Full report and results below:
Jack Brabham† Bill Brack Ernesto Brambilla Vittorio Brambilla
Friday
Yamaha Video: Kazutoshi Seki, The Man Behind Valentino Rossi's Electronics
The role that electronics plays in MotoGP cannot be underestimated. Every aspect of bike performance depends on how well the the systems monitoring the bikes read the data, interpret it and then modulate the power as it is applied to the road through the rear tire. Despite their performance, the systems which provide that control are kept carefully hidden from the public, and the people behind those systems remain anonymous.
Yamaha has sought to change this, producing a video spotlighting the work of Kazutoshi Seki, the engine control engineer for Valentino Rossi. The two have worked together at Yamaha since 2004, when Rossi first joined the factory, and again since Rossi's return after his two-year hiatus at Ducati. The video provides an insight into the role which Seki plays in helping to set up the bike for Rossi, and puts the passion and commitment the Japanese engineer pours into the sport. Despite being produced by Yamaha's global marketing department, it is a beautifully produced 14-minute portrait of one of the men so crucial to racing at this level. For more background on Seki and Yamaha, see the story behind the video on the Yamaha corporate website.
Thursday
Enter smog
The third practice session for the Indian GP has been delayed because of visibility problems that mean that the medical helicopter cannot operate. The primary discussion here in the Media Centre is whether one terms the problem: fog, smog or mist. It is not really fog and mists generally burn off during the day and […]
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2013/10/26/enter-smog/
Wednesday
Weekend Review? Double the Excitement Edition
Welcome Back! Glad you found your way back here after human error delayed and ultimately cancelled the posting of Detroit pre-race article. Nevertheless, the twin billing was a success on most all fronts. A part time driver claimed victory in … Continue reading 
Source: http://anotherindycarblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/weekend-review-double-the-excitement-edition/
Tuesday
2013 Motegi Moto3 FP Result: Vinales Leads Usual Suspects
Maverick Vinales has topped the first fully dry session during Sunday morning's Moto3 free practice at Motegi, the Spaniards benchmark time was very close to last years race lap record. He lead from the familiar faces of Alex Marquez, Luis Salom and Alex Rins as the typical top four were covered by a little over two tenths of a second. The session was initially delayed by five minutes due to a light fog hovering over the circuit and reduced to thirty five minutes in length as a consequence. The track was still quite damp in patches as riders went out on wet tyres early, but with a clear dry line visible they promptly switched to slicks with around twenty five minutes to go.
Jonas Folger was the 'best of the rest' and finished in fifth place a further couple of tenths behind. He was followed by the FTR Honda trio of Niccolo Antonelli, Isaac Vinales and Romano Fenati while Zulfahmi Khairuddin and Miguel Oliveira aboard his Mahindra completed the top ten. The session was halted temporarily with twelve minutes remaining as red flags were shown due to poor visibility once again, as a thick mist cloud decided to park itself at turn one and sprawl around the circuit. The cloud eventually dispersed and the session continued, however due to the pause in proceedings, the Moto2 FP session to follow will be reduced by five minutes also.
Fred Agabashian Kurt Ahrens Jr Christijan Albers Michele Alboreto
Monday
Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson escape Kansas atop the points standings
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Jimmie Johnson was tearing through the field at the end of Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Kansas, picking off positions in the top 10 like he was dicing through backmarkers in a Nationwide race. With Matt Kenseth outside the top 10, Johnson had a great opportunity to snare the points lead.
Instead, Johnson went from sailing to struggling almost instantly.
"I really feel like we had the fastest car today, but just couldn't get there with issues and track position and cautions at weird times and restarts were kind of an issue," Johnson said. "And there was a lot of craziness there. And then coming with two to go, we had something go wrong with either the ignition or the engine there and I had to give up a spot and limped it home. I feel kind of bummed out that we left some points on the table, but at the same time, I'm happy I made it to the finish line under power and I got a nice finish."
Johnson finished sixth. Kenseth was outside the top 10 because he had pitted under green just before the race's final caution flag flew. That threw him back in the pack a second time after first having to go all the way back to 30th earlier in the race after a pit road speeding penalty.
But while Johnson was making his move, so was Kenseth. He got to 11th before the checkered flag and now holds a three point lead over Johnson through four Chase races.
"I feel lucky for not being wrecked. And, I feel really fortunate to still be leading the points. It was not the day we wanted -- both the last two weeks," Kenseth said. We struggled a little bit and still salvaged -- it could have been worse, we could have been backed into the fence."
The race featured several wrecked race cars, including that of Kenseth's teammate Kyle Busch, and a race record 15 cautions. Johnson called the race "treacherous" while Kenseth said that it was the worst conditions he'd raced in since the 2005 fall Charlotte race after that track was recently repaved.
"This right side tire was obviously not the answer," Kenseth said. "I'm sure (race winner) Kevin's (Harvick) happy, but other than that I think everybody kind of struggled with it."
Sunday
NASCAR fines Nelson Piquet $10,000 and orders sensitivity training after Instagram comment
Nelson Piquet Jr. was fined $10,000 and required to complete sensitivity training after posting a homophobic remark to while commenting on a picture that fellow Nationwide Series driver Parker Kligerman posted.
?Nelson Piquet Jr. recently communicated an offensive and derogatory term that cannot be tolerated in our sport,? Steve O?Donnell, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations said in a NASCAR statement. ?NASCAR?s Code of Conduct explicitly spells out in the 2013 rule book our position regarding the use of disparaging terms. We expect our entire industry to abide by this Code.?
Kligerman had posted a self-taken picture and Piquet responded with the derogatory remark. According to USA Today, Piquet tweeted that the comment was just teasing between friends before deleting the tweet.
Piquet was also put on NASCAR probation. He was previously on probation for an incident that involved a failed kick towards the groin of Brian Scott.
Earlier in the season, Jeremy Clements, another Nationwide Series driver, was suspended for two weeks because of a racial slur in a conversation with a reporter at Daytona International Speedway. In the NASCAR statement about Clements' suspension, O'Donnell also referenced the NASCAR Code of Conduct.
If you're wondering why there's a difference in punishment for using a homophobic slur versus a racial slur, you're not alone. But again, this is NASCAR. Inconsistency is the sanctioning body's version of consistency. This is, after all, the sport that just added an extra driver to its playoffs because it could.
If both remarks are violations of the NASCAR codes of conduct, they deserve equal punishment. Plain and simple. There's no difference between using the word that Piquet did and the word that Clements did, except for the difference in groups that the words reference. It ends there. By issuing the punishment that was given for Piquet, the impression is given -- intended or not -- that NASCAR feels that a homophobic slur is not as offensive as a racial slur.
That's a horrible dichotomy to create.
The sanctioning body might have realized it overreacted in the punishment that was handed out to Clements. And that's a fine feeling to have. However, the precedent for punishment for an derogatory epithet was set in February. Without acknowledgement that the punishment was wrong or why this is different, it looks that NASCAR views the words used as ones of differing severities. Again, that's wrong.
While the steps that NASCAR took Tuesday against Piquet can be seen as ones of progress after inaction in 2011, we shouldn't simply be satisfied about progress. Perhaps that's a utopian point of view, but there should be no reason to think that the punishment standards for slurs is based on the audience degraded.
Eric Bernard Enrique Bernoldi Enrico Bertaggia Tony Bettenhausen
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