead but ran wide and lost the position. With five to go Marquez tried again through the Village and Loop corners but Lorenzo rebuffed this in an incredible shoving match. Going into the following corner Marquez was too quick and the unexpected Lorenzo had no time to close the door and could only see his rival cut to the inside and take the corner and speed away. Though Lorenzo pushed hard, Marquez was riding like a possessed mad man slipping and sliding but remaining up front until crossing the checkered flag, after which the pair shook hands on the slow down lap.

Almost 8 seconds behind them, Valentino Rossi bested Dani Pedrosa and Andea Dovizioso after having battled them for third place for the large part of the race.

Race top 5:
1. Marc Marquez, Spain, Repsol Honda,
2. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain, Movistar Yamaha
3. Valentino Rossi, Italy, Movistrar Yamaha
4. Dani Pedrosa, Spain, Repsol Honda,
5. Andrea Dovizioso, Italy, Ducati


Please check back for other race results as the NHRA Indy race is being held as I write this.

Source: Crash.net
Photo credit: independent.co.uk (Reuters)

The racing weekend that was - Wk 28

In MotoGP, at Sachsenring, Germany:
The sensational Marc Marquez, who's already won 8 consecutive races this year, wins his 9th in truly spectacular fashion. He was among 14 riders who decided at the conclusion of the formation lap to pit to change back to a dry setup as the track was beginning to dry up, after a rain shower passed over Saxony, Germany, before the race.

However this meant that these 14 riders were all bunched up at the line at the end of pit lane waiting to join the field as they raced by at the start of the race. Tense moments followed as 14 bikes all bunched up left the line in a drag race, with some shoving one another, as they raced to the Coca Cola Curve.

With Dani Pedrosa closely following him, Marc Marquez proceeded to give a master class in overtaking, slashing through the field and catching up to Stefan Bradl in P1 in just 6 laps. Bradl was stuck with wet settings on a dry bike and could only watch the duo as they blew by him. With some 10 laps to go, Pedrosa's pace quickly deteriorated and Marquez sailed to an easy win with a 1.466 second margin victory.

Jorge Lorenzo was visibly scared of the wet/dry conditions while on a dry setup, something similar to the Assen race, but he quickly shrugged it off and put on a good performance, by first overtaking his team-mate Valentino Rossi and then Bradl to eventually settle for 3rd.

During the closing stages of the race, Ducatti rider Cal Crutchlow passed his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso at the Waterfall corner in a battle for 7th. This is the same corner he had a spill in during qualifying, and just as the spectators thought they witnessed a nice pass, rookie Pol Espargaro overtook them both!

Race results (top 5):
1. Marc Marquez, Spain, Repsol Honda
2. Dani Pedrosa, Spain, Repsol Honda
3. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain, Movistar Yamaha
4. Valentino Rossi, Italy, Movistar Yamaha
5. Andrea Iannone, Italy, Pramac Racing

To watch a "best action" of the race, please click here. For the start from the pits section, forward to the 1 minute mark. The next race is August 10th at Indianapolis, USA.

In a separate incident, during a Moto3 race ran in the same German GP race, Bryan Schouten and Scott Deroue had a brawl in front of hundreds of spectators (see pict on the right). The Dutch duo exchanged punches after they crashed out of the race and had to be pulled apart by medical staff. We haven't seen this much emotion from the Dutch since Maxima stole the King's heart!

Thanks for reading.

Update on the brawl: even though Bryan Schouten made a formal apology for what transpired after their fall, I have not been able to see the brawl from any footage up to now.

Source: Crash.net, MotoGP, Wikipedia, the Guardian,
Photo credit: MotoGP, Thomas Peter/Reuters

The racing weekend that was

In MotoGP, at Qatar:

Vale leading Marc - epic Yamaha vs Honda

The season opener got off with a bang yesterday with Valentino Rossi and rookie Marc Marquez providing loads of entertainment, whilst fighting for second place. First went to reigning double world champion Jorge Lorenzo, who's long sessions of winter testing paid off handsomely.

"Half an hour before he race I felt nervous. I had to concentrate a lot to relax on the grid because I knew the start was important," explained Lorenzo after the race. "I knew it would be hard to open up a gap but I had to try. I made a good start, pushed more than 100 per cent."

The Factory Yamaha star not only retained his pole position after the start, but also pounded out consistent hot laps to wear down the competition. By the midway point, he had opened up a four second gap which grew to almost six seconds in the end. Dani Pedrosa had ried to keep up with Lorenzo but after six laps could not keep up with the champion's relentless pace.

A familiar sight

After two difficult years racing for Ducatti, multiple world champion Valentino Rossi returned to Yamaha to secure his first podium position right of the bat.

After the race, a very happy Rossi commented: "I am so happy because my target was to arrive on the podium in the first race. After the warm-up I knew I had a good chance. However, I needed to do a good start and risk a bit to overtake the bikes in front that were a bit slower than me.....then when I had some free track I had a great pace and got closer and closer. At the end it was a great battle all three - but especially Marc, until the last lap. I was maybe a little faster but we were very close."

Congrats Vale and happy to see you back on a competitive bike!


NASCAR, at Martinsville:
Basically in control for 347 laps out of the 500, Jimmie Johnson drove to another win at Martinsville Speedway, his eight win at the .526-mile short track. At no point during the race was his position higher that fifth on the track.

The first repeat winner through six 2013 Cup races, Johnson now regains the points lead over defending champion Brad Keselowski.

On lap 487, the race got red flagged when Kurt Busch's brakes failed and sent the car hard into the Turn 1 wall. As the car slid along the fence fire spew from underneath the hood, but when the car came to a standstill Busch triggered the onboard fire extinguisher before exiting the car. Cool, calm and collected, that's how race car drivers do it.

Jr. after being bumped by Patrick #10

Dale Earnhardt Jr got bumped by the No 10 who got a push from No 55. Trading paint even after the checkered dropped were Kevin Harvick and Brian Vickers. Things are definitely heating up in NASCAR!


More to follow soon. Thanks for reading.

Source: MotoGP, Crashnet
Photo credit: Crashnet

The racing weekend that was

MotoGP, at Misano, Italy:

Pedrosa pushed to the pits

In what was to become known as a race filled with drama, title contender and Misano pole sitter Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) suffered a technical problem with his tire warmers, which forced him to start from the pits. However, starting last, he quickly passed some riders but a collision with Hector Barbera at the apex of a left hander, high-sided Pedrosa and put him out of the race.

The Texan Ben Spies made a solid start and even though he lost some speed mid race, he dug deep in the closing stages to snatch fifth place from Stefan Bradl. "After what happened in the last eight weeks it almost feels like a podium for me," said Spies after the race.

Andrea Dovizioso (Tech 3 Yamaha) went mano-a-mano with Alvaro Bautista (Gresini Honda) in a thrilling final lap battle, and a photo was required to identify who crossed the line first to secure the third spot on the podium. Unfortunately, the Italian Dovizioso  drifted wide on the exit and Bautista had enough power to get to the line first, but barely ..... by a margin of just .003 seconds!

Since the 2011 French GP, MotoGP legend and Ducati rider Valentino Rossi has not been sighted anywhere near a podium after a competitive race. Somehow, this all changed when Rossi secured second place after battling with Stefan Bradl during the middle stages, and was just 4.4 seconds behind the event winner.

Jorge Lorenzo (Factory Yamaha) and 2013 teammate to Valentino Rossi, took a big step towards securing his second MotoGP title when he won the Misano race, his sixth victory of the season. 

"Valentino, to be honest, has been very brave today," said Lorenzo. "He rode in a very good way. To only finish four-seconds behind me with the Ducati is a good race."

The next race is the Gran Premio Iveco de Aragon, in Spain, on Sunday, September 30 next.

WRC, in Great Brittain for the Wales Rally:

After what can be called some difficult months, Jari-Matti Latvala did an outstanding job last weekend. On Friday morning, the Fin moved to the front, then extended his advantage on Saturday in the Brecon Valley mountains and consolidated his position in the Vale of Neath on Sunday, to secure his second win in a row. He crossed the line almost 30 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, a Citroen.

The victory is a major boost for Latvala and Ford and put an end to the 5 race domination by Sebastian Loeb and Citroen.

The rest of the podium was contended between sebastien Loeb and Petter Solberg. The two battled hard, but Loeb edged out at the finish to take second. "You cannot win everytime. It shows it is not as easy as sometimes people imagine," Explained Loeb. "...Jari-Matti was really very fast today, he was flying in the stages and so we had no chance."

To watch a video highlights of the race, please click here.

The next race will be held on October 4-7, Rallye de France -Alsace.

NASCAR, at Chicagoland Speedway:
Usually I don't cover the Camping World Truck series but Saturday night something special happened at the Iowa Speedway. In a truck that its owner could not make go fast, a young Ryan Blaney jumped in and made an incredible run and held off a couple of race restarts towards the end of the race, to take the win. At 18, Ryan becomes the youngest winner in the truck series.

Brad Keselowski

The Sprint Cup cars raced in the GEICO 400 on Sunday afternoon, a race in which Jimmie Johnson seemed to be in complete control. Johnson led 172 of the 267 laps but his luck turned after a lengthy final pit stop dropped him behind Brad Keselowski. The Penske driver proceeded to pull away from Johnson and the field to eventually take the checkered flag.

Denny Hamlin got an even more frustrating end to the race, when he ran out of fuel on the last lap. His crew didn't not get his fuel tank all the way full on his final pit stop which sometimes can come back to haunt you.

And, too bad the lucky moustache didn't work for Jeff Gordon. A stuck trottle, obviously in the wide open position, usually, that is where you need it, sent him into the Turn 1 wall on lap 188. See it here.

Finally, it sure is good to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. having some fun again. Professional motorsports have become too commercialized for my taste. No more bad boy image or speaking your mind... well maybe just this time. Earnhardt over-revved his engine for a split second after the qualifying session on Saturday. A valve hit a piston in the third cylinder and to avoid any malfunction during the race they replaced the engine. This is how he explained it; "The valves and piston had a little party and they all ended-up with a hangover"!

Next race: New Hampshire on Sunday, 1.00 pm

Thanks for reading.

Source: Crash.net, WRC, NASCAR

Photo Credit: MotoGP, Mirco Lazzari gp - Getty Images Europe, Automobilsport.com, 

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

NHRA, at Route 66, Chicago:
The heat proved to be a very hot challenge for the crew chiefs on Friday. And then come Sunday, the race had to be delayed due to rain. All in all, a difficult race for both tuners and racers.

In Top Fuel, Antron Brown beat steve Torrence when he red lighted at the start. This is the second victory for Brown in his Matco Tools sponsored dragster.

In Funny Car, Jeff Arend defeated the 24-year-old Courtney Force (rookie), who made it all the way to the final. She did a great job, even though her 4.454 could not best the 4.131 of Arend. To get to the final, Arend defeated Tony Pedregon, Tim Wilkerson and Jack Beckman, all very good drivers.

In Pro Stock, Erica Enders became the first woman ever to win, and it came on the back of the man who didn't want to go down in history as "that guy", four-time world champion Greg Anderson. She drove a marvelous race and was sure not to let history repeat itself. Her GK Motorsports Chevy Cobalt muscled her way into the lead and won off Anderson with a 6.627 at 207.4 mph. A shout out to her crew chief, Dave Connolly, who is a great pro stock driver as well.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Three-time world champ Matt Hines claimed his second win of the season when he defeated L.E. Tonglet, who red lighted. Hines' Screaming Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson won over Scotty Pollacheck, Chip Ellis and Hector Arana Jr. to reach the finals.

Check again soon for an extensive piece of Erica winning in Pro Stock.

The next race will be on July 8, at the Summit Motorsports Park, in Norwalk, Ohio. For more info, please click here.


MotoGP, at Assen:
Last weekend the fastest riders met up at the TT Circuit Assen, in Holland. The track was built in 1955 and is considered "The Cathedral" of motorcycling by the fans.

Lorenzo (R) was furious after the incident

Heading into the first corner Alvaro Bautista (P8) attacked hard and way too early into the race. Bautista lunged for the inside at turn one, fell when he lost the front of his Gresini Honda and then wiped out the unsuspecting third on the grid Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha factory) ahead of him. Both out of the race, Lorenzo was left with a "big bruise" on his leg and lost the lead of the championship.

At the restart of the race, the first and second on the grid machines of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa seemed to be in a class of their own. Both Yamaha riders pulled away from the pack and the still sore Stoner (from a crash in Friday's practice) calmly put a move on Pedrosa with ten laps to go.

At the checkered flag it was Casey Stoner (Australia), trailed by Dani Pedrosa (Spain) and Andrea Dovizioso riding for Monster Yamaha Tech 3, who passed Ben Spies on the last lap.

Now, the championship is heating up with Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo in a tie. For more info about this race, please click here.

The next race will be the Eni Motorad GP in Germany, on July 8 next. For more info, please click here.


NASCAR, at the Kentucky Speedway:
The Quaker State 400 would prove to be a highly contested race. The heat was on from the practice sessions on Friday, with Juan Pablo Montoya and Brad Keselowski getting into clash that saw Keselowski end up in the wall with his primary car. They were supposed to be practicing, not racing. Pole position went to Jimmie Johnson, his first since 2010.

Keselowski's Penske team battled 100 degrees heat to prepare his back-up car for the race on Saturday night. And the fact that their driver was a bit ticked off, meant that he'd be pushing even harder, which he did. There were the usual wrecks and periods of trying to save fuel.

The video below shows the finish and some close racing:

In the end, Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag, his third this year, followed by Kasey Kahne (2), Denny Hamlin (3), Dale Earnhardt Jr (4), and Jeff Gordon (5). For the entire race recap, please click here.

The next race is at Daytona, the Coke Zero 400, on July 7. For more info, please click here.


Thanks for reading.

Source: NHRA, Crash.net, MotoGP, Wikipedia, NARCAR/Youtube
Photo credit: Courtney Enders/Facebook, Crash.net

The racing weekend that was - updated

MotoGP, Great Brittain:
The gang headed to the 5.9 km long track at Silverstone, which was built in 1948 and last modified in 2011. It has 8 left and 10 right corners, all of which suited Yamaha star Jorge Lorenzo just fine.

At about the mid way point, the Spaniard Lorenzo battled hard with the reigning World Champion Casey Stoner. Grandstands filled with spectators, as well as viewers around the globe, saw the duo race side-by-side for five consecutive corners with Lorenzo coming out on top. After this point he would lead comfortably with only a small scare with just five laps to go.

In the end, Lorenzo which also had the fastest lap at 2'02.888, won easily over Casey Stoner and third place finisher Dani Pedrosa.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Crutchlow

Pole sitter Alvaro Bautista fell of the pace in the closing stages of the race and finished fourth.

A notable feat was accomplished when Cal Crutchlow put aside the pain of an ankle injury (fractured bone) to charge from 20th (last place) to sixth in front of his home fans.

The next race will take place in Holland on June 28 next, at the Iveco TT Assen.


24 Hours of Le Mans:

The Audi vs Toyota teaser pict.

The eightieth running of the big endurance race was set to be the first salvo in a battle between car maker giants Toyota and Audi,  the former being the world's largest car maker and the latter the best in endurance racing.

And boy, did Toyota bring the fight to Audi. Nevertheless, as was the case in Formula One, Toyota got beat badly, partly due to bad luck.

The winning Audi and drivers

A historic win for Audi as their R18 E-Tron Quatro's 1-2 finish was the first hybrid to win the prestigious endurance race. The light-weight Audi Ultra finished in third. Audi has won this event 11 out of the last 13 events.

A statement by the Chairman of Audi read: "By achieving this further success at he world's most important endurance race our engineers demonstrated their high technological expertise in a particular impressive way".
For more info on the Audi Hybrid, please click here.

A terrible crash occurred at about the sixth hour when Anthony Davidson, in the Toyota TS030 Hybrid (#8), was overtaking the AF Corse Ferrari GTE Am (#81) as they approached the Mulsanne Corner. Piergiuseppe Perazzini, the Ferrari driver, didn't see the Toyota and turned into the apex and collided with it, sending the Hybrid flying through the air and into the crash barrier. Davidson suffered a broken back but is doing well recuperating in a nearby hospital. For the detailed story of the accident, please click here.

Below a short video about the racing accident.



For detailed information about the race, please click here.

Nascar, at Michigan:
The Quicken Loans 400 was run last Sunday at the Michigan Int'l Speedway. With speeds surpassing 200 mph on the newly paved track, drivers were looking forward to the fast race.

As any Nascar follower would know, Junior [Dake Earnhardt Jr] has been on a winless streak since June 2008. And as he lead 95 of the 200 laps he must have wondered what would go wrong this time.

As he pulled away from defending series champion Tony Steward on the final laps he must have hoped the car would hold together. And it did.

"I know you guys have been waiting on that one," Earnhardt radioed to his crew after crossing the finish line. "I know I have."

Race results: 1. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2. Tony Stewart, 3. Matt Kenseth, 4. Greg Bifffle, 5. jimmie Johnson.

Fore more info on the race, please click here.

Next race: Sonoma this Sunday


Sad news from the Targa Florio:
The 96th running of the famed 105-mile Targa Florio Rally, part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge was cut short due to a racing accident in Northern Sicily that claimed the life of a Welsh navigator.
Gareth Roberts was teamed Saturday with Irish driver Craig Breen in the second stage of the rally when their Peugeut 207 went off the road and hit a guard rail. Nearby emergency crews responded immediately to the freak accident but Roberts had died instantly. Diver Breen was unhurt.

Le Mans update:
The most radical designed entry in more than fifty years was the Nissan DeltaWing, driven by Satoshi Motoyama. Unfortunately is was involved in an accident caused by the front runners who were battling for position. The Toyota hybrid of ex-formula driver Kazuki Nakajima did not see the DeltaWing and gave it a sideswipe in the Porsche Curves.
Heart rending attempts fail to re-inject life into the ground breaking DeltaWing, ending the car's assault on the race but prompting many of the fans to cheer the driver for his valiant efforts to fix the car enough so it could get to the pit. Only the driver may work on his car when not in the pits, otherwise it will be disqualified.
Below a short video of the accident and Motoyama's valiant efforts under his crew's guidance. This is the spirit of Le Mans at its best!

Thanks for reading.

Source: Fox Sports, MotoGP, Crash.net, Jalopnik, Huff Post.
Photo credit: MotoGP, Audi, The Sun, Nascar.

The racing weekend that was - UPDATED

ADRL, at Gateway Drags IV, St. Louis:

Snyder with 2 track records

With near perfect atmospheric conditions on Friday, and continuing on Saturday, the Gateway Motorsports park saw numerous world and track records, as well as a bunch of first time winners.

Pro Extreme driver Mick Snyder put his Corvette for the second race in a row in the winner's circle, with a 3.63 at 208.23 mph. "To get two in a row is just crazy," Snyder commented after the race. He also set two track records.

Unfortunately, during the first round of PX's qualifying on Friday, Todd Tutterow met the wall but was able to walk away unscathed. For pictures of the accident, click here.

Pro Nitrous winner Doug Riesterer was the feel-good story of the weekend, having arrived Saturday morning at the track and hereby missing the three previous qualifying sessions, he dug deep inside and qualified his Camaro into the field. He then went on to win of Rickie Jones and matching the latter's  Friday night track record. In the final, Riesterer edged Burton Auxier with a 3.826 at 189.10 mph.

Extreme 10.5 winner Todd Moyer had lady luck on his side as his competition couldn't get his car started, leaving Moyer to a solo pass of 4.608 at 125.17 mph. "It was ugly, that's all I can say, but we haven't had any luck this whole year so this feels good" Moyer said. "I almost forgot what it feels like."

Todd takes out Trevor in XPS

Extreme Pro Stock winner Todd Hoerner has lot's of reasons to celebrate, after beating a hard charging Trevor Eman, of Team Aruba. Hoerner became the first ever driver in XPS to win running electronic fuel injection (EFI) and this was also his first win ever in this class. En route to this final, he had an awesome .002 reaction time in a holeshot win against defending World Champion Cary Goforth.

XPS runner up Trevor Eman had a very fruitful weekend and made great strides towards winning a race in the very near future. He ran a career best of 4.07 seconds.

A shout goes out to "Lil" JD, son of our friend Jeff Dobbins, on being the winning crew chief in XPS and who got them the first ever win in XPS while running EFI in the Sonny Racing Engines sponsored Camaro.

Pro Mod driver Jeff Naiser went 3.876 in the semis and later improved to a 3,867 at 193.32 mph to pick up his first win in the new class.

No. 16 qualifier in Top Sportsman class, Chris Nyerges met the no. 15 qualifier Jim Sackuvich in a a race that was called "a matchup of underdogs" by many. Nyerges came out on top with a pass of 4,467 at 157.72 mph.

Pro Extreme Motorcycle rider Eric McKinney won back-to-back races for the first time with a 4.072 et at 176.01 mph victory over Travis Davis in the finals.

The next race will take place at the Virginia Motorsports park on June 22-23. For more info, please click here. If you can't make it to the race, like many of us, just go to the ADRL website for live streaming content. Two thumbs up for ADRL.


Moto GP, at Catalunya:

Lorenzo immediately after the race

Spain's largest newspaper (in circulation), El Pais, will run "Lorenzo wins Catalunya home MotoGP duel" in the sports section on Monday. The Factory Yamaha rider fought hard nearly for the entire race with fellow home hero Dani Pedrosa, who blasted from the second row to first place leading into the first corner at the start of the race.

American Ben Spies rode an awesome race, briefly getting into the lead on lap three, only to run wide and fall after getting on the grass. He quickly rejoined the race and charged all the way from last to tenth place.

Pedrosa leads at the start

On lap 7 Lorenzo executed Spies' botched pass of a couple of laps earlier to perfection, but a relentless Pedrosa stayed with Lorenzo and around the half way mark, used the slipstream to regain the lead. With five laps to go, Lorenzo, riding on softer rear tire, was able to catch up to Pedrosa (who was on a harder tire), but then suddenly Pedrosa's Honda made a wheelie and forced the Spaniard to back off to bring the front wheel back down. He went on to run slightly wide in the next corner and the rest is as they say "history".

Lorzenzo finished first, his third in five races, Pedrosa came in second, and Andrea Dovizioso took third riding for Yamaha. He held off the fast charging event pole sitter and World Champion Casey Stoner who finished fourth, who suffered from the cooler race conditions.

Rossi's during his pre-race ritual 

Valentino Rossi, who finished 2nd at the last race, was humbled today on the slower Ducati, crossing the finish line 17.6 seconds behind the race winner. Still trying to make the Ducati handle better, he tested an aluminum swing-arm on Friday, and now will have two more days of testing with the new A-arm and some set-up ideas. Hopefully they will make the Ducati a bit faster, for we all would like to see Rossi battling with the front runners again.

Interesting post race quote, by Dani Pedrosa:

"These bikes have traction control and wheelie control, but they are not magic. We have everything said to the limit, to help but not stop [wheelies], because if we have all the controls set to never make a wheelie the bike would not be fast enough."

Next race will be the British GP at Silverstone on June 17 next. For more info, please click here.

NASCAR, at Dover, Del.:

Jimmie in victory lane

Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports are back! Jimmie drove away from Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth after a restart with 31 laps to go and never looked back.
Johnson led 289 laps of the 400, and with this win records his 57th career victory, eight most all-time and tying him for the most wins at Dover with legends Richard Petty and Bobby Allison.

The Dover Monster Mile mascot

As usual there were some large wrecks at the all concrete short track.

"The way the cautions fell [Sunday], it allowed us to really flex our muscle and bring home the win. I'm proud of the effort. It was a brand new race car we brought to the track. We pulled it off the truck, and it was awesome all weekend long," said Jimmie Johnson.

Though Johnson won handily, his car might not have been the fastest. The No. 24 of teammate Jeff Gordon was at least its equal, but Gordon had to pit on lap 250 because of a loose wheel.

Below there is a video of the latter part of the race and the finish.



Results of the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks:
1. Jimmie Johnson, 2. Kevin Harvick, 3. Matt Kenseth, 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 5. Clint Boyer.

The next race is the Pocono 400 on June 10.


NHRA, at E-town:
E-town, aka Old Bridge Township Raceway park, was the place to be for the NHRA guys this past weekend.

A Steve Torrence burn out.

In Top Fuel (T/F), Steve Torrence beat in Tony Schumacher and Spencer Massey in earlier rounds with his quicker reaction time, but in the final round he used sheer horsepower advantage to win over Brandon Bernstein at the finish line. He won with a 3.800 at 323.66 mph.

Torrence on his win, "It's really a little surreal coming out and having success in a short time."

And Massey failed to back up the T/F best low e.t. of the event as a national record.

In Funny Car (F/C), Johnny Grey claimed his first win of the season and second of his career by beating Ron Capps with a 4.078 at 314.39 mph.

Anderson, KB celebrate 100th win

In Pro Stock (P/S), KB Racing debuted the first of their new Rick Jones' build Camaro's with high hopes and quickly surpassed these, when it made it all the way to the finals. It would race none other than the car it was replacing, with teammate Jason Line behind the steering wheel. In an emotionally charged race, Greg Anderson, in the new car, raced to his fourth victory of the season with a 6.56 at 212.03 mph, that bested teammate Jason Line, when his engine broke a valve spring that cost him about two-hundredths.
And to top it off, car owner Ken Black, who is recovering from illness, jetted all the way from Las Vegas to be with his boys for their 100th win. Great stuff!

In Pro Bike, Eddie Krawic won for the first time at the track where he once worked as a track manager,  an emotional victory for sure. He beat Hector Arana Sr. when he red lighted at the start of the final round of eliminations. It is Krawic's 14th career victory on the Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson.

For information on this race, please click here.

The next race will be run at "Thunder Valley" on June 15-17.

Thanks for reading.

Source: ADRL, Crashnet, MotoGP, Fox, NHRA, NASCAR, Wikipedia

Qatar 2012 MotoGP recap

The MotoGP season got underway this past weekend with the running of the Qatar GP at Losail circuit. Spanish rider Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) utilized Bridgestone's softer compound to push hard and secure pole position over reigning champion Casey Stoner by a margin of 0.221 seconds.

On race Sunday, it was good to be a Spaniard, as Jorge Lorenzo's fighting spirit carried him to victory, his first at the Losail circuit. In the beginning Casey Stoner was very strong and opened up a gap, however, towards the end he struggled and had to drop his pace. As Lorenzo had no problems he capitalized on this and passed Stoner for the lead, while keeping hard charging Dani Pedrosa at bay.

"From lap three you are really sideways," said the Spaniard when asked about his new Bridgestone tires. "It is fun to ride because you are always sliding and trusting the traction control but it is not so easy."

Lorenzo leading the Honda's

Dani Pedrosa rocketed from seventh to second at turn one, but then was passed by his team mate Stoner as he set his eyes on polesitter Lorenzo. Pedrosa was able to stick with the second place rider Lorenzo throughout the middle stages and later the duo caught up to Stoner, as his performance started to fade with only a few laps remaining. Pedrosa briefly passed Lorenzo for second only to have the Yamaha rider responding in kind and then putting Stoner between them.

Barbera about to pass through Rossi

As for 79 time MotoGP winner Valentino Rossi, his struggles continue with a poor performing Ducati. He finished the race in tenth place, 33.6 seconds behind Lorenzo. At one point he was even pushed off the track by privateer Hector Barbera, also on a Ducati!

Rossi on his Ducati: "The problems with the bike haven't changed, and neither have my requests. It's unridable, and it doesn't make much difference what track we are on".

The podium results:
1. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain, Yamaha Factory
2. Dani Pedrosa, Spain, Repsol Honda
3. Casey Stoner, Australia, Repsol Honda

Next race will be the Spanish GP at Jerez, on April 29.

Thanks for reading.

Source: MotoGO, Crash.net
Photo credit: Ducati Corse, The Australian