Updates from the Rest of the Racing World
Atlas F1 Magazine Writers
Advice: The points tables for most series covered by Elsewhere In Racing are available here. Individual series are linked to their corresponding points table after each report.
Gibernau And Biaggi's Masterclass
Valentino Rossi took his second pole in two races for Yamaha with Sete Gibernau and fellow Yamaha rider Carlos Checa on the front row, with rain preventing anyone going faster during the Saturday session. That rain returned on Sunday for the race, the track drenched. At the start, Gibernau grabbed the lead ahead of Rossi, Checa and Max Biaggi and Alex Barros. Checa took second from Rossi at turn one on lap two, while Biaggi went from fourth to second in one move at the Dry Sack hairpin at the end of the back straight, and before the lap was over Barros demoted Rossi another place to fifth. Turn two on lap three saw Barros lose two places as Rossi and Marco Melandri went past, Melandri taking Rossi for fourth just three corners later! As they completed lap four Melandri took third from Checa,
Quickly Biaggi closed in on Gibernau, the duo riding nose to tail, trading lap times as they cleared out on the reset of the field. Melandri opened a gap on Checa and Rossi, Rossi retaking fourth from Barros on lap nine at Dry Sack as Barros closed back in on the duo, Barros taking fifth from Checa into turn one on lap ten. Barros was right behind Rossi when Rossi had a huge highside at turn two on lap twelve, Rossi somehow staying on the bike, only losing one place along the way. Around this point in the race the rain got worse, Gibernau and Biaggi still in a class of their own, Melandri a clear third with Barros a clear fourth, Rossi a few seconds further back in fifth and unable to close back in.
Biaggi continued to threaten Gibernau over the closing laps although Gibernau began to open a small gap, a moment for Biaggi in the last couple of laps seeing him settle for second. These last five laps saw his fellow Italian Rossi under pressure from Nicky Hayden. And that was how it stayed, Sete Gibernau winning from Max Biaggi, the duo over 45 seconds ahead of third place finisher Alex Barros, with Valentino Rossi another six seconds further back just holding off Nicky Hayden. At the end of the race only eight riders were on the lead lap!
Result of World Motorcycle Championship, Round 2 of 16, Jerez, Spain:
Standings: Sete Gibernau 41, Max Biaggi 40, Valentino Rossi 38, Alex Barros 29, Nicky Hayden 22, Colin Edwards 18, Carlos Checa 16, Loris Capirossi 14, Norick Abe 12, Shinya Nakano 11 etc.
Gordon Goes Back-to-Back
After last week's somewhat lucky win at Talladega, Jeff Gordon's win at California showed that even if he had been lucky, it was not a fluke. Gordon held on over the closing laps despite the advances of Bobby Labonte, and managed to stretch his fuel to the finish unlike some of the other leaders to take the win ahead of his teammate Jimmie Johnson. In fact, Gordon had enough fuel to complete a cooldown lap before running out as he did some victory donuts. A good day for the Hendrick duo has seen them move up into the top three in points, Dale Earnhardt Jr still leading despite being lapped and finishing nineteenth after struggling all day, but is now only 25 points ahead of Johnson with Jeff Gordon just two points further back.
The caution came out on lap 23 after Stanton Barrett hit the wall in turn two extremely hard after overcorrecting a slide. The field pitted, with Kahne leading Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, Jeff Green and Greg Biffle as the race restarted on lap 31. Kahne held the lead as Gordon passed Newman on lap 35 before the next caution came out on lap 51 when Todd Bodine slowed. In came the field again, Matt Kenseth beating Kahne, Biffle, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson out of pit lane. The race went back to green on lap 56 but it was back under yellow two laps later after Kurt Busch got sideways off turn four and spun in front of the field, escaping unharmed until he was collected by Rusty Wallace.
Back to racing on lap 63, Kenseth leading but he was passed for the lead by Jeff Gordon two laps later coming off turn four, though Gordon's run at the front was shortlived as Biffle took the lead from Gordon as he entered turn three on the next lap. Biffle continued to show the way, as Jeff Gordon faded, until the next caution came out on lap 92 for debris on the track. The field came in for more pit stops, Kahne leading the race off pit road ahead of Biffle, Kenseth, Robby Gordon and Johnson. Racing resumed on lap 98, Biffle slowing immediately with gearbox problems which allowed Robby Gordon to pass Kenseth for second.
The leaders stayed out but the second half of the field came in for stops, knowing that if the race went green from here, those who had come in again would have no fuel worries, while those who had stayed out were on the very edge of making the finish with just one stop. The race restarted on lap 159, Jeff Gordon leading Kahne, Johnson, Mayfield and Brendan Gaughan. Kahne was on the move soon after, taking the lead from Gordon on lap 167, though Gordon hung on to the back of Kahne whilst in second. Gaughan was also on the move, third with less than 80 laps remaining in the 250 lap event.
After sitting behind him for 25 odd laps, Gordon retook the lead from Kahne on lap 193, the order Jeff Gordon, Kahne, Mayfield, Gaughan and Johnson as the field approached green flag stops. Kahne and Johnson were the first to pit on lap 197, followed one lap later by Jeff Gordon, Mayfield and Bobby Labonte. Lap 199 saw Gaughan and Kenseth pit while Newman made it to lap 200 before making his stop. Those who pitted at the last caution went a few laps further before they made their stops, Harvick leading but suffering minor damage from contact with Dale Jarrett just before he pitted from the lead.
25 to go and it looked like Labonte would definitely catch Gordon. With 23 laps remaining Mayfield passed teammate Kahne for third. Meanwhile Labonte's chances of catching Gordon fluctuated: with 15 to go Labonte didn't look so good, but ten to go and it seemed it was on again. With five laps remaining it looked like Labonte wasn't going to get there, but the next lap saw Gordon overdrive turns one and two and it was on once more if he could keep reducing the margin at the same rate.
Gordon didn't make the same make again and as he took the white flag with one lap remaining he led Labonte, Mayfield, Kahne and Johnson. But as Labonte crossed the line he began to run out of fuel, while Evernham teammates Mayfield and Kahne were on pit road. Jeff Gordon made it safely around the final lap despite pitting on the same lap as Labonte to take the win, with Gordon's teammate Jimmie Johnson taking second, while Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth managed to beat Labonte to the finish line to take third and fourth after looking set for sixth and seventh positions. After their last lap stops for fuel, Mayfield's third ended up being fourteenth and Kahne's fourth ended up being thirteenth.
Result of NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 10 of 36, California Speedway, United States:
Standings: Dale Earnhardt Jr 1453, Jimmie Johnson 1428, Jeff Gordon 1426, Matt Kenseth 1357, Kurt Busch 1316, Kevin Harvick 1316, Ryan Newman 1299, Tony Stewart 1284, Bobby Labonte 1265, Elliott Sadler 1250 etc.
Bright Ends Murphy's Pukekohe Reign
There were three races at Pukekohe, the first race a 100 km event held on Saturday with the other two 150 km long races held on the Sunday, all races featuring a compulsory stop for tyres. At least that was the original plan. Continual rain on Saturday saw the Saturday race postponed to Sunday, with the weekend's racing changing to three 100 km races with no compulsory pit stops required in any of the races. The (very wet) shootout for pole saw Mark Skaife take pole position just ahead of Marcos Ambrose ahead of Pukekohe dominator Greg Murphy and fastest in qualifying Jason Bright.
The track was still reasonably wet at the start of race one, though it was beginning to dry, Craig Baird starting on slicks from pit lane. At the start Skaife bogged down, allowing Ambrose and Bright a clear run into turn one in first and second, while Murphy took to pit exit in an unsuccessful attempt to pass Skaife, Radisich taking Murphy before turn one and then Skaife into turn two to jump up to third. At the hairpin on lap one Russell Ingall was tapped into a spin by John Bowe but apart from this there were no other incidents on the first lap as Ambrose opened a gap at the front.
It was a fairly late dive however, and even though Richards got quite a long way alongside and Skaife had taken a wide entry and given some room, there was contact on the exit, spinning Skaife while Richards continued, Richards losing the place he gained by passing Skaife as Max Wilson had sneaked through. The spin dropped Skaife down to near last as he had to wait to recover, so he pitted for slicks in a hope to gain an advantage on those still out there on wets on the drying track, though Baird who had started on slicks was still only up to 26th.
Up front Ambrose and Bright were a few seconds apart and well clear of the rest of the order. Lap 26 saw Jason Bargwanna punted by Paul Dumbrell at turn two, Dumbrell appearing to be attempting to make an impossible pass on Bargwanna at turn two, made even more bizarre as Dumbrell was on the wet line running on slicks and was a lap down when he hit the rear of Bargwanna's car. Dumbrell was soon issued with a drivethrough penalty for the contact.
By the start of race two the track was dry enough for everyone to start on slicks. For the second race in a row the pole man, this time Ambrose, made a poor start, Bright leading Murphy, who swept past Ambrose through turn two, Radisich and Richards through the opening sequence of corners on lap one. As they completed lap one Radisich ran wide through the final corner and slid along the grass sideways, cleaning up a couple of polystyrene signs along the way, before eventually resuming at the back of the field virtually undamaged, Rick Kelly moving up to fifth. Some of this was then collected in the air dams by the leading cars as they completed lap two, Ambrose getting the biggest chunk as the top five begin to slowly spread out.
Skaife's day got worse in race two when there was contact between him and Craig Baird on lap eight, Skaife retiring soon after with steering damage. Lap eleven saw more drama as Warren Luff took to the gravel to avoid an out of control Mark Porter, Brad Jones was spun at the hairpin by Steven Ellery who had just been passed aggressively by Jones at turn four, and Glenn Seton spun to avoid teammates Jason Bargwanna and Mark Winterbottom who had just made contact with each other, the safety car coming out on lap 13, with drivers managing to dislodge some of the foam debris as they drove around behind the safety car.
Race three saw the leaders get away in race two finishing order, though the front two rows were side by side going into turn one, Bright then leading Murphy, Ambrose, Rick Kelly and Richards. Lap three saw Richards take fourth from Kelly at the hairpin as Ambrose continued to pressure Murphy for second place. On lap eight Ambrose took second place from Murphy with a dive inside him at turn four, Murphy forced wide on the exit as Bright stretched his lead at the front. Rick Kelly, Paul Weel and Russell Ingall diced for fifth place but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't find a way past each other.
Once Ambrose moved into second he steadily opened a gap on Murphy, only for Murphy to return the favour as the laps wound down towards the finish. Lap 33 saw Murphy retake second after the exit of the hairpin. Paul Morris pitted around this time with a flat tyre, returning to the track only to blow a tyre within a lap or two of the pit stop coming through the fast final corner, just as Bright was about to lap him and take the chequer, Morris hitting the wall very hard, both driver and car worse for wear after the incident. Bright had no problems to make the short distance to the finish and won ahead of Murphy, who just beat Ambrose, with Richards and Rick Kelly completing the top five, the same top five as race two except fourth and fifth swapped places.
Result of V8 Supercar Championship Series, Round 3 of 13, Pukekohe, New Zealand:
Standings: Marcos Ambrose 532, Steven Richards 528, Greg Murphy 509, Rick Kelly 502, Jason Bright 457, Craig Baird 364, Russell Ingall 350, Paul Weel 347, Steven Johnson 341, John Bowe 326 etc.
MotoGP
Two races into the season and twice we have had titanic struggles for the win. Sete Gibernau won a race-long battle with Max Biaggi for the win as the two put on a display for the rest of the field, as they gapped the rest of field by two or more seconds a lap over the final ten laps as they battled for the lead. Though Biaggi was unable to wrestle the win away, his consistency sees him just one point behind points leader Gibernau and two ahead of countryman Valentino Rossi in the title chase.
After lap after lap of threatening, Biaggi finally took the lead at Dry Sack on lap 16. One lap later, Gibernau retook the lead at the same point when Biaggi ran wide after having a small moment as he turned in. Biaggi who is not a noted wet weather rider, looked slightly uncomfortable while in front, immediately resuming his rear gunner role in second place. Lap nineteen unfortunately saw the demise of Marco Melandri from third place when he crashed, having been ten seconds in front of Barros and fifteen in front of fellow Yamaha rider Rossi at the time.
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Sete Gibernau Honda RC211V
2. Max Biaggi Honda RC211V
3. Alex Barros Honda RC211V
4. Valentino Rossi Yamaha M1
5. Nicky Hayden Honda RC211V
6. Carlos Checa Yamaha M1
7. Colin Edwards Honda RC211V
8. Kenny Roberts Suzuki GSV-R
9. Shinya Nakano Kawasaki ZX-RR
10. Michel Fabrizio Harris WCM
NASCAR
Kasey Kahne and Joe Nemechek sat on the front row. At the start, Kahne and Nemechek fought for the lead for four laps before Kahne took over. On lap five Rusty Wallace came down the track off turn four as he went to pass another car and made contact with Tony Stewart, damaging the front right of Stewart's car. On the next lap Stewart ran wide off turn two and squeezed Wallace against the wall. One lap later Stewart squeezed Jeff Gordon into the wall as they ran down the back straight. All this went on despite Stewart being spoken to during the week...
Jimmie Johnson took second from Robby Gordon on lap 104 and took the lead from Kahne three laps later. Johnson held on to the lead as Jeremy Mayfield and Jeff Gordon moved forward to second and third ahead of Kenseth and Kahne before the next caution came out on lap 141 for debris just before the field would have had to make green flag pit stops. Therefore it was no surprise the whole field pitted again, with Jeff Gordon leading teammate Johnson, Kahne and his teammate Mayfield and the other Gordon, Robby, the leaders off pit lane. The race went back to green on lap 146, Kahne passing Johnson for second two laps later but the race was back under caution on lap 149 when Jeff Green blew up.
After Harvick's stop Jeff Gordon was back leading again and now had a three second margin over Kahne, with Johnson third, Mayfield fourth and Bobby Labonte making his first appearance in the top five in fifth after restarting ninth. Labonte wasn't done with and took fourth from Mayfield on lap 212, third from Johnson four laps later and then second from Kahne on lap 222. Could he catch Gordon over the remaining laps? Oh, and who could make it to the end of the race without stopping if the race stayed green?
Pos Driver Car
1. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Monte Carlo
2. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Monte Carlo
3. Ryan Newman Dodge Intrepid
4. Matt Kenseth Ford Taurus
5. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Monte Carlo
6. Brendan Gaughan Dodge Intrepid
7. Terry Labonte Chevrolet Monte Carlo
8. Casey Mears Dodge Intrepid
9. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Monte Carlo
10. Ward Burton Chevrolet Monte Carlo
V8 Supercar
Blistering pace by Jason Bright in the dry and some speedy driving by Marcos Ambrose in the wet meant that Bright won the round ahead of Ambrose, forcing Pukekohe 'king' Greg Murphy to 'settle' for third. It was good results all around for the trio, all scoring a good haul of points towards the championship, Ambrose's haul moving him back in to the standings lead by four points over Steven Richards with Murphy a further 19 points further back, with Rick Kelly and Jason Bright looking like the only other likely title contenders. Another bad weekend for HRT and Mark Skaife sees the 2000, 2001 and 2002 Champ down in equal sixteenth in the standings.
As Bright opened a gap on Radisich, Radisich had Skaife and Murphy right on his tail, Murphy getting a better drive onto the pit straight to take fourth from Skaife into turn one on lap fourteen as the track began to develop a distinct dry line. This dicing had allowed Steven Richards to close right in on the group, and after a few laps of sitting behind him, Richards made a move on Skaife at the hairpin on lap 20 of 36.
By now Skaife was fastest on the track but still well down the order, while Baird's decision to start on slicks was now paying off. Over the closing laps the leaders held station as they had throughout most of the race, Ambrose taking a comfortable win ahead of Bright, with Radisich just holding off fellow Kiwi Murphy with Radisich's teammate Wilson not far behind. Baird's late race run saw him pass two cars on the last lap to finish the race in ninth place, Ingall recovered from his lap one loop to finish twelfth while Skaife finished sixteenth.
The race got back underway on lap 16, Bright leading Murphy, Ambrose, Richards and Rick Kelly, with Paul Weel and Russell Ingall snapping at Kelly's heels. Meanwhile Ellery's 'revenge' on Jones at the hairpin saw him receive a drivethrough penalty. As the laps wound down the gaps between most of the leading cars slowly increased, although Murphy closed right in on Bright but was never able to make an attempt to pass. Rick Kelly also closed in on Richards just in front of him, eventually taking fourth place from him on the second last lap, lap 35, after Richards outbraked himself at the hairpin and ran wide. Bright took the win ahead of Murphy, Ambrose third with Rick Kelly fourth and Richards fifth.
Race One
Pos Driver Car
1. Marcos Ambrose Ford Falcon BA
2. Jason Bright Holden Commodore VY
3. Paul Radisich Ford Falcon BA
4. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VY
5. Max Wilson Ford Falcon BA
6. Steven Richards Holden Commodore VY
7. Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VY
8. Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon BA
9. Craig Baird Holden Commodore VY
10. John Bowe Ford Falcon BA
Race Two
Pos Driver Car
1. Jason Bright Holden Commodore VY
2. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VY
3. Marcos Ambrose Ford Falcon BA
4. Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VY
5. Steven Richards Holden Commodore VY
6. Paul Weel Holden Commodore VY
7. Russell Ingall Ford Falcon BA
8. Steven Johnson Ford Falcon BA
9. Jason Richards Holden Commodore VX
10. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VY
Race Three
Pos Driver Car
1. Jason Bright Holden Commodore VY
2. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VY
3. Marcos Ambrose Ford Falcon BA
4. Steven Richards Holden Commodore VY
5. Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VY
6. Paul Weel Holden Commodore VY
7. Russell Ingall Ford Falcon BA
8. Steven Johnson Ford Falcon BA
9. Jason Richards Holden Commodore VX
10. Garth Tander Holden Commodore VY
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Volume 10, Issue 18
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