FulTrot: The racing weekend that was

June 8, 2015

The racing weekend that was - Wk 23

In Formula One, at the Canadian Grand Prix:

Pole sitter and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton (pictured on the right celebrating his victory) led from start to finish to secure his fourth win of the season. Team mate Nico Rosberg rarely ran more than a couple of seconds behind for the 70 lap long race. Hamilton now leads Rosberg by 17 points in the World Championship. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel sits in third place and trailing by massive 43 points.

The highlights of the race were the dual performances of Felipe Massa, who powered his Williams-Mercedes from 17th place on the grid to sixth, and of Sebastian Vettel, who outperformed his team mate Raikkonen by moving up 14 places to finish in 5th position. Another poor outing by Raikkonen, who ran a strong third all through the race only to spin all by himself coming out of the hairpin. He would drop behind fellow countrymen Valtteri Bottas who finished on the podium in third place. Pastor Maldonado also ran a great race to finish in seventh, his best finish in F1 in 46 races.

Though Max Verstappen had qualified in P12, penalties incurred from the Monaco race and penalties due to engine change meant he would start towards the back of the grid. However, the young Dutchman would drive a good race to finish in 15th place.

Alonso had hoped for a much faster car

One team that looks like it has started to come apart is McLaren-Honda (pictured on the right) as both cars dropped out of the race. Unfortunately, neither car was competitive enough and the strain on the drivers is starting to show, though they have very capable drivers in Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button (both are past world champions). And to think Alonso left Ferrari last year.

The top five:
1. Lewis Hamilton, GBR, Mercedes-Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, GER, Mercedes-Mercedes
3. Valtteri Bottas, FIN, Williams-Mercedes
4. Kimi Raikkonen, FIN, Ferrari-Ferrari
5. Sebastian Vettel, GER, Ferarri-Ferrari

The next race in the GP of Austria on June 19-21 next.

The N.H.R.A. at Englishtown, New Jersey:
The women in N.H.R.A. drag racing keep exerting pressure on the men. Whilst Pro Stock driver Erica Enders won the last round, this time she had to press in the clutch to soon and lost in the first round of eliminations. Not to worry for second generation Top Fuel driver Brittany Force stepped up her game and went all the way to the finals. However, she would loose to Antron Brown who ran 3.849 second pass at 318.47 mph.

Alexis doing her burn out

In Funny Car, the final race also came down between the two genders. Alexis DeJoria (pictured on the right) put up a valiant effort but came up short against Matt Hagan who ran a 4.132 at 299.53 mph and is the defending series champion.

In Pro Stock, KB Racing's Greg Anderson powered his bow tie Chevrolet to a win over Allen Johnson (Dodge) to earn his 76th career victory and take over the series lead. The winning run was a 6.504 at 214.31 mph.

In Pro Stock Bike, Louisiana native Jerry Savoie earned his second career victory when Jimmy Underdahl gave him an easy win by red lighting in the final round. Red lights are fairly common as the bikes react oh so quickly of the staring line.

The next round will be held at the New England Dragway on June 12-14 next.

On a side note, during the Top Fuel qualifying at the Winternationals down under, 39 year old Phil Lamattina suffered a major chassis failure which resulted in a horrendous crash. Though Lamattina seemed unhurt he was transported to the hospital where doctors confirmed he had suffered a shattered vertebrae in the incident. He is expected to make a full recovery. Get well soon Phil.

It is not often that we see a chassis failure like this. See picts below.