Kyle Busch starts early Talladega wreck that claims 13 cars, including Kahne, Harvick, Biffle

TALLADEGA, Ala. - Some of the world's greatest drivers are circling at Talladega. And to the high banks of the superspeedway, that doesn't matter one bit. The track can force even the best among them into mistakes like they were rookies.

In turn 1 of lap 44 of the Aaron's 499, Kyle Busch made an ill-advised move to try to get around Kasey Kahne. The resulting spiral of carnage took out 13 cars, including nine of the top 14. Involved in the accident were Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart, and many others.

"I don't really know what happened," Busch said afterward. "I know I got in the back of the 5 and I guess I was trying to go to the outside of him, but he just moved up in front of me and I wasn't expecting it. I tried to got o the outside of him and before I could get to the outside of him, I got in the back of him."

"Felt the No. 18 pushing me and next thing I know I was spinning," Kahne said. "You just can?t push with these cars. We learned that at Daytona, he was pushing me and spun me in the wall and then happened again, so that is what it is."

The crews of Busch, Vickers, Biffle and Kahne worked furiously to get their cars back into shape for the rest of the race. Harvick and Stewart were able to return to the track immediately, though both with significant impact to their performance.

Of note: Vickers took over the No. 11 just minutes before the wreck, substituting for Denny Hamlin. This was Hamlin's first race after four weeks out because of a back injury, and a vicious wreck that collected him was the absolute worst-case scenario. Hamlin may be the only one in the entire wreck feeling fortunate.

"I just hate that I caused a hell of a melee for everybody," Busch said. "I hate that. A lot of cars got torn up, and it's way too early in the race to be doing any of those sorts of moves, whether he made it or I made it."

-Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.-

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/kyle-busch-starts-early-talladega-wreck-claims-13-184457034.html

Ray Crawford Alberto Crespo Antonio Creus Larry Crockett

Carmelo Ezpeleta Speaks To Reuters: On Races In Brazil And Asia, And On Spanish Riders In MotoGP

That MotoGP is too Iberocentric - too many Spanish races, and too many Spanish riders - is obvious to all who follow the sport, with the possible exception of a blinkered Spanish journalist or two. The series has to change, to move away from having four races a season in Spain, and to explore new markets in South America and Asia.

This is exactly what is to happen, according to an interview Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta gave to the Reuters news agency on Friday. Reuters reporter Alan Baldwin spoke to Ezpeleta at the Barcelona circuit, where the Dorna CEO was attending the Formula 1 race. In the interview, Ezpeleta laid out his intentions to move away from Spain and, to a lesser extent, the US, and towards Asia and South America, with new races to be held in Brazil and Asia, though as he has done before, Ezpeleta would not be drawn on exactly which Asian country.

The race in Brazil is scheduled to take in Brasilia, the capital of the South American country. Whether that is at the Brasilia race track (the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet in Brasilia) is unclear, but Ezpeleta told Reuters that work was currently underway on the circuit, and the hope was it would be finished by the end of the year. That would make scheduling a race for 2014 difficult, but Ezpeleta was confident that there could be a race in Brazil from 2015 onwards. Ezpeleta did not give any details of the race planned for Asia, but Reuters reporter Baldwin suggests that it could take place in Thailand. Previously, Dorna sources have hinted that a race could take place in Indonesia, though currently, neither country has a circuit that would pass an FIM safety inspection. Given the explosion of interest in the sport in the region, however, that could change quickly.

Source: 

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/10/motorcycling-ezpeleta-idUKL3N0D...

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/Gu608B-vV_I/carmelo_ezpeleta_speaks_to_reuters_on_ra.html

Pablo Birger Art Bisch Harry Blanchard Michael Bleekemolen

Vettel takes over at the top

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/10/as_sebastian_vettel_put_down.html

Joie Chitwood Bob Christie Johnny Claes David Clapham

Danica Patrick scores on first try in intermission contest at Chicago Blackhawks game

Is this an omen for Talladega?

Danica Patrick was in attendance as the Chicago Blackhawks faced the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of their opening-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series and was a contestant in the Blackhawks' famed "Shoot the Puck" contest in the second intermission.

And guess what? She put it in the back of the net in her first shot at her first-ever Blackhawks game. Patrick's hometown is Roscoe, Illinois, which is northwest of Chicago.

Wearing a Blackhawks jersey with her name and number emblazoned on the back, Patrick advanced to the final round but in that round put her shot to the left. Another omen?

Patrick is making her first Sprint Cup Series start at Talladega on Sunday and figures to be a contender for the pole and potentially another top 10 finish. At Daytona, the series' other restrictor plate track, she became the first woman to start on the pole for the Daytona 500 in February and led a lap and finished 8th, the highest finish for a woman in the 500.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/danica-patrick-scores-first-try-intermission-contest-chicago-125142615.html

Pedro Diniz Duke Dinsmore Frank Dochnal Jose Dolhem

Dale Earnhardt Jr. loses battery power while running third, finishes 29th

A week after finishing outside the top 10 for the first time all year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was working his way towards the front of the field during Saturday night's NRA 500 when his race went awry.

Junior was running third when the main battery on his car started to fail. Without power, Junior elected to take his car to his pit thinking that something else was amiss. But when he got to his stall, he and his team deduced that it was a battery issue and Junior could have switched his car's power supply to the backup battery from the driver's seat.

"We just had a battery go dead and didn't diagnosis it correctly to just switch it," Junior said. "We have two batteries in there we have a switch in the driver?s seat that goes from one to two. I didn't know it was a battery until we got down on pit road and I got to looking at the gauges and really understanding."

Then things got worse from there. Because he was without power coming down pit road, Junior didn't have a working tachometer and was clocked for speeding. Then, while serving his pass-through penalty for the speeding penalty, crew chief Steve Letarte wanted to go ahead and change tires on Junior's car. That's against NASCAR rules, so that drew another penalty.

"At that point we had lost a couple of laps. I couldn't control my speed on pit road because the motor was not running coming on. So we sped there and we came down pit road to serve the penalty but Steve wanted to get tires. You can't get tires serving a penalty so we had to come back and then serve the penalty," Junior said.

When that sequence was mercifully over, Earnhardt Jr. was five laps down and his chances for a good finish were as kaput as his main battery.

"All the gauges just went haywire and so I couldn't read the gauges to really diagnose what was happening, but once you start to think about it you are like, 'Well if all the gauges are going bad we have electrical issues'," Junior said.

"Then you go right to the battery. The thing quit running going into three and I couldn't stay on the track if it wasn't the battery we would have stopped on the track and lost all those laps. I came down pit road, sped, no motor, no tach,� figured out by the time I got to the pit stall it was the battery. We changed the switch over to battery two, get fired up, take off, come down pit road change tires, came down pit road serve the penalty and that was the night."

Last week at Martinsville, Junior was spun after contact from Danica Patrick and Brian Vickers and ended up 24th, losing the points lead to teammate Jimmie Johnson. After Texas, he's now fourth in the standings, 35 points behind Johnson.

"It has been rough, but we had a really good car tonight," Junior said. "If we were running bad and having these kinds of nights we would have a hard time making that Chase, but running good eventually things will turn back around for us. We will get going. We have a lot of confidence. We've got a lot of positive attitude and feel like we will have no problem rebounding."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/dale-earnhardt-jr-loses-battery-power-while-running-051341510--nascar.html

Joie Chitwood Bob Christie Johnny Claes David Clapham

Bahrain? G-O Fish!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/i5r7x77_vJA/bahrain-g-o-fish.html

Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick Red Amick

Lewis stays ahead

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the Q2 session in Spain on Saturday, beating the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus. Completing the top 10 were Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg, Sergio Perez, Felipe Massa, Romain Grosjean and Paul di Resta. Knocked out were Daniel Ricciardo and […]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/lewis-stays-ahead/

Julian Bailey Mauro Baldi Bobby Ball Marcel Balsa

Bahrain GP, not Politicalized, really?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/kfSxTb-m3V0/bahrain-gp-not-politicalized-really.html

Jose Dolhem Martin Donnelly Carlo Abate George Abecassis

Hamilton saga nearing endgame

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/09/hamilton_saga_nearing_endgame.html

Pedro Diniz Duke Dinsmore Frank Dochnal Jose Dolhem

Denny Hamlin not returning to car at Richmond

Denny Hamlin will not make his return to the No. 11 at Richmond on Saturday night.

Hamlin had expressed optimism at Kansas that he could be cleared to drive at his hometown track, but after conferring with doctors, the decision was made for Hamlin to wait at least another week before coming back.

"Unfortunately I won't be racing this weekend at Richmond. It kills me to not be in the car for my team and sponsors but after long discussions with the doctors we have decided to wait on my return back to racing. Thanks to all of my fans who have sent encouraging messages over the last month. I'll be back in no time," Hamlin tweeted.

After sustaining a compression fracture to his L1 vertebra in a last lap crash March 24 at California, Hamlin was initially diagnosed to be out of the car five races, a six-week span that penciled his return in at Darlington on May 11. However, Hamlin has said that the healing process is going well and has talked about his desire to at least start the May 5 race at Talladega before getting out of the car for a relief driver. Because of Talladega's size and it's nature of racing, that's scenario a logical option if Hamlin is cleared to race.

Brian Vickers will continue to be behind the wheel in Hamlin's absence.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/denny-hamlin-not-returning-car-richmond-225230646--nascar.html

Anthony Davidson Jimmy Davies Colin Davis Jimmy Daywalt

Craziest Moment: Logano barely starts race on time after inspection issues, Keselowski furious

Joey Logano's car was rolled to the grid after the field fired its engines for Saturday night's NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway because of a rear-end housing issue that was found during pre-race inspection on both Penske Racing cars.

NASCAR officials confiscated parts from the backs of Logano and teammate Brad Keselowski's cars Saturday afternoon, and the teams then scrambled to change the configuration and parts in the rear of their cars to be ready to race. After Saturday's race, Keselowski was angry and said that his team has been targeted over the last week in the garage area.

"I have one good thing to say and that's my team and effort they put in today and fighting back with the absolute bull(crap) that's been the last seven days in this garage area, the things I've seen in the last seven days have me questioning everything that I believe in and I'm not happy about it," Keselowski said. "I don't have anything positive to say and I probably should just leave it at that"

But he continued, telling reporters that "There's so much stuff going on you have no (expletive) idea what's going on. And that's not your fault and that's not a slam on you. I could tell you there's nobody, no team in this garage with the integrity of the 2 team. And the way we've been treated over the last seven days in absolutely shameful." (Thanks to Jim Noble, click here for the full text of Keselowski's quotes.)

It's unclear why Keselowski feels his team has been targeted, though both drivers were able to overcome their pre-race adversity and post top 10 finishes despite each being a lap down at some point in the race. Logano wound up fifth and Keselowski was ninth after getting his lap back on the final restart with just 16 laps to go.

"It was a little too close for my comfort, to be honest with you," Logano said about being rolled to the grid so late. "Having to start from the back, worked our way up. (Crew chief) Todd Gordon did a great job keeping everyone under control, not getting overwhelmed by everything, focused in, made his adjustments, got our car a lot better than it was."

Before the race, NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said that what the sanctioning body found in the rear end housings of the Penske cars was not "in the spirit of the rules."

After the pre-race adjustments were made to NASCAR's liking, both cars passed inspection and were ready for the race. However in Logano's case, that barely happened. His car was on the scales being weighed as the command to fire engines was given.

Both drivers were allowed to start in their qualified starting positions after the issues were found, but because Logano's car wasn't on the grid when the engines were started, he had to start in the back. Any fines, suspensions or points penalties will likely be announced on Monday or Tuesday, though Tuesday is when Keselowski visits the White House as the 2012 champion.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/craziest-moment-logano-barely-starts-race-time-penske-045213901--nascar.html

Kurt Adolff Fred Agabashian Kurt Ahrens Jr Christijan Albers

Just how big is Jimmie Johnson?s points lead?

Yes, the points will be completely reset following the Sprint Cup Series' next visit to Richmond, but it's hard not to notice the commanding points lead that Jimmie Johnson has built up during the first quarter of the season.

Despite sustaining damage in the aftermath of a spin with Tony Stewart, Johnson finished 12th on Saturday night at Richmond, which extended his lead to 43 points over new second-place driver Carl Edwards. That margin is essentially an entire race; it's the base points a driver gets for a win minus a point for leading a lap and three bonus points for the win.

[Related: Tony Stewart steamed at another driver ... again]

In the three years of the Cup Series' new points system, it's the largest lead a driver has had through nine races. Last year, Greg Biffle was the leader by five over Dale Earnhardt Jr. In 2011, this year's roles were reversed and Edwards left Richmond nine points ahead of Johnson.

Johnson's been able to build that lead by maximizing poor performances. He had a tire issue and hit the wall earlier in the year at Bristol but still finished 22nd, his lowest finish of the year.

How does Johnson's lead stack up going even further back? Through 2001, the first year that the series expanded to the since-standard 36 races, only Jeff Gordon has held a bigger lead through the first nine races. Gordon's lead in 2007 was 207 points over Jeff Burton. And being the leader at the quarter pole is nothing new for Johnson. (Under the old scoring system, a driver received 185 points for a win until an additional five point bonus for a win was added in 2007.)

2001: Dale Jarrett, 145 point lead
2002: Sterling Marlin, 109
2003: Matt Kenseth, 51
2004: Dale Earnhardt Jr., 94
2005: Johnson, 130
2006: Johnson, 21
2007: Gordon, 207
2008: Burton, 22
2009: Kurt Busch, 5
2010: Johnson, 26

Pssst, 2006 and 2010 were also the bookends to Johnson's five-year title reign.

If Penske Racing wins its appeal Wednesday and gets the points penalties against Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano overturned, then Johnson's lead is down to a measly 34 points. But even that stacks up to well to the points leads at this point in time over the last 12 years. Will we see a nine race stretch like this in the Chase?

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/just-big-jimmie-johnson-points-lead-234151329.html

Tony Brooks Alan Brown Walt Brown Warwick Brown

Spanish Grand Prix: Winners & Losers

The dust has now settled on an enthralling Spanish Grand Prix, with Fernando Alonso thrilling his supporters with a fine win. As always, there were winners and losers, sand here is our run down. CLICK HERE TO REVEAL THE WINNERS & LOSERS  

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/s3PEd4nafJY/spanish-grand-prix-winners-losers

Giulio Cabianca Phil Cade Alex Caffi John CampbellJones

Mark Webber: ?You?ve got to take it on the chin??

Mark Webber will start the Spanish GP from seventh place after his tyres gave up over the last few corners of his final lap in Q3. Webber was initially eighth, but gained a spot after Felipe Massa was penalised for … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2013/05/11/mark-webber-youve-got-to-take-it-on-the-chin/

John Cannon Eitel Cantoni Bill Cantrell Ivan Capelli

Into the Crystal Ball? The Sambadrome Edition

Welcome to May! Before we hit the famed Brickyard, there is one more stop to make: The Streets of Sao Paulo Brazil. Without a doubt, this track is a favorite of fans and drivers alike. Half of the circuit consists … Continue reading →

Source: http://anotherindycarblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/into-the-crystal-ball-the-sambadrome-edition-2/

Erwin Bauer Zsolt Baumgartner Elie Bayol Don Beauman

Raikkonen favourite to taste victory in Belgium

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/08/raikkonen_favourite_to_taste_v.html

Giorgio Bassi Erwin Bauer Zsolt Baumgartner Elie Bayol

Last of Minardi?s Two Hundreder?s...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/z6pyESuKSbY/last-of-minardis-two-hundreders.html

Adriбn Campos John Cannon Eitel Cantoni Bill Cantrell

Hector Barbera And His Girlfriend Sentenced After Altercation In Hotel

Hector Barbera and his 23-year-old girlfriend have both been convicted of assault in a summary justice procedure in the Spanish courts. An altercation between the couple in a hotel in Jerez got out of hand late Thursday night, resulting in physical violence between the two, leading to them both being convicted for assault. Barbera was given a sentence of six months, and his girlfriend, referred to in reports only by her initials D.P., received a sentence of five months, both of which were commuted to fourteen months' community service, Spanish media are reporting.

Source: 

http://www.abc.es/deportes/motos/20130510/abci-condenado-hector-barbera-...

http://www.motoworld.es/actualidad/actualidad/hector-barbera-detenido-po...

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/NrZT9ZSvMgY/hector_barbera_and_his_girlfriend_senten.html

Piers Courage Chris Craft Jim Crawford Ray Crawford

2013 Monza World Supersport QP1 Results: Coghlan Takes Wet Provisional Pole

Kev Goghlan takes provisional pole alongside Andrea Antoneli, showing once again that they have skill and speed in the wet.

Results:

Race Details

Round Number: 

4

2013

results/2013/05/10/2013_monza_world_superbike_qp1_results_c.html

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/MEiaeNlYddM/2013_monza_world_supersport_qp1_results_c.html

Warwick Brown Adolf Brudes Martin Brundle Gianmaria Bruni

Warped Wednesday: Let?s eliminate short tracks, they?re unbecoming of drivers

Welcome to Warped Wednesday. On this, we'll put out the rush to judgment mat, go a little too far and have a little fun. Will it be funny? Sometimes. Will it be crazy and largely unbelievable? Probably. Will not everyone get it? Definitely.

Can you believe the immaturity that we saw over the weekend at Richmond International Raceway in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series? The actions that took place after both races were inexcusable and not fitting of professional drivers.

Let's start with Nelson Piquet Jr. and Brian Scott. Who spins another driver near the entrance to pit road and then kicks him in the groin? Though don't think for a second that excuses Scott, who angrily and unconscionably aggressively walked towards Piquet after the race to confront him about the incident.

At least Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch showed some brains and removed their helmets like dignified adults before they engaged in their childish shouting match over which baby stole the other baby's "A" block to spell out "Poopyhead" on the carpet. Men, if you have a problem with each other, you need to go sit down in the hauler over a relaxing beverage and talk it out with proper grammar and without foul language. You're getting paid like Downton Abbey stars, so you should probably start talking like them.

Because these men (and women) are professionals, they should be upheld to professional standards of conduct. What would happen if you kicked a co-worker in the private parts after a report didn't go over well at a meeting? I will let you ponder on that for a brief moment before you answer.

What's the catalyst in all of this? Short track racing. We've seen it time and time again and Bristol and it's spread now to Richmond. Who won Friday night's Nationwide Series race? Wait, you don't know? My point exactly. These callow displays of petulance are distracting from the real story of racing, and that should be the racing itself.

It's not a popular opinion, but if you want the focus to turn back to the racing and the product on the track, there's no better way to do it than to eliminate short-track racing altogether. That way, these drivers won't be at risk of embarrassing their sponsors with temper tantrums six times a year because of the inevitable contact that comes at a short-track.

If we replace Bristol, Richmond and Martinsville with intermediate tracks, the drivers will have room to spread out and this unsophistication will be minimized. Sure, it may happen from time to time at an intermediate track -- what we saw after the race at California was an outlier, and it's certain to not happen again anytime soon -- but these competitors will be put in the best position to please their sponsors like a vanilla air freshener.

It may not be what the puerile spectators who watch NASCAR want, but it's best for the image of the sport and the multi-million dollar sponsors who support it. Without them, there may be no NASCAR.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/warped-wednesday-let-eliminate-short-tracks-unbecoming-drivers-183228780.html

Ian Burgess Luciano Burti Roberto Bussinello Jenson Button