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.

ADRL's wild rides

From the folk at ADRL we got a compilation of some wild rides at the Gateway Drags. To me this is what makes doorslammers such an interesting category.

Todd Moyer's gorgeous Corvette

In Extreme 10.5, Todd Moyer got a little more kick in the pants that he bargained for, when the turbo kicked in big time and made a wheelie past the half way point during qualifying. During round eliminations it did it again, only this time even the rear tires left the track. This is absolutely nuts cause you never know when you are going to lose steering and you hope your pointed straight when you do a wheelie going over 150 mph!

In Pro Extreme, Tim Tindle crosses the centerline (an immediate disqualification) and almost takes out his competitior. Later Todd Tutterow loses traction and moves sharply to the right and hits the retaining wall hard.

In Pro Nitrous, Jim Laurita looses traction, moves hard to the right and bicycles across before correcting and lightly grazing the right retaining wall. The camaro received light damage.



If you ever have a chance to visit an ADRL event, you will not be disappointed. Well, only if it rains.

Thanks for reading.

Source: ADRL.
Photo credit: Jeff Helmkamp

The weekend that was

In Formula One:
Despite a lot of turmoil surrounding the GP of Bahrain, the lights went out as scheduled and the race started without a hitch. Even more, the race was so exciting that ring master Bernie Ecclestone said that Bahrain can have F1 forever!

A Lotus making a move on Red Bull?

As for the race itself, Vettel started from the pole and kept everyone at bay to win the race in commanding fashion. There were many surprises during the race, but I think Lotus' performance stood out. Around the middle of the race Kimi Raikonnen even tried to pass Vettel for the lead but came a few inches short of pulling the upset of the race.  The "Iceman" would eventually have to settle for second place while teammate Romain Grosjean completed the podium in third place for Lotus Renault.

Kimi in his own words form Bahrain:



Welcome back Kimi, after just four races a podium finish.

Race highlights: last race winner Rosberg raises eyebrows as pushes several drivers of the track and escaped penalties, Williams and Marussia retirements, Jensen Button undone by poor pace and puncture, Hamilton fumes at pit stop failures, Paul di Resta jubilant with "massive" sixth place, and Ferrari finishing a minute behind the race winner but both drivers earn points.

Next, the F1 circus will head to Catalunya for the Spanish GP on 11-13 May.

In NASCAR:

Hamlin leading Truex, both in Toyota's

The STP 400 was run in Kansas last Sunday in changing track conditions. Denny Hamlin held off race favourite Martin Truex Jr. for the final 30 laps to win the race and his second victory of the season. Even though Truex had led for 173 laps, he could not keep up to the changing track conditions, which had made his car "wrecking loose". He was fast when it was cloudy but towards the end of the race, when the sun came out so did eventual race winner Hamlin, as he powered by Truex.

Jimmie Johnson finished in third place, with Roush Fenway Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle rounding up the top five.

The trucks took to the track on Saturday afternoon for the nascar Camping World Truck Series race on the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway. James Buescher (Chevrolet) led for over two thirds of the race and won comfortably with a five second lead over championship leader Timothy Peters (Toyota). Brad Keselowski, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Todd Bodine rounded up the top five.

In drag racing, ADRL:
The ADRL made a successful debut at Bristol Dragway, aka Thunder Valley.
In Pro Extreme, Jason Scruggs took the title as he ran a 3.675 at 205.72 mph to beat Tommy D'Aprile in the finals.

more to come soon.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Sky Sports, Nascar, ADRL

Photo credit: auto-motor-und-sport.de, Autostock