Kahne Victorious At Charlotte Again

Sunday’s motorsport bonanza ended with the Coke 600 from Charlotte.

NASCAR prepared for its toughest test. The race started in daytime before transforming as the sun went down before finishing under the lights. As if that wasn’t challenging enough, drivers had to contend with an extra one hundred miles.

The race was a test of how a team could adapt to the changing conditions. Some faired well and ran good all night while others waited for their time to pounce. One such person was Tony Stewart. The #20 struggled to keep on the lead lap early on. But as the night wore on the orange Toyota powered it’s way to the front. His chance of a first victory at Charlotte went up in smoke with a tire blow late into the race.
One more his team-mate Kyle Busch was the man at the front. However the #18 team was beset with issues. It is something the team will have to deal with if they intend to win the Chase. Any lesser driver wouldn’t have pulled off the sterling finishes the Las Vegas native has. Dale Earnhardt Junior was top dog at Hendricks. His own chances of victory suffered when he hit the wall and was rear-ended by JJ Yeley. Despite this he still game home with a top-five along with team-mate Jeff Gordon. Both men got good fuel mileage from their Chevy’s to limit the damage of their misfortunes.

All this allowed All-Star winner Kasey Kahne to pick up his second win in two weeks. As the old saying goes, when it rains, it pours. Kahne snapped a long-running winless streak last week and the confidence it has instilled in the GEM Dodge team is showing. Kahne is showing signs that he could recapture is 2006 form. Time will tell, but the team is off to an excellent start. The result seems him sneak into the top-12, ahead of the ever impressive David Ragan in the #6 Roush Ford. Ragan, who endured a crash-fest rookie year, is proving that Jack Roush was right to back him for a second year. Seeing the #6 running back at the front brings back memories of what Mark Martin did with the car.

The NASCAR circuit heads to Dover this weekend. A return to day-time racing is a welcome change with the time zone difference! It will also be the last race broadcast by Fox. I’ve grown to enjoy the Fox team commentating and will be interesting to see how it is handled from here on out. I think Darrell Waltrip will be missed most of all.

So we’ll have to tighten those belts one more time at Dover!

Got Milk? Dixon Does.

Sunday provided a triple bill of blue ribbon racing. First off we had Formula One from Monaco, discussed above. After which we were treated to the Indy 500.

The Indy 500, for those of you who don’t know, is the Indy Racing League’s premier event. It’s the race everyone wants to win. The race, like the Daytona 500 for Nascar, follows a different format with qualifying. The grid is decided in sessions before a final ‘bump’ day to decide who gets in. This year featured the largest grid in some time for the IRL, assisted by the unification. The race also features a three-wide start compared to the conventional two-wide.

Kiwi Scott Dixon took victory for Chip Ganassi. It was his first time to win the big event. From the off it looked that the winner would come from the Ganassi stable. Dixon and Weldon locked out the front row and was the car to beat. Tony Kaanan rose to the challenge at the half-way point, but the Brazilian’s luck would elude him. After losing grip whilst avoiding his team-mate Marco Andretti, he slid up towards to wall before been t-boned by Sarah Fisher. Andretti would go on to finish second at the event for the second time in three years.
It was an impressive day by part-time driver Tomas Scheckter. The son of 1979 F1 champ Jody, he kept tabs on the lead until a driveshaft problem on his final stop put paid to his hopes. The former Champ car teams had contrasting days. Oriol Servia and Will Power brought their KV cars home on the lead lap whilst the rest all hit difficulties.

Singing In The Rain

Lewis Hamilton added another win under abnormal conditions today with a stunning drive at Monaco.

The skies opened before the race which led to a lottery on the track. Hamilton touched the barrier causing a puncture early on. Luck would be with the McLaren driver as this moved him to an alternative strategy – one that allowed him to win the race. By running longer, he was better placed to make his last stop at the point where returning to dry tires was optional.
In racing you not only have to be good, but you need luck. Hamilton had both today and came home a deserved winner.

Despite looking good early on, both Ferrari’s enduring a trying day. The pair emulated former Ferrari leader Schumacher with a trip up St. Devote, although neither could take to the streets like the Ferrari legend. Massa’s day was effectively ruined with a decision to fuel him to the flag. His mid-race pace was terrible, coupled with Hamilton’s stunning pace left the Brazilian out of contention. The late decision to change to slicks saw him nipped by Kubica.
Raikkonen was nowhere all day. He was off the pace, broke a wing, a drive through penalty and finally ended up ploughing into the back of Sutil after hitting a rain patch. Force India’s claim to have him suspended is laughable and out of emotion. Shit happens. Nobody called for Hamilton to be banned after he smashed into the back of Alonso, or Coulthard into the back of Schumacher in 98. Collisions happen, it’s part of racing.

I have to feel for Sutil though. An awesome day that should’ve rewarded the German with points. His year has been full of disappointments and his luck doesn’t look like changing. The youngster will have to take a page out of Vettel’s book and rebound after the heartbreak.

Kubica picked up a fine second place, but BMW will no doubt be worried as they haven’t been on the pace as of late. Webber continued his fine run as best of the rest with fourth. Vettel put all his bad luck behind him to come home to a quite fifth. Barrichello scored his first points since 2006 followed by Nakajima and Kovalainen

It was such an action packed race that the points could have been filled by any. Alonso was racy until he ended up collecting Heidfeld. The BMW driver had a torrid day, finishing four laps down. A second safety car, for the crash of Rosberg, brought the field back in. I’m struggling to figure out why Heidfeld or Heikki waited so long behind the safety car. It just delayed things. I wonder if it was a Ferrari back there would James Allen be saying it was team delay tactics. Wouldn’t be the first time. Strange how things like that are mentioned at Melbourne but not here for something that would be so obvious.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Lewis Hamilton. Could it be anyone but? Survived an early scare and once more like Canada and Japan last year showed an air of maturity to drive around all the problems. The Ferrari’s bungled around and he now goes into the track which gave him his first win on top of the standings. Honourable mention to Adrian Sutil who drove superbly until his day ended in tatters.

Checkbook Drivers? No Thanks!

Toro Rosso boss Gerhard Berger signalled that he would not turn to pay drivers in 2009.

The future of STR is shrouded in doubt with Red Bull supremo, Dietrich Mateschitz, planning to sell his half of the team. Mateschitz plans to pull Red Bull’s involvement with its junior team due to end of the customer cars ‘era’. I use the term ‘era’ lightly, given that it has only lasted a couple of years.

Red Bull have no intention of trying to finance too teams. Although, they have gone about it in a much better way than Honda did with Super Aguri. That leaves co-owner and former race winner Berger looking to stabilize the teams future. So far there hasn’t been much talk about an investor. On-track results have hardly helped the situation either.

I have to say, I have a load of respect for Berger in his desire not to touch pay drivers. The idea of people paying their way into Formula One has always gotten underneath my skin. It just isn’t right. Formula One is the pinnacle of single-seater racing. That means we should have the best drivers in the world. Why should someone be able to buy in to that?

Minnow teams have been filled with this sort. Luckily, the past few years have seen this breed of driver die out. Not in its entirety of course. Nakajima to an extent is a pay driver, helping to shave numbers off the Toyota engine bill at Williams. Sakon Yamamoto is another example of a driver who somehow found his way back onto the grid last year with Spyker after a year with Super Aguri. Did he get there because of his brilliant driving talents or the size of his wallet? Pretty much a no brainer there!

In the cut-throat world where money seems to be everything, Berger’s stance is something to be admired. Hopefully come the end of the year he doesn’t find himself having to change his mind.

A Month Under The Lights

It’s been a while since I pulled up a Nascar round-up. The main reason for the delay is the late night races that are on the schedule over the last while.

The last three weeks have been night races with the fourth, the Coke 600 at Charlotte this coming weekend. Adjusting to this schedule has been a pain in the arse. I tried to stay up for Richmond in vain. Midnight to 4am races are pretty taxing. The race was dominated by Denny Hamlin. Lady Luck decided against letting the youngster record his second win of the year with a tire blow out near the end.

The race will be remembered for the contact between Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Junior. The former has endured the wrath of Earnhardt Nation since. Clint Bowyer snuck through to take his second career victory.

Kyle Busch was dominant force at Darlington. The tight confines of the track didn’t stop ‘Wild Thing’ from overtaking anywhere on the track. Even a penalty for a loose nut, which put him to the back of the pack couldn’t stop Busch. The youngster, who was promoting the new Indiana Jones flick, provided a swashbuckling performance to win the race. Common sense was to the front for me to watch Darlington with taping it. While I hate the idea of watching races re-live like this, it’s better than nothing.

The third consecutive night race was the All Stars race on Saturday night. A non-points race which Kasey Kahne, who only made the race after been voted in by the fans, walked away with the one million dollar cash prize. Dale Jarrett stepped back into the car one last time and even drove big brown truck before the race got off.

The common thread through all these races was the force that is Kyle Busch and Toyota. The Gibbs team were beset with mechanical issues at the All Stars race. But, better to get them out of the way now than have them this coming weekend.

Busch is also in the spotlight over his tangle with Earnhardt Junior. As I said before, he is now incurring the wrath of Earnhardt Nation. His former Hendricks team-mates Gordon and Johnson can give him tips on that. I noticed that the pair of them, Busch and the open-wheelers received a less than appreciative applause from the fans at the All Stars.

I love the way the Kyle is handling it though. He admitted after the race it wasn’t intentional and that he wasn’t thrilled that it occurred. In most cases, that should be enough and everyone gets on with it. But now when the other driver is Earnhardt.
It’s just the way things are over there. I read plenty of times about the Nascar.com journalists having their inbox’s filled with such comments that are really... well.. narrow minded.
But Kyle just feeds on the crowd, the hate. It’s like a pantomime where he is the villain, one which in public he is happy to play. The team bow at the All Stars driver intro’s – I loved it. It’s just a shame that in all likelihood most pre-race interviews are going to see that this issue cropped up. Earlier on the season I enjoyed his comments and playful attitude over things.

Whether Earnhardt Nation likes it or not, Wild Thing is here and he isn’t going away.

Three-peat for Massa at Istanbul

Massa well and truly got his title challenge back on track with victory at Turkey.

For a time it looked like Hamilton would challenge the Brazilian for victory but the Brit’s need to use a three stop strategy always left him having to play catch up. According to ITV’s ‘commentator’ James Allen – Hamilton was out doing Senna-esque laps after he stuck it down the inside of Massa.

However Hamilton failed to actually finish the job which the likes of Senna and Schumacher have in the past as he failed to capitalize on his low fuel during his middle stint. It was a spirited drive from Hamilton who had to make the best of a bad situation due to tire issues. I find his issues with the Bridgestone’s extremely strange. Why was he the single one person who had to go on a three stop? According to reports it has something to do with his driving style.

But that fails to answer out of twenty drivers he is the only one and out of eighteen tracks that we visit, this is the only one. It baffles me. If more people had to go that route, it would be more acceptable. I find it easier to believe that the traditionally boring and predictable McLaren actually tried something different and exciting.

Regardless, Hamilton drove well and second place was his reward. It chops two points off Raikkonen’s lead. Funny how the ITV boys consider Hamilton to be Raikkonen’s only championship contender, especially now that Massa leapfrogs their boy for second on the basis of having more wins.

BMW’s had a lacklustre afternoon by recent standards. The Anglo-Swiss outfit struggled from day one but were still comfortably ahead of the rest of the field. Heidfeld again showed his wily race craft by moving from ninth on the grid to eventually finish fifth. Alonso nipped Webber despite running lower on fuel on the first stint while Nico Rosberg turned his season around after snatching eight.

Heikki Kovalainen probably had more of a chance of spoiling the Ferrari party than Hamilton but a puncture put paid to his hopes. He was set for a point but the need for a splash and dash and mandatory tire change out paid to his hopes. Otherwise it was a fantastic weekend for the Finn who only two weeks ago was shoved under the tire wall at Barcelona.

The race was again without first lap incident, with Fisichella failing to make it past the first lap for the third year. Obviously he is not a fan of the Istanbul circuit.
Heading into Monaco we have a real championship on our hands. McLaren appear to be closing the gap in and the next pair of circuits will suit the team. It is a real chance for Hamilton to reel in the Ferrari’s at the front.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Felipe Massa. Say what you want about Hamilton and his sterling drive, but he didn’t get the job done. Allen yet again tried to compare him to the greats – a position Hamilton isn’t at – yet. He would have gotten it if he pulled it off. Massa kept his head and stayed in touch with Hamilton when it counted.

Codemasters Get Gaming Licence

My second double post on the same topic of the week!

It’s been announced this morning that the F1 gaming franchise has a developer – and it isn’t Sony! Codemasters have signed a deal to bring us Formula One games the future. This is excellent news. Codemasters has a long history of bringing top class racing games.

The firm is behind the long running TOCA Touring Car series, which over the years has morphed from simulating the British Series in a wider platform of racing under the ‘Race Driver’ tag. It is also behind the Colin McRae series of rally games. The next venture into the racing world will be Grid, the next instalment of the TOCA/Race Driver series.

Codemasters involvement should ensure that this will be a cross-platform game so that all F1 fans can rejoice!

Give Us a Real Game!

I read a few week ago that there is to be no F1 game this year.

More reports have since surfaced that a deal between Sony and Ecclestone is no closer to being accomplished. Why are people throwing hissy fits over it?

Okay, yes it’s great to have an F1 game out but any true racer will tell you that EA Sports and then Sony have done piss-poor since they have taking the exclusive licence. Poor graphics and clunky controls marred early versions whilst PC users were left in the cold as Sony released their games purely on it’s Playstation format.

I for one am glad to see Sony lose the licence. I’ve yet to try out an F1 game from them that offers anything in the way of a good racing game. Amongst the sim-racing community the game is largely ignored, with the ageing Grand Prix 4 from Micropose the sim of choice up until a couple of years. Now gamers with a thirst for a real racing experience have moved on. Rfactor, Live for Speed or the GTR series from SimBin now offer a greater racing experience than that offered by Sony’s paltry offering. Maybe the firm were afraid to develop a real racing game for fear it would eclipse the Gran Turismo series.

Granted most of the issues seems to be about money, but it would be great to see Bernie go to the likes of SimBin and say ‘bring us an F1 game to be proud of’, because there hasn’t been one since Grand Prix 4.

Wishful thinking me thinks unfortunately.

...And Past It They Go.

Well that didn’t take long. After having their trucks barred from entering the paddock, Aguri Suzuki announced today that the team would shut up shop. Hardly surprising for the team trying to be the little team that could.

Three years is a short lifespan for a team, but to their credit Super Aguri made a mark in the sport. The 2007 saw the team humble their works counterparts during the early part of the season that eventually saw the team score points. The Japanese team finished ninth in the constructors table.
Aguri gave a rightfully deserved parting shot to Honda team boss Nick Fry. As I stated earlier, Fry had no right sticking his nose into the affair. It was between the Honda company and Aguri.

What next for Sato and Davidson?

Taku is likely to find some capacity with Honda. They sanctioned Super Aguri for him after he was ousted from the main squad. Perhaps a move for the Honda backed IRL series is a second option for the driver. I would be surprised to see him on the grid again. While he has raw pace within him, he is too erratic for a team to take a gamble on.
As for Davidson, to be honest I have never been as impressed with him as the ITV commentary team. While he has began to beat Sato consistently, he failed to take advantage of the early part of the 2007 season when the car was capable of nicking a point.
Nick Fry is likely to have a place for him in the short-term given that he is a big fan of the Brit. Fry even went as far to say that Aguri had no choice but to use him this year when other names were been mentioned with the second seat. Should Barrichello decide to retire at the end of the year it could provide Davidson with a final chance at Formula One.

Super Aguri On The Brink

The Japanese team are on the brink, with the Turkish Grand Prix just a few days away.

Since the collapse of the Magma takeover bid, the team has been scouring for a new backer. They just about made it to Spain but it looks like Turkey could be one step too far. Despite interest from another party, team trucks that have arrived on scene have been barred from entering the paddock.

Why? Apparently the reason behind it is that Nick Fry told the FIA that Super Aguri wouldn’t be racing. No official reason has yet to be mentioned for it. It’s just another bizarre twist in the story which saw the team’s cars shipped back to England after the Spanish grand prix.
Fry has made no secret of his desire to have Honda cut off support for Aguri. Actually it seems a tad out of character for someone who walks around with a dopey grin on his face all the time no matter what. Maybe he is getting worried about rumours of being moved to Super Aguri and wants to ensure that avenue is shut. I think he is sending out the wrong messages whilst talks for the team’s survival are on-going. Let them deal with it and keep your nose out of it!

I could always see this happening eventually. There was no way Honda could pay for two Formula One teams. Now maybe if Honda and their marketing department had gotten off their lazy asses and gotten a paying sponsor as opposed to this ‘Earth Dream’ whatever concept, they wouldn’t find their financial belts too tight.

Never did I see long-term viability for a team that was specifically created to keep a home-grown driver on the grid. Granted, they weren’t as bad as some teams I’ve seen over the years but they were dependent on having cars given to them by Honda. After missing so many tests earlier this year I wondered why they didn’t just bother taking a sabbatical given how far they were behind.

Days like Canada last year, where Sato found himself in the points and overtaking world champions seems an age away. Perhaps Super Aguri paid the price for showing up the works team, who at time point were being resoundly beaten by Aguri. Had their performances not shown the light even brighter on the Honda plot, perhaps Honda would be more forgiving at this stage.