Ferrari to decide on Massa substitute by Wednesday (PA SportsTicker)
August 30, 2009
By PAUL LOGOTHETIS AP Auto Racing Writer
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium(AP)—Ferrari will decide by Wednesday whether Luca Badoer will remain Felipe Massa’s replacement.
Team principal Stefano Domenicali made the announcement Sunday after the Belgian Grand Prix.
Badoer qualified last for the second consecutive Formula One race, while teammate Kimi Raikkonen clinched the Italians’ first win of the season following two straight top-three performances.
The Ferrari test driver has been under pressure since he was selected after a 10-year absence from F1 to replace the injured Massa.
“With regard with what we are going to do for the next races we will tell you in the next three days,” Domenicali said. “We are going to take all into consideration, it depends how the medical checkup that Felipe will do tomorrow (goes) and then we will put on the table all the different things. And then we will make a decision.”
Massa arrived in Miami on Sunday for medical tests to determine just how long he may be sidelined after an accident almost cost the Brazilian his life at last month’s Hungarian GP.
“(Felipe) was very happy, he cheered with us,” Domenicali said. “It was for us such a great day after such a difficult season, such a dramatic season. It’s what the team deserved.”
Domenicali hinted that Badoer’s time as Massa’s replacement could be coming to an end.
“For sure Ferrari doesn’t want to be last at the race. We want to be stronger as a team,” he said.
But Badoer was confident that he could impress on his home circuit, where he has driven more laps than anyone else as a Ferrari test driver.
“In Monza, I think for sure I start with the idea to get in the points range,” said the 38-year-old Italian, who has never finished in the points for a record 50 races.
Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella, who finished second Sunday, and about every other available Italian driver has been linked with Ferrari, which also has Spanish reserve driver Marc Gene at its disposal.
Fired drivers Sebastien Bourdais and Nelson Piquet Jr. are the only others who have driven this season and could be ready to move straight into the car.
Domenicali faced questions about two-time world champion Fernando Alonso joining from Renault next season, which also has put Raikkonen’s place in doubt despite the Finn being contracted for 2010.
“I haven’t been doing much differently,” Raikkonen said. “There have been rumors almost every year since I’ve been in Formula One, so I don’t care about it. I don’t make the decisions in the end, so we’ll see what happens.”
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Briscoe beats Dixon by a nose at Chicagoland (PA SportsTicker)
August 30, 2009
By CHRIS JENKINS AP Sports Writer
JOLIET, Ill.(AP)—Ryan Briscoe grabbed the IndyCar series points lead by stringing together quietly consistent finishes. Then he took control by putting on a remarkable wheel-to-wheel show under the lights at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday night.
Briscoe made an aggressive move for the lead going into the final lap of the race, pulling alongside fellow title contender Scott Dixon as the white flag flew. After going side-by-side with their wheels inches apart, Briscoe nosed ahead at the finish line to win by 0.0077 seconds.
Told that his margin of victory – the fourth-closest finish in series history – translated to about 28 1/2 inches on the track, Briscoe didn’t balk.
“Nice,” Briscoe said. “That’s enough.”
Dixon finished second by a nose, followed by Mario Moraes and the third remaining championship contender, Dario Franchitti. Three of the series’ four closest finishes have come at Chicagoland.
The series title fight remains tight going into the final two races of the season, but Briscoe’s third victory of the season represents a significant boost to his title hopes.
Briscoe came into Saturday’s race with a slim five-point lead over Franchitti, but leaves Chicagoland leading Franchitti by 25 points and Dixon by 33 points going into the final two races.
Briscoe said extending his lead slightly won’t change his strategy.
“No different, really,” Briscoe said. “We’ve seen how quickly that can turn around. Just got to stay focused and try to beat these guys still.”
Afterward, Dixon was unhappy that his Chip Ganassi Racing car seemingly wasn’t able to keep pace with Briscoe’s Penske Racing car.
“Pretty simple – we didn’t have enough speed,” Dixon said. “I could tell if it was going to come down to a head-to-head race at the end or the finish with Ryan or even Helio (Castroneves), we weren’t going to have enough.”
But it was a rough day for Castroneves, Briscoe’s Penske teammate, who appeared to break a suspension part and hit the wall with 16 laps to go.
Castroneves, who came into Saturday night’s race fourth in the points, was eliminated from title contention after his crash. According to series officials, X-rays on Castroneves’ right ankle were negative and he was released from the infield medical center.
Franchitti said Castroneves’ elimination helps the Penske team, because Castroneves can race in support of Briscoe’s bid for the title while the Ganassi teammates presumably continue to race Briscoe, and each other, for the title.
“Ryan’s got the luxury of Helio being out of it, so he can help him a little bit,” Franchitti said. “But us, both cars are still in the fight right now. I don’t know, if we end up backing one horse, Chip (Ganassi) will make that decision. But as of right now we’re both still going for it.”
Graham Rahal rounded out the top five. Danica Patrick finished 12th.
The race was fast and caution-free until nearly the halfway point, when Andretti Green Racing driver Hideki Mutoh lost control of his car and hit the wall hard on lap 92. Mutoh was able to climb out of the car on his own.
All the leaders pitted on lap 96, putting the leaders close to making it to the end of the race with only one more stop.
Briscoe had a slightly slower stop than the rest of the leaders – apparently misjudging his marks while coming to a stop – and came out in eighth place for the restart. Briscoe struggled in traffic during the middle portion of the race and fell out of the top 10 at one point.
“I wasn’t too worried at the time,” Briscoe said. “But once we got going, I got a little bit more worried because there were a lot of fast cars out there tonight.”
But he eventually climbed back into the lead when Franchitti pitted under green with 42 laps remaining. Franchitti’s stop was slowed when a mechanic’s air wrench briefly got stuck under his car.
Briscoe and Dixon pitted soon after, and Dixon took the lead back after all the leaders cycled through the pits.
After Castroneves’ crash, Dixon led the field to a restart with nine laps to go.
But Briscoe pulled alongside Dixon as they took the white flag signaling one lap to go, and raced him side-by-side for the remainder of the final lap before inching past him as they came to the finish line.
“We did our best job, and we still came up short,” Dixon said.
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Ambrose earns the pole on a very wet day in Montreal (NASCAR.com)
August 30, 2009
Talk about redemption.
Some seven hours and myriad raindrops after failing to get their entry to the starting grid for Saturday's Grand-Am race, Marcos Ambrose and Carl Edwards overcame wet conditions to grab the front row for Sunday's NAPA Auto Parts 200 Nationwide Series race.
Ambrose took at pole at 80.905 mph (120.542 seconds) at 2.709-mile , and Edwards claimed the second starting position at 80.116 mph (121.728), after crashing during warmup laps the Kevin Doran-owned Rolex Grand-Am car he and Ambrose were to share for the race.
Ron Fellows (79.717 mph), last year's race winner, qualified third, followed by Boris Said (78.902 mph) and Brad Coleman (78.837 mph). Jacques Villeneuve, Justin Marks, Antonio Perez, Andrew Ranger and Paul Menard will start from positions six through 10, respectively.
Marcos Ambrose had the windshi… NASCAR.com – Aug 29, 10:24 pm EDT Marcos Ambrose had the windshi… NASCAR.com – Aug 29, 10:24 pm EDT YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index = 1; YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_lazy_images = [http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/turner/5b/fullj.18f6d818fc30c506c6f7b0fbeba542f4/preview.nwide.mambrose200908290.jpg?x=180&y=200&xc=129&yc=1&wc=184&hc=204&q=70&sig=lmct3HykFEA0Yx9Ra02fUg--]; YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(window,load,YAHOO.Sports.articleLazyLoadCarousel.init); 1 of 2 NASCAR Gallery function prev_photo() { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index > 0) { goto_photo(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index – 1); } else { goto_photo(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index); }}function next_photo() { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index 0) { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_prev, prev); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_prev, prev_disabled); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_prev, prev_disabled); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_prev, prev); } if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index < YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index) { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_next, next); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_next, next_disabled); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_next, next_disabled); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_next, next); }*/}function goto_photo(p) { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos) { for(i = 0; i < YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos.length; i++) { if (i == p) { YAHOO.util.Dom.setStyle(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos[i], display, ); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.setStyle(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos[i], display, none); } } if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page) { YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page.innerHTML =(p + 1); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index = p; } } update_buttons();}YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_init = function () { YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(article_carousel_prev, click, prev_photo); YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(article_carousel_next, click, next_photo); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index = 0; YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page = YAHOO.util.Dom.get(carousel_page); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos = YAHOO.util.Dom.getElementsByClassName(item, div, leadphoto); if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos) { goto_photo(0); }}YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_init();
Said, however, will start from the rear of the field after blowing an engine during his qualifying run.
Ambrose went out in the second of eight groups under the Nationwide road-course qualifying format, which features five- and six-car groups on the track at the same time. Edwards qualified in Group 6, and might have won the pole had he not been slowed by Jean-Francois Dumoulin on his fourth and final lap.
"Can you believe it?" Ambrose said. "We go in the sports-car race, and it ends so badly for us, and then we come out and lock the front row for the Nationwide race. It may be karma—I don't know. I just feel really badly for Kevin Doran and the whole team there, because we destroyed that car for them. … But we've gone from zero to hero."
Edwards acknowledged that Dumoulin might have cost him the pole, but considering the events earlier in the day, Edwards was fine with the outcome.
"[Saturday] did not start out well," Edwards said. "Marcos Ambrose and Kevin Doran and all the guys put together a great Daytona Prototype car, and we worked really hard on it, and I put it in the fence before the race even started.
"So it's kind of fitting. I would have loved to have been on the pole [Saturday], but I took Marcos' opportunity to race—at all—in that race. He had his suit on and everything. He looked like the kid who woke up on the 24th of December and thought it was Christmas and found out it wasn't.
"He got the pole, and it probably worked out well. … I owed him one—but now we're even."
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Earnhardt recovers from practice crash
Making his second start in the Nationwide Series—and his second on a road course—Jeffrey Earnhardt was the victim of an off-road excursion in Saturday morning's practice session, but afterwards neither the driver nor the car was worse for wear.
"I hit a puddle of water and just hydroplaned and went straight into the wall," Earnhardt said. "It wasn't too bad. It was just body damage, and we've got it fixed now."
Earnhardt's assessment was on the money. He qualified the No. 40 Key Motorsports Chevrolet in 25th place for Sunday's race.
He clocked the eighth-fastest time before morning practice was cut short by rain.
"I don't know, it's just something I took to. I was real iffy about it at first," said Earnhardt, who has raced late-model stock cars the past two years in the NASCAR Camping World Series East. "Then, after I ran a few laps and got the feel of everything it actually was a lot of fun. I was having a blast out there, going sideways."
The 20-year-old son of Kerry Earnhardt, Jeffrey made his first Nationwide start three weeks ago on the road course at Watkins Glen and finished a respectable 24th.
"Obviously, we were pretty good in the first part of practice," Earnhardt said. "I think we'll be pretty good. Hopefully, it's nicer. I don't really want to run in the rain after that."
Busch has a talented teacher
Series points leader Kyle Busch, winner of Friday night's Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland, made good use of the limited practice time he got at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Saturday. To hone his road-course chops, Busch got a critique from former Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve, son of the driver for whom the track was named.
"He got behind me a little bit so, I asked him what I looked like, and he said it looked like I did everything fine," said Busch, who made his 12th-place qualifying run in extremely wet conditions. "It was a little bit wet out there [in practice], and it started drying out. He said, 'You were driving like it was wet, like it was raining, which is good if it's raining, just remember that. But it started to dry out, so go back and go into the regular groove when it starts to dry out, you'll go faster.'
"I didn't see the track really drying out, so I wasn't sure to go back over and move over a little bit. He gave me some good pointers."
Attractive venue for NASCAR
The official Montreal program has a $10 coupon inside for Rain-X windshield wipers, which would have come in handy on Saturday. It rained off and on in the morning, limiting track time, and all through qualifying.
The stands weren't entirely packed on Saturday, but the turnout for both Nationwide Series qualifying and the Grand-Am Rolex Series race was impressive nonetheless considering the inclement weather.
The 2.7-mile street circuit was damp from an early morning rain and cars were slipping and sliding in morning practice. The first session was interrupted for 40 minutes by heavy rain and the second was canceled as teams waited in vain for the track to dry in order to work on dry tires.
Max Papis had the quickest lap in morning practice. But he slid off course twice during qualifying and will start a disappointing 28th.
A year ago, it rained even harder on race day when Canadian Ron Fellows splashed his way to victory in the first NASCAR points race run on grooved rain tires, and the crowd was undeterred then, too.
"There were not that many umbrellas," Boris Said recalled. "We were under caution and I was going, 'This is unbelievable.' They were just sitting there and it's coming down. They were even here for qualifying. Don't they have jobs? I mean, they're fanatical race fans. I didn't expect it for NASCAR."
Said figures that both Volkswagen and Honda will join the Sprint Cup Series when the cars go to fuel injection.
He doesn't just work on race cars
Team owner Johnny Davis' transporter broke down 100 miles south of Montreal, still in the United States, thanks to the failure of an engine part that controls the rocker arm on the exhaust valve.
Davis already had flown ahead to Montreal when he got the news, but that didn't deter him from addressing the problem. Davis drove back across the border to Albany, N.Y., to pick up a replacement part.
He then drove to his broken hauler, fixed it himself and got the truck back on the road to Montreal.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Nationwide Series Standings Pos.+/-DriverPointsBehind 1.—Kyle Busch3,900— 2.—Carl Edwards3,652-2483.—Brad Keselowski3,597-3034.—Jason Leffler3,353-5475.—Justin Allgaier2,843-1,0576.—Steve Wallace2,785-1,1157.—Jason Keller2,727-1,1738.—Mike Bliss2,713-1,1879.—Brendan Gaughan2,649-1,25110.—Michael McDowell2,608-1,292
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Kenny Wallace to fans: Merci!
August 30, 2009
MONTREAL (AP)—The back bumper of Kenny Wallace’s No. 28 had “Merci Fans!” emblazoned across it on Saturday and thousands of names in tiny black letters were all over the bright red Border Patrol Chevy.
That was a way to thank the more than 5,000 people who donated money so Wallace could race north of the border on Sunday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the Nationwide Series. The U.S. Border Patrol won’t back the car in events outside the United States.
Wallace’s fans learned of his sponsor predicament when he wrote about it on his Facebook page early this year. Fans who contributed $20 or more will have his or her name on the car for the race and after the event will receive a photo of the car with Wallace’s autograph.
Among the contributors was Canadian driver Patrick Carpentier.
“He gave me 20 bucks,” Wallace said with a smile.
Among the names on the car are two deceased drivers who were wildly popular in their day: Dale Earnhardt and Benny Parsons.
Despite the fanfare, Wallace said he was treating the weekend like any other.
“Every action we make and how I drive cannot be about the fan car,” said Wallace, who qualified 38th in the rain. “Once you come in the gate, it’s game on. It’s business as usual. If the crew makes pit calls according to how much pride we feel with the fans, we won’t operate normally.
“We’ll see how we end up. We’re not 12th in the points because we’re bozos.”
EARNHARDT THE ROADIE: The late Dale Earnhardt was no slouch at road racing— he won at Sonoma in 1995 and captured three poles at Watkins Glen in his career.
Grandson Jeffrey Earnhardt seems a chip off the old block. The 20-year-old son of Kerry Earnhardt, trying to break into NASCAR’s second-tier series, made his first career Nationwide start three weeks ago on the road course at Watkins Glen and finished a respectable 24th.
Jeffrey Earnhardt’s second career Nationwide start will come on the street course in Montreal on Sunday, and he’s apparently a fast learner. He clocked the eighth-fastest time before morning practice was cut short by rain.
“I don’t know, it’s just something I took to. I was real iffy about it at first,” said Earnhardt, who has raced late model stock cars the past two years in the NASCAR Camping World Series East. “Then, after I ran a few laps and got the feel of everything it actually was a lot of fun. I was having a blast out there, going sideways.”
Until he hit a wall and crumpled the right front fender of his No. 40 Key Motorsports Chevy.
“I just hit a puddle of water, hydroplaned, and drove straight into the wall,” he said. “She wouldn’t turn or nothing. It wasn’t too bad. We’ve got it fixed now. We should be good to go. I think we’ll be good to go.”
He was. Earnhardt qualified 25th on the rainswept street course.
“Obviously, we were pretty good in the first part of practice,” Earnhardt said. “I think we’ll be pretty good. Hopefully, it’s nicer. I don’t really want to run in the rain after that.”
^DIEHARD FANS: The stands weren’t entirely packed on Saturday, but the turnout for both Nationwide Series qualifying and the Grand-Am Rolex Series race was impressive nonetheless considering the inclement weather.
The 2.7-mile street circuit was damp from an early morning rain and cars were slipping and sliding in morning practice. The first session was in terrupted for 40 minutes by heavy rain and the second was canceled as teams waited in vain for the track to dry in order to work on dry tires.
A year ago, it rained even harder on race day when Canadian Ron Fellows splashed his way to victory in the first NASCAR points race run on grooved rain tires, and the crowd was undeterred then, too.
“There were not that many umbrellas,” Boris Said recalled. “We were under caution and I was going, ‘This is unbelievable.’ They were just sitting there and it’s coming down. They were even here for qualifying. Don’t they have jobs? I mean, they’re fanatical race fans. I didn’t expect it for NASCAR.”
Sunday marks the third straight Nationwide Series at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which has become an attractive venue for NASCAR.
SPARK PLUGS: Nationwide director Joe Balash said the second-tier series would debut the series’ new car next July at Daytona. Instead of restrictor plates, the cars will use a tapered spacer at select races. The goal is to use the spacer at all events eventually. … The official Montreal program has a $10 coupon inside for Rain-X windshield wipers, which would have come in handy on Saturday. It rained off and on in the morning, limiting track time, and all through qualifying. … Max Papis had the quickest lap in morning practice, which was interrupted for 40 minutes by heavy rain. But he slid off course twice during qualifying and will start a disappointing 28th. … Boris Said figures that both Volkswagen and Honda will join the Sprint Cup Series when the cars go to fuel injection.
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Pedrosa has fastest lap at Indy GP practice
August 29, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—Spain’s Dani Pedrosa has run the fastest lap during amorning practice session for the Indianapolis Grand Prix.
Pedrosa’s fast lap Saturday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway took 1minute, 40.271 seconds. It came on the last of his 27 laps during the session.
Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo was second on the leaderboard, in 1:41.286, and AlexDe Angelis of San Marino was third, in 1:41.324.
Points leader Valentino Rossi of Italy was fourth in 1:41.389. He is thedefending champion at the Indianapolis GP.
Qualifying for Sunday’s race will be in the afternoon.
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Fisichella gives Force India its 1st F1 pole (PA SportsTicker)
August 29, 2009
By PAUL LOGOTHETIS AP Auto Racing Writer
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium(AP)—Giancarlo Fisichella gave Force India its first Formula One pole during qualifying Saturday for the Belgian Grand Prix.
The 36-year-old Italian earned the Indian team its maiden pole with a lap of 1 minute, 46.308 seconds around the high-speed Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Entering its 30th race, Force India has yet to win a point by finishing among the top eight.
“It’s unbelievable,” Fisichella said. “I expected to be competitive but I didn’t expect to be on pole.”
Toyota driver Jarno Trulli will start second ahead of BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld following a qualifying session that produced many surprises.
Overall F1 leader Jenson Button will start a season’s worst 14th after failing to reach the last qualifying session for the first time, while teammate Rubens Barrichello will start fourth on the grid. Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel and teammate Mark Webber will attempt to take some points from Button’s lead, but begin from eighth and ninth, respectively.
Trulli was as surprised as anyone considering Toyota had been struggling this season.
“It’s a good question that none of us can answer,” Trulli said about his car’s performance. “We came here and straightaway we looked very strong.”
The top three have combined to make 594 race starts, but only Heidfeld has yet to cross the finish line first, something the German hopes to change before BMW Sauber is pulls out of F1 at the end of the season.
“It’s obviously very important for everybody in the team,” Heidfeld said. “BMW wanted to pull out on a high. It’s great that we can show we have good performance.”
Teammate Robert Kubica starts fifth ahead of Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen – a three-time winner in Belgium – and Toyota’s Timo Glock.
Button will just hope to finish in the points as he leads Barrichello by 18 with six races to go. Webber trails Button by 20.5 points and Vettel by 25. Brawn GP leads Red Bull by 27.5 points in the constructors’ series.
In a season where the standings have been turned upside down by regulation changes, few would have predicted Fisichella take the pole in Belgium. His best grid position through 11 races this season was 13th and he was a 150-1 underdog to take top spot.
“It’s a crazy season,” Trulli said. “You see teams changing and being competitive from one race to another. It’s hard to get a handle on it.”
It was an unpredictable qualifying session in cool weather of 59 degrees Fahrenheit as Red Bull, Toyota, Force India, BMW Sauber and Ferrari all showed strong pace along the Ardennes hills.
Like Button, defending champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren, who was coming off victory at Hungary and a second place at Valencia, and 2006 champion Fernando Alonso of Renault failed to get out of the second session and start 12th and 13th, respectively.
Fisichella denied his drive was aimed at persuading Ferrari to hire him to fill in for the injured Felipe Massa.
“I’m a Force India driver and I have a contract with them,” the three-time winner said. “And there has been no contact with Ferrari.”
Massa’s replacement, Luca Badoer, starts last for the second straight race after finishing more than one second off the cutoff point for the first session.
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Spain’s Pedrosa takes MotoGP pole at Indianapolis
August 29, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—Dani Pedrosa of Spain has won the pole for the IndianapolisMotoGP race with a qualifying lap of 1 minute, 39.730 seconds.
Jorge Lorenzo of Spain was second in Saturday’s qualifying with a 1:40.236.Valentino Rossi of Italy, the defending race winner and points leader, was thirdin 1:40.609.
Pedrosa’s best lap was more than one second faster than Rossi’s pole-winningtime of 1:40.776 in 2008.
Speeds improved dramatically in better conditions on Indy’s 2.621-mile roadcourse.
But Pedrosa remained the fastest after posting the best times in bothpractice sessions. It’s the second pole of the season for the Repsol Hondadriver.
Colin Edwards was the top American qualifier at 1:40.961. He will startfifth in Sunday’s race.
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Mechanic in coma following GP2 accident (PA SportsTicker)
August 29, 2009
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM(AP) —A mechanic is in an induced coma after a pit lane accident before the start of the GP2 race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.
Vasco Rossi was airlifted to a hospital following the accident before the start of the Formula One feeder series race.
The 57-year-old mechanic for the Trident Racing team was injured when Ricardo Teixeira’s car snagged on a cable going through the pit lane and it caught a wheel gun, which hit Rossi’s head.
GP2 spokeswoman Alexa Quintin said that medical tests had come back “negative” but that Rossi would be in an artificial coma for three days.
Last month, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa was nearly killed in an accident at the Hungarian GP, which came less than a week after Henry Surtees died in an F2 race.
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Busch wins Trucks series race at Chicagoland (PA SportsTicker)
August 29, 2009
By CHRIS JENKINS AP Sports Writer
JOLIET, Ill. (AP)—It’s an off weekend for many of NASCAR’s top drivers, but Kyle Busch isn’t getting much rest.
After winning the Camping World Trucks series race at Chicagoland Speedway Friday night, Busch was rushing to board a plane for Montreal to begin preparations for Sunday’s Nationwide race on the city’s road course.
Busch joked that he probably shouldn’t have guzzled an energy drink so late at night.
“I’ll be all right,” Busch said. “It shouldn’t be too bad.”
Busch went truck racing on an off weekend for the Sprint Cup series, holding off Todd Bodine on a restart with seven laps to go and cruising to a victory.
It was the second Trucks series victory in as many weeks for Busch, who also won at Bristol Motor Speedway last week. With Friday’s win, the Sprint Cup series regular has four Trucks series victories this season and 13 in his career.
Busch previously won at Chicagoland in NASCAR’s top two series, sweeping the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series races there last season.
Bodine finished second, giving Toyota the top two spots. They were followed by Ford drivers Colin Braun and Rick Crawford, with Johnny Sauter finishing fifth in a Chevrolet.
It was a disappointing night for the series’ top two championship contenders, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Matt Crafton. Both drivers spent much of the race a lap behind the leaders, with Hornaday making up his lap in the late stages of the race to finish 11th and Crafton finishing a lap down in 14th.
Hornaday leaves Chicagoland with a solid 220-point lead over Crafton in the standings.
After the race, Bodine complained that passing was too difficult and made a plea for NASCAR officials to take a look at the aerodynamic characteristics of its race cars across the board.
“They need to work on it – all three divisions,” Bodine said.
Bodine said when he wasn’t stuck in traffic, his car was the fastest in the field.
“Out in clean air, that thing was a rocket,” Bodine said. “I could just about run wide open, lap after lap. We were consistently two tenths (of a second) faster than the rest of the pack. But when you get behind somebody, you just can’t do anything with it.”
Still, Bodine was happy for his first top-10 finish since late June.
“After the past two months we’ve had, second, we’ll have to take it,” Bodine said.
Busch credited his crew for good pit strategy, citing a decision to take fresh tires early in the race.
Busch dominated the majority of the race, leading 79 of 150 laps, but was shuffled back on a late round of pit stops. Bodine held the lead on a restart with 25 laps to go, with Busch directly behind him.
As Busch hounded Bodine for the lead, T.J. Bell spun out near the start/finish line with 24 laps to go – narrowly avoiding disaster when his truck slid back up the banking.
The race restarted with 19 laps to go, and Busch got past Bodine easily on the backstretch.
“If he didn’t give me that room, it might have gotten a bit ugly,” Busch said.
Busch held the lead when contact between Tayler Malsam and David Starr brought out another caution with 12 laps left. Busch held off Bodine on the final restart with seven to go, then pulled away in the closing laps.
Next comes practice for Sunday’s road course race at Montreal. With rain in the forecast Saturday, Busch was told practice could be delayed but not canceled entirely – meaning Busch’s first look at the track could come under soggy conditions.
“They don’t want us to go out there while it’s raining,” Busch said. “We’ll practice on a wet track, but not while it’s raining. For my first time out there, I don’t think that would be too good. I’d be trying to get into a braking zone, overshoot and wad it up. I don’t need to be doing that.”
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Dixon hoping to hang in points race at Chicagoland (PA SportsTicker)
August 28, 2009
By ANDREW SELIGMAN AP Sports Writer
JOLIET, Ill.(AP)—Scott Dixon has been inconsistent this season, and has had a particularly bumpy ride the past month. And now he’s trying to stay in the IRL points race at a track that hasn’t always treated him kindly.
“It’s been good and bad for me,” Dixon said, referring to his recent trips to Chicagoland Speedway.
In 2007, he ran out of gas. Last year, he lost a photo finish to Helio Castroneves but claimed the points title.
He’s trying to hang in the title chase after an uneven month in which he set an IndyCar record with his 20th career win at mid-Ohio three weeks ago but fell from first to third after an early crash at Sonoma, Calif., last week.
“It’s been definitely an up-and-down season,” said Dixon, who has four wins this year for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. “It’s been good on some parts, with the team winning over half the races – eight of them out of 14, which is definitely very respectable. And still, nobody’s had much of a runaway.”
Dixon ran away at mid-Ohio early this month and moved past Sam Hornish Jr. on the IRL career wins list with a dominant win that gave him a three-point lead over Ryan Briscoe. The lead went to pieces when Dixon crashed at Sonoma.
Now, he’s third in the standings with 477 points, trailing Briscoe (498) and teammate Dario Franchitti (493).
Dixon started 10th at Sonoma and was in a multicar crash on the first lap, yet he seemed to be on his way to a top-10 finish heading into the last corner when he got turned by Marco Andretti and crossed the line 14th. Officials penalized Andretti for avoidable contact and gave him a 14th-place finish behind Dixon.
The New Zealander is hoping to put last week behind him.
“We’ve had a good run,” Dixon said. “A lot of that credit is because of Team Target. All 20 wins have come with them. We can definitely add to it, and this weekend would be a great time for it.”
Last year, Dixon had reason to be disappointed and to celebrate at Chicagoland.
He held a 78-point lead over Castroneves heading into the final three events, but had to hang on when Castroneves made a late push that included both his 2008 wins, beating Dixon in a photo finish here.
Dixon, who only needed to finish eighth to claim the points title, lost by 0.0033 of a second – or 12 1/8 inches – in the second-closest finish in the 14-year history of the IRL series. Only Hornish’s 0.0024-second win over Al Unser Jr. in 2002 on this track was closer.
It was so tight that Dixon was initially declared the winner and went to Victory Circle before officials gave Castroneves the win. Dixon still claimed the IRL title by 17 points.
A year earlier at Chicagoland, he ran out of fuel two turns from the finish and lost both the race and title to Franchitti, driving for Andretti Green Racing at the time.
“At least I’ll know what he’s got,” Dixon said of Franchitti. “That year, I think we were probably quicker than he was, but we obviously didn’t conserve enough fuel to get to the end. It’s definitely going to be a lot different working with him and trying to get maximum points over the Penske guys.
“I know Helio is going to be pushing extremely hard and he’s always been extremely fast here. I’m looking forward to it.”
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POWER OUT OF HOSPITAL: IndyCar driver Will Power was released from the hospital and returned home to Indianapolis after multiple injuries during a crash in Sonoma, Calif. last Saturday.
Power fractured two vertebrae and sustained a concussion in his crash with Nelson Philippe during a practice session. Power is scheduled to see IndyCar series orthopedic specialist Dr. Terry Trammell on Monday for further evaluation.
Philippe, who left the hospital this week, had a concussion, a fracture to his left foot and hairline fracture of his right fibula.
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OLYMPIC PLUG: At least one driver hopes to steer the selection committee toward Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. James Buescher and Chicago-based sponsor NAVISTAR gave the cause a boost by unveiling a “Back the Bid” paint scheme on his No. 10 Circle Bar Racing Ford F-150 for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Friday.
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