The press release from Suzuki after the Crescent team's first World Superbike test:
Year:
2011
Thursday
Luis Perez Sala lands HRT team principal job
Luis Perez Sala has been appointed team principal of HRT, as replacement for the departing Colin Kolles. The former Minardi driver has acted as an advisor for the new owners, and played a key role in getting Pedro de la … Continue reading 
Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2011/12/15/luis-perez-sala-lands-hrt-team-principal-job/
Raikkonen hurts his hand
Kimi Raikkonen was taking part in the Swatch Snow Mobile race in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, near Salzburg in Austria. The newly-appointed Lotus F1 Team driver took a turn too quickly and fell off his skidoo and injured his hand. The injury is not believed to be serious but it is probably not the best idea for the [...]
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/raikkonen-hurts-his-hand/
Decisions at Force India
Force India’s Vijay Mallya says that he will name his 2012 drivers shortly. He previously said that he would name names in Abu Dhabi, but failed to deliver on that statement. The team is believed to have two drivers under contract for 2012 – Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg – but Adrian Sutil did [...]
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/decisions-at-force-india/
Wednesday
2011 Portimao WSBK Test Day 2 Results: Haslam Fastest Again, Ahead Of Laverty
Leon Haslam continues to top the unofficial timesheets on the second day of the World Superbike test at Portimao. The factory BMW rider took four tenths off his time from yesterday, setting his fastest time on race tires, while focussing mainly on chassis set up. Factory Aprilia man Eugene Laverty was 2nd quickest, and just a tenth off Haslam's time, despite a big highside in the early afternoon, which knocked the wind out of the Irishman but did not prevent him from going straight back out again.
Satellite BMW Italia rider Ayrton Badovini continues to impress, setting the 3rd fastest time once again, the 1'43.4 coming as part of a long series of laps in the low 1'43s, and putting him two tenths ahead of the 2010 World Champion Max Biaggi. Biaggi had a few small parts to test, but his main focus is on recovering his form after spending the last three months on and off the bike since breaking his foot at the Nurburgring. Reigning World Supersport Chaz Davies was 5th fastest, a second off Haslam's time, and spent his time trying to get his head round the many complexities of a Superbike machine, after having far fewer options for adjustment on his Supersport machine in 2011.
The Choice Facing Valencia: A New Surface Or A New Track Layout
Valencia has been a permanent fixture on the MotoGP calendar since the track was completed in 1999, but when the MotoGP riders return to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo for the final round of the 2012 MotoGP season, they could be coming to a radically different circuit. According to Valencia newspaper El Mercantil Valenciano, the management of the circuit intends to put forward a proposal to completely change a large part of the track layout at the next meeting of the Administration Council, the public body that oversees the track, in December 14th of this year. If that proposal is rejected, they will demand that the track is resurfaced as an urgent priority.
Source:
Tony Stewart wins the NASCAR ?Newlywed? Game, of course
Champions Week has begun in Las Vegas, and for a few days your favorite NASCAR drivers plunge into a world where they're both the bringers and the butts of jokes ? you know, pretty much like every day around these parts.
The festivities kicked off with a version of "The Newlywed Game," hosted by none other than Bob Eubanks himself. Teammates (and occasional rivals) paired up to answer questions about the other, in often sick and twisted fashion. The teams were:
? Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman
? Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth
? Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson
? Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch
? Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch
? Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The Stewart-Haas boys won the day by correctly picking what the other would say about them (follow that?). A few of the key one-liners:
? Kenseth said Edwards' most annoying habit was being late. "You're also late crossing the finish line," Eubanks added. Twist that knife!
? Who would Stewart bump out of the way on the last lap to win a race? Stewart said Brian Vickers, while Newman said ... Ryan Newman. (Kenseth added that he wouldn't bump Vickers to win a race, because "he probably wouldn't be leading.")
? What driver would the other drivers not let their daughters date? Gordon answered Hamlin, Newman answered Stewart, Kenseth killed with "Danica."
? Gordon and Johnson shot back and forth at each other, with Johnson mocking Gordon's onetime "cheesy mustache" and Gordon reminding everyone that Johnson shaved his legs in high school for swim meets.
? For the record, Ryan Newman can fart the alphabet. Just thought you'd like to know that.
? Kyle said Hamlin's haircut was straight from "Dumb and Dumber," while Hamlin shot back that you could get a really good laugh by watching Kyle "attempt to play any other sport."
? Whose wife or girlfriend would win a wet t-shirt contest? While Keselowski tried to answer with grace, Hamlin said, "just pick one of my girlfriends." ("I don't know their names," Keselowski said. "I don't either!" Hamlin replied.) Earnhardt offered up a nice one: "Do ex-wives count?"
Oh yeah, we're rolling now. More out of Vegas as it hits, including the Thursday burnouts on the Strip.
Mike Beuttler Birabongse Bhanubandh Lucien Bianchi Gino Bianco
Tuesday
Raikkonen, Grosjean? and
Romain Grosjean was presented to a very select group of F1 journalists in Paris this afternoon, less than 24 hours after hearing he would be back on F1 in 2012. The decision was taken by the board of directors of the team on Wednesday evening. Team boss Eric Boullier said that the team has yet [...]
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/raikkonen-grosjean-and/
Harry Blanchard Michael Bleekemolen Alex Blignaut Trevor Blokdyk
Join us for the latest Yahoo! Sports NASCAR Chat, Wed. at 1 ET
Time again for another Yahoo! Sports NASCAR live chat. Join us Wednesday at 1 p.m. Eastern to talk NASCAR, Christmas shopping, whatever. It's the offseason. We go where the conversational winds take us. See you here!
Vettel: ?Pushing hard to finalise 2012 car? | F1 Fanatic round-up
In the round-up: Sebastian Vettel says the team is working hard on next year's car.
Monday
Jerez Test Photos, Part 2 - More From The Aprilia, And Some Riders Too
Bradley Smith and Tom Jojic got Guy Coulon's handiwork up to speed, improving by nearly a second over the three days of the test
They're pretty handy with aluminium in Buckingham
A Turbulent Start to the NASCAR Off-Season
We’re just a week into the NASCAR off-season and the changes are coming fast and heavy. Layoffs Around The shoe hasn’t dropped everywhere just yet, but so far Roush Fenway has undertaken a massive layoff that we’ve heard was as many as 125 employees. This included many long-time Roush employees. What’s loyalty worth in this [...]
TheNASCARInsiders.com
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheNascarInsiders/~3/PM3iD26qXn8/
Why (again) is NASCAR compelled to make some fines ?secret??
Even though the first three didn't stay very "secret" for very long, NASCAR has apparently tried a fourth secret fine.
According to an Associated Press report, Brad Keselowski was fined $25,000 last week for making comments about NASCAR's move to electronic fuel injection at a fan forum at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
The fine is believed to be $25,000.
"We're not doing this because it's better for the teams," Keselowski said last week during an appearance at the NASCAR Hall of Fame . "I don't think we're really going to save any gas. It's a media circus, trying to make you guys happy so you write good stories. It gives them something to promote. We're always looking for something to promote, but the honest answer is it does nothing for the sport except cost the team owners money.
"Cars on the street are injected with real electronics, not a throttle body (like in NASCAR). So we've managed to go from 50-year-old technology to 35-year-old technology. I don't see what the big deal is."
While Keselowski's point may be perfectly valid, the point is not that NASCAR disagreed. It's that they disagreed and disciplined in the way that they've disciplined three known times in the past 18 months: via a secret fine.
So, for the third instance, one simple question looms: Why?
Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin were fined in 2010 (Hamlin for comments on Twitter about cautions and Newman for comments about Talladega) and Newman was fined earlier this season for allegedly punching Juan Pablo Montoya in the NASCAR hauler when the two met to settle their differences from the spring Richmond race. Just like Keselowski's, reports of the fines surfaces shortly after they were issued and the impending reactions were overwhelmingly negative.
Those negative reactions aren't about the outcome. We are used to and, for the most part, accept that fines are part of professional sports. Leagues aren't democracies. But NASCAR could take a lesson from other sports and institute a similar process and make all fines public knowledge at the time of issue. We don't find out in week 10 that an NFL player was fined in week 5 for an illegal hit. And we can pretty well document all the times that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been fined for his comments about the NBA.
Does the need for supposed secrecy come from the fact that the actions and comments being fined aren't necessarily against any rules? When a car fails technical inspection, NASCAR typically issues a statement detailing the penalties on the Tuesday after the race. Those penalties almost always include a fine. And that fine is totaled in the statement.
In the report that came out revealing the secret fines of Hamlin and Newman, a NASCAR spokesman said that any action taken by the sanctioning body is "focused on actions or comments that materially damage the sport." Can't the case be made that a rule violation materially damages the sport as much or more than comments about the racing at Talladega or about electronic fuel injection? Is the sole difference that there are no stated rules against speech while there are against the size of a restrictor plate or angle of a car's spoiler? We don't know.
If NASCAR had learned anything from the three previous instances that secret fines don't say secret very long, it would have announced Keselowski's penalty as soon as possible. Instead, the report of the fine was made public on the day that the Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards had their championship press conference. What a contrast.
Just like with Hamlin and Newman, NASCAR didn't directly acknowledge Keselowski and any fine, with NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp saying that the sanctioning body "handled it accordingly" in its conversation with Keselowski. That's a practice that causes more consternation that soothing. Plus, Keselowski is one of the best young drivers in the sport and already one of its most outspoken on many issues. Remember all the grief that Jimmie Johnson has (wrongly) taken over the years for being too "vanilla?" Think of how quickly "secret" financial penalties for perceived over-the-line statements could potentially vanillaize drivers.
Like it or not, many still have trust issues with NASCAR as a sanctioning body (see: Kyle Busch v. Brian Vickers). Without clear guidelines for what constitutes what and if a fine was really issued or not, those trust issues and the question of "why?" will linger, no matter how great Sunday's race and championship battle at Homestead is.
Sunday
Decision made on Maldonado Williams future
Williams have confirmed that Pastor Maldonado will remain with the team next year. The 26-year-old only scored one point in the 2011 Formula 1 season, but he is being backed by team boss Sir Frank Williams to come good. He said: “Pastor has proven he is not only quick but can also maintain a consistent [...]
Williams fall into F1?s vicious cycle | 2011 F1 season review
Williams are caught in a downward spiral of worsening performance and falling sponsorship.
Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2011/12/09/2011-f1-season-review-williams/
Create-a-caption: ?That?s the guy I beat.? ?Hey, me too!?
Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart, cuttin' up at the NASCAR banquet. What are these two fine gentlemen saying? You know, don't you? Have your say, friends.
After the jump, a Smoke fan is overcome with emotion.
Richard R:
Race Ticket - 100 bucks.
Old Spice outfit - 125 bucks
Beer - 200 bucks
Missing the end of the most exciting race season ever....Priceless!
Shawn S:
Don't drink the Old Spice!
Razz:
An exhausted Tony Stewart waits on mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from the Sprint Cup girls.
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