Round 16 of 19, at the Circuit of the Americas, in Texas, USA:
There’s no question in my mind that the fans were the stars of unforgettable race, for they weathered steady rain through Friday and Saturday ‘s free practice and qualifying which was delayed time after time and was finally postponed till Sunday morning.
As expected Mercedes took the front row of the grid and the team mates clashed right away coming out of the first corner of the very first lap. Incredibly Hamilton drove into Rosberg as they turned around the semi-hairpin (see pict above). Usually you hold your line but as this is your team mate and the one your battling with for the championship, with millions of viewers watching, and cameras everywhere, you’d give him some room and let the race decide the outcome. One would think!
Nico Rosberg would relinquish P1 and follow Lewis for while until he pits for new shoes. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel drives a trouble free race though he started 13th on the grid, this due to a penalty caused by running a new engine. He would launch an impressive fight-back to finish on the podium, while his team mate Kimi Raikkonen would tangle with a Rolex banner attached to the barrier after loosing the rear due to aquaplaning. The weather conditions were changing constantly meaning that the drivers has serious trouble keeping their tires in shape. This cost Dutch sensation Max Verstappen to relinquish P3 as his tires were completely shot with still a couple of laps to go. Still he finished a respectable fourth, this in his rookie year.
Needless to say, Nico Rosberg was quite livid after the race. “As always it was extremely aggressive, we hit each other, or I should say Lewis came into me.” Some would say that Lewis slid into Nico as the track was slippery but the latter’s onboard footage clearly showed the steering wheel keeping a steady trajectory into Nico, with no apparent correction input. However, towards the end of the race as Nico regained the lead with an impressive pace, he somehow made an error and ran wide in turn 17. “I just got lots of wheel spin – the slip had never happened to me ever, not even in testing, racing or anything like that….That was really, really tough at the time to lose the lead like that and to lose the win” lamented the German driver. Sometimes it’s just not your day, or year, for that matter.
With the race win, Lewis Hamilton has secured his third World title, his second with Mercedes.
The race’s top five: 1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes; 2. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes; 3. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari; 4. Max Verstappen NED Torro Rosso-Ferrari ; 5. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes.
In MotoGP, the Shell Malaysia from Sepang:
What can I say, the proverbial “sh*t” hit the fan when Rossi lost his cool on lap 7 after having battled furiously with Marquez. But first things first, the top riders on the grid looked like this: Pedrosa, Marquez, Rossi and Lorenzo in P4. Pedrosa is just stupid fast right out of the gate while early on Marquez makes a “mistake” and lets Lorenzo go by for P2. Hereafter Rossi and Marquez become entangled in a relentless on-track battle for P3, with the pair swapping positions on countless of occasions. At one point, Rossi even waves his hand at Marquez in frustration. The clash reaches its high point when Rossi just sits up on his Yamaha and stares down at Marquez and as the two come together the Italian ever so slightly nudges the Spaniard over. Hereafter Marquez just picks up his damages Honda and rides back to the pits as Rossi finishes the race in third.
It think it’s fair to say that after the MotoGP race at Phillip Island, which was hands down one of the best races in a long while, the entire MotoGP community and fans have gone from a high to a low in a single race. What a damn shame the rules of governing MotoGP could not have avoided this!
Rossi was incorrect but looking at the big picture, which is the 2015 MotoGP championship, the penalty imposed by the race stewards is too harsh. Most agree that Marquez’s actions were simply retribution for Rossi’s criticism in the media. For more on this, click here.
The race’s top five: 1. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda ; 2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha; 3. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha ; Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha ; 5. Cal Crutchlow BGR LCR Honda.
Rossi has incurred a three point penalty and will start at the back of the grid in the next race, which is Valencia. Let’s hope that officials can get the upper hand and come to a better outcome for Rossi and his championship aspirations. Nothing short of a miracle would be needed to clear the air between Marquez and Rossi.
In PDRA racing, at the World Finals in Virginia, USA:
For the all important race, Pro Nitrous car owner Frank Brandao, who hails from the island of Curacao, flew to Virginia to attend the race in person. Needless to say, driver Lizzy Musi was in top form and her dad Pat and the crew tuned and set the car up good enough for P4 Friday night.
On Saturday, Lizzy raced through Mike Castellana, Chris Rini and Cox, all of whom are excellent racers. In the finals she met number 2 qualifier “Stevie Fast” Jackson who has Reher-Morrison horsepower under the hood of his ’69 Camaro. Not only did Lizzy leave on a hole-shot but never looked back as she ran a 3.72 at 203.55 mph to Jackson’s wheel standing but slower 3.76 at 200.89 mph.
This was Lizzy Musi’s first win of the year and the second in the Pro Nitrous category. If you’re not familiar with this type of drag racing, be sure to look it up at PDRA.com or watch the races through live feed on MotorManiaTV.
More on the Pro Nitrous driver:
Source: Crash.net, MotoGP, PDRA, Fultrot.blogspot.com
Photo credit: in.finance.yahoo, Hoch Zwei, Competition Plus
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