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Ben Spies turns the Donington Double

Ben Spies looked like he was riding in the wrong class today at Donington Park as he blasted away from the field to win both races in World Superbike action. The Texan took the pole and Saturday, and led the entire duration of both races on Sunday to take two victories.

In Race #1 Spies took the holeshot and was followed by Biaggi who dogged him for the entire race. This was good news for Spies who is trying to catch Haga in the points standings. In the first race, Spies was setting a blistering pace, setting the track record during the race. In the end, Biaggi ran short on fuel and Spies ran away with a huge win in race #1.

In Race #2, Spies obliterated the field and finished without a contender in his mirrors. This rookie has found his stride in the mid season, and has tightened up the points standings tremendously, cutting Haga’s lead to 14 points.

Eurosport: Spies closes gap at the top

Dixon wins under the lights at Richmond

From the LA Times:

Scott Dixon wins at Richmond International Raceway
His 19th career IndyCar Series victory ties Sam Hornish Jr.’s record.

Scott Dixon grabbed the lead from teammate Dario Franchitti on pit road just before the midpoint and earned his 19th career IndyCar Series victory on Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway in Virginia, tying Sam Hornish Jr.’s series record.

Dixon and Franchitti, teammates with Target Chip Ganassi Racing, started on the front row and stayed there all night, benefiting from a one-groove race track that made passing difficult, and from their own patience as most everyone else made green-flag pit stops. -Read the rest of the article

Not exactly a surprising victory by Dixon other than the fact that he was able to hold off a very quick Dario Franchitti. But the inability to pass in Indy Car this year has become an epidemic of uneventful racing.

Indy Car has to do *something* to tweak these race cars, so that racing returns to the series. The road and street courses are usually characterized as “parades”, but this year the ovals seem to be parade-ish as well.

Zipadelli & Logano steal Cup win at New Hampshire

Greg Zipadelli rolled the dice and called a perfect weather-race to bring Joey Logano in first today at the rain shortened Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.   The win is rookie’s first in Sprint Cup compeition.

Everything went Logano’s way in an odd sort of way.  Logano had some early problems that put him out of sequence, a turn of events that may have assisted in his win.  Logano actually was the cause of the nine of eleven total caution periods in the race when he had a tire failure.  Ed Hinton of ESPN.com points out that Logano was the fortunate recipient of the Lucky Dog not once, but twice.    But the tire failure actually put the Home Depot team on an alternate strategy that played out perfectly under the conditions.

RACE NOTES

Jeff Gordon falls short
Gordon ran up front all day, and probably would have won the race had the rain held off for another five or six laps. Lady Luck didn’t shine down on Jeff today.

Tony Stewart’s strong run
The Stewart-Haas team really has the #14 car hooked up, and Tony was the fastest car on the track for a lot of the race. He ended up snake bitten by his former crew chief, but still a good day for Tony.

Dale Jr.’s strong run doesn’t show in the results
Dale Jr. didn’t look to have car to win, but he could have easily finished in the top 5 if the weather hadn’t broken up the party. Dale and the team have to figure out how to do better on restarts.

Was the big wreck Kyle’s Bush’s fault?
Kyle Bush made another friend in Martin Truex Jr. today when contact between the two created a huge accident that took out multiple cars. The question is, “Was it Kyle’s fault?” Truex sure thought so. From my seat, it looked like a pretty dumb move on Kyle’s part to stick his nose in a hole between two cars just before the entrance of turn 1.

LINKS

ESPN: Logano scores unlikely win at Loudon

SI:  Rain gives teenager Joey Logano first Cup win

Bike news - Spies wins Donington pole in SBK, MotoGP results

The MotoGP race at Assen was run on Saturday, and the results are all over the web.  Be careful about *SPOILERS*, because they are all over the web, and in this post below.

You’ve been warned.

Spies takes eight pole of 2009 in World Superbike
While not the most consistent rider in WSBK this year, Spies has proven that he’s quickest by taking eight of nine possible poles to date. He ran the course at Donington Park in 1:37.6, just beating Jakub Smrz to the line.

Last week’s first-time winner, Jonnie Rea, qualified 11th.   The steady-but-quick Noriyaku Haga qualified fourth, and is riding on a nice points curshon atop the championship.

UK Sun:  Spies does it again as rain falls at Donington

Top 10 Qualifiers - Donington Park

Pos 	Time	 Rider
1	01:37.6	Ben Spies
2	01:37.8	Jakub Smrz
3	01:38.1	Leon Haslam
4	01:38.2	Noriyuki Haga
5	01:38.2	Michel Fabrizio
6	01:38.4	Max Neukirchner
7	01:38.6	Carlos Checa
8	01:38.8	Tom Sykes
9	01:38.3	Yukio Kagayama
10	01:38.4	Max Biaggi

MotoGP Assen - A milestone win for Rossi
Valentino Rossi captured his 100th career win in MotoGP on Saturday at the Alice TT Assen. The race is tape delayed here in the states, so there’s not much to comment on. Speedtv.com has a full report of the big day for Valentino.

SpeedTV.com: Results Dutch TT

The races from the MotoGP Dutch TT will air on Speed tomorrow at 5 p.m. ET.

Indy Car Qualifying Notes: Dario obliterates the field

Dario Franchitti posted four huge laps at Richmond on Friday evening to take the pole position for the 300 lap SunTrust Indy Challenge. Franchitti is coming off a win at Iowa, and seems to have the hot foot right now in the series, especially on the small ovals.

Dixon-the new bridesmaid: Scott Dixon was *the man* last year in Indy Car. Dario’s performance has been stiff competition, and somewhat overshadowed the champ.

Helio’s wild ride:   Helio Castroneves had a couple of laps on his four-lap qualifying run that were a little too exciting.  He must have been watching the Silver Crown drivers earlier in the day, because he had some quick hands and dirt tracked his Dallara through turn four near the end of his run.

Jaques Lazier:  Poor Jaques.  He’s driving the abysmal car that Stanton Barrett vacated, and was about 14 mph off the pace with a four lap average of 153 mph.   Indy44 summed up Lazier’s qualifying effort on his twitter feed:

Did Lazier accidentally get in a Lights car? Seems like it!

The two top teams dominate the top four spots:  Indy Car continues to be a fight between Franchitti, Castroneves, Dixon, and Briscoe.   Diversity lacking.

Can Graham Rahal keep it off the wall:  Graham is the fastest fo the non-super-team drivers, and will start in the fifth position.  The kid can qualify, but will he last beyong lap 80?  Graham needs to stay on the lead lap and out of the fence this weekend.   Ditto what I said about EJ Viso who starts seventh.

AGR brings up the rear:  Hideki Mutoh paced the AGR gang and starts eighth ahead of Danica in 10th.   Marco and Tony are deep in the field, starting 16th and 17th in a 20 car field.

VERSUS covers it all:  VERSUS has three hours of coverage tonight starting at 8 p.m. ET. Check you local listings or tune to channel 603 if you are DirecTV subscriber.

San Francisco Chronicle:  Franchitti claims pole in Richmond

Curt Cavin: Franchitti’s return to open-wheel racing hitting high gear

Pos 	 Speed 	 Driver
1	167.315	Dario Franchitti
2	166.638	Scott Dixon
3	165.931	Helio Castroneves
4	165.749	Ryan Briscoe
5	165.218	Graham Rahal
6	164.928	Raphael Matos
7	164.629	EJ Viso
8	164.575	Hideki Mutoh
9	164.441	Tomas Scheckter
10	164.197	Danica Patrick
11	164.129	Mike Conway
12	164.071	Robert Doornbos
13	163.843	Dan Wheldon
14	163.824	Ed Carpenter
15	163.506	Justin Wilson
16	162.78	Marco Andretti
17	162.634	Tony Kanaan
18	162.506	Ryan Hunter-Reay
19	160.895	Mario Moraes
20	153.176	Jaques Lazier

FIA & FOTA reach agreement to save F1, boot Max in October

Well that was a short war.  Cooler heads have prevailed in the shortest split in auto racing to save F1.  The FIA announced this morning that they have come to an agreement to bring the FOTA teams back in the fold with plans to phase in cost reductions over the next couple of years.  But that’s not all.  As part of the agreement, Max Mosely will not stand for re-election of his position this fall.

While I’m sure that certain track promoters are disappointed today, this resolution is probably the best case scenario for everyone.  F1 stays intact, and Max is out the door.

UK Whitney Gazette:  Formula One row settled

Here is an official statement from the FIA.

FIA STATEMENT 6/24/2009

All currently competing teams have committed to the FIA Formula One World Championship.

There will be no alternative series or Championship and the rules for 2010 onwards will be the 2009 regulations as well as further regulations agreed prior to 29 April 2009.

As part of this agreement, the teams will, within two years, reduce the costs of competing in the Championship to the level of the early 1990s. The manufacturer teams have agreed to assist the new entries for 2010 by providing technical assistance.

The manufacturer teams have further agreed to the permanent and continuing role of the FIA as the sport’s governing body. They have also committed to the commercial arrangements for the FIA Formula One World Championship until 2012 and have agreed to renegotiate and extend this contract before the end of that period.

All teams will adhere to an upgraded version of the governance provisions of the 1998 Concorde Agreement.

The following teams have been accepted for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Team (Constructor)
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro (Ferrari)
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (McLaren Mercedes)
BMW Sauber F1 Team (BMW Sauber)
Renault F1 Team (Renault)
Panasonic Toyota Racing (Toyota)
Scuderia Toro Rosso (STR TBA)
Red Bull Racing (RBR TBA)
AT&T Williams (Williams Toyota)
Force India F1 Team (Force India Mercedes)
Brawn GP Formula One Team (Brawn TBA)
Campos Meta Team (Campos Cosworth)
Manor Grand Prix (Manor Cosworth)
Team US F1 (Team US F1 Cosworth)

In view of this new agreement and with the prospect of a stable future for Formula One, FIA President Max Mosley has confirmed his decision not to stand for re-election in October this year.

Vettel dominates and wins at Silverstone

Sebastian Vettel broke the monotony of Jensen Button winning everything by winning in a monotonous way at Silverstone. Vettel dominated the field in what is possibly the last F1 race at Silverstone.

Brawn still put together a good weekend with Barrichello finishing third, and Button sixth, but the results were a let down.  Button hoped to put an exclamation point on the first half of the season by winning in his homeland.

Lewis Hamilton’s disasterous season continued on Sunday with a 16th place finish in the McLaren after winning there in 2008.  It’s going to be a long summer for the champ.

Mark Webber had a fantastic weekend, and is poised to win a race sometime this season.  Webber had a shot at the pole, and finished second to give Red Bull a 1-2 finish.

The fact is that the entire weekend’s was overshadowed by the politics, and the looming split of the FOTA teams from F1.

Skysports:  Vettel end Button’s run

Dirtmeister Kahne gets first NASCAR road course win

Anyone who ever witnessed Kasey Kahne run a winged sprint car on dirt knew that they were watching a future star in big time racing.  I personally saw Kahne win the Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway two years in a row, a race that draw all the best winged 410’s on the west coast to northwest Washinton.  But for a guy that is so at home in the dirt, Kasey Kahne sure put out quite a performance on Sunday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma.

Kahne held off Tony Stewart to win a veritable crashfest on the natural terrain roadcourse.   A couple of drivers that were especially “crashy” on Sunday were Robby Gordon and Kyle Busch.  I lost track of exactly how many incidents these two were involved in, but it was more than a couple.

The win for Kahne is his first under the Petty Enterprises banner, and it was nice to see the King celebrating in Victory Lane again. 

USA Today has more:  Kahne, Petty brew up winning Sprint Cup combination

Rea gets first WSBK win, splits with Spies at Misano.

Ben Spies was the best in the wet and in the dry to win Race 1 at Misano on Sunday.  Spies took the early lead on a very wet track that was in the process of drying.   The race took a bit of an unusual turn as the track dried mid-race and riders came in to exchange their rain bikes for those set up for the dry.

The lead of the race was exchanged several times as Spies and other leader headed to the pits early to get on faster tires.  But as the pit stops cycled through, Spies was again on top and easily rode to victory.   The WSBK rookie seems to be unstoppable if his machine holds together, and he doesn’t find himself off track.  

Unfortunately for him, things didn’t go quite as well as planned in Race 2.

Jonny Rea gets exciting first WBSK win in Race 2
Jonathan Rea won race two, his first career win in the World Superbike Series.  Nori Haga got off to an early lead with a brilliant start.  Rea sat third behind Ben Spies, but quickly took the second spot and gave chase to Haga as Spies fell out with a mechanical issue.

According to WSBK TV commentators, Rea ran a softer front tire than Haga, and it paid off.  On lap 4 of 24, Rea took the lead from Haga, but was far from cruising from an easy win.  Michel Fabrizio dogged Rea for the entire duration, and the pair put on a great show for the fans.  Fabrizio was able to get past Rea for a number of laps, with Nori Haga sitting in third waiting to pounce.   But Fabrizio looked to have the edge and on his way to a win.  But Rea fought back, riding on the absolute edge, and outbraking Fabrizio on the last lap to take an incredible win.

The Times:  Spies and Rea share wins

Haga extended his points lead while Fabrizio cozied up a bit more to Spies who is second in points.  Spies has had a few weekends where he has won one race, and lost big in the other while Haga has had more consisten performances.   Spies may not be able to overcome the deficit with time running out in the season.

Franchitti catpures Iowa Corn 250 win

Dario Franchitti was able to outlast a crash festival at Iowa Speedway to win the Iowa Corn 250.  Franchitti showed that he loves the little 7/8 mile track outside of Des Moines that is a liltle like “flying fighter planes in a gymnasium.   The Indy Cars were running blistering laps at the the banked D-shaped oval, pushing speeds into the 180’s.

A number of drivers had problems between turns one and two all day, problems that seemed to be caused by bumps that have formed in the area of the tunnel that connects the infield to the outside of the track.  Tony Kanaan was the most notable victim of the bumps when he crashed out after leading the race for a number of laps.  In the post-crash interview Kanaan said that he’s had a tough year in what was the official understatement of the day.

One person in the paddock that is never understated is Ashley Judd who was thrilled to see her hubby win in Iowa.  ABC’s Brienne Pedigo interviewed the hatted movie star where she said about Dario:

“I think that he has a fundamental courtesy and respect for his other drivers.  And I remember early on when I’d get to know him and racing, there’d be some beef on the track and someone had behaved in an sportsmanlike way.  And I saw that even as a young man he was a bit of an elder statesman, and the other drivers would come to him looking for counsel, sometimes even bearing gifts.  It was really quite special to see, and certainly endeared me to him.  The guy who interviewed him at the local rock station was saying that too, he’s just a very personable and lovely man, and I absolutely mean that in the best possible way.”

Ashely also gave a shout out to Fathers in the audience, and mentioned that it was the Solstice.  Her monologue was rather “interesting”.

The Iowa race was actually pretty good this year despite all the crashing, but this race track still seems to be a little bit too small for the Indy Cars to me.  Perhaps the surface will wear a little bit and the high groove will come in a bit during future races.   If it does, look out for Tomas Scheckter.    Tomas looked wicked-fast on the high side, and was running with the leaders for a good part of the race, and finished sixth.

We’ll get to find out if the racing gets better, because the IRL announced that they would be returning to Iowa in 2010.

Danica ran a solid race, and fought an understeering race car most of the day to come home with a 9th place finish.  The big news surrounding her weekend was the possibility of a bolt to NASCAR, at least ESPN made it sound that way.  I’m sure ESPN would love to have her running some Nationwide races.

The Hawk Eye has more on Dario’s win:  Franchitti overpowers Iowa field

INDY LIGHTS - Ana Beatriz wins at Iowa
Ana Beatriz got her second Indy Lights win at Iowa on Saturday night, leading Sam Schmidt Motorsports to a 1-2-3 finish.  Beatriz stole the win away from Wade Cunningham, who lead 103 laps, with an outside move coming out of turn four with 9 laps to go.

Des Moines Register: Beatriz first woman to win at Iowa Speedway