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The first Superbike race of the weekend saw a thrilling end to one of the best races ever seen at Monza. The race had to have two starts, after two crashes at the first chicane of lap 1 involving Tamada, Hill, Corser, Neukirchner and Roberts led to it being interrupted.
The German came off the worst with a broken right femur and dislocated right foot, while Roberts picked up various bruises. The outcome of the race was decided at the final curve. Spies was well on his way towards a fifth win of the season when in the Parabolica his Yamaha ran out of fuel just a few metres from the line. Michel Fabrizio -Ducati Xerox capitalized on Spies' misfortune to take his first win in Sueprbike. Team-mate Noriyuki Haga finished second to maintain his points lead.
The third place battle also saw a thrilling end as Max Biaggi took his Aprilia over the line, but the Italian was penalized 20 seconds for cutting the chicane, leaving Ryuichi Kiyonari -Ten Kate Honda to take the final podium position after a spectacular mid-race recovery from a poor start. Fourth went to Yukio Kagayama - Suzuki Alstare, ahead of the British pair of Jonathan Rea - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda and Tom Sykes - Yamaha World Superbike. Both BMW and Kawasaki placed riders inside the top 10, Ruben Xaus taking the German four-cylinder machine to seventh while a still unfit Broc Parkes fought hard for tenth place.
Jenson Button, taking the checkered flag just ahead of compatriot Lewis Hamilton, albeit with the current World Champion a lap down, won the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday to chalk up four Formula One victories in five races. Statistics hold that Button's season start has secured the Frome, England, native the 2009 driving title. Twelve races remain.
This first race in Europe represented a chance for a change in the New World Order. Most teams had installed upgrades. But Brawn GP and Red Bull strengthened their positions as the teams to beat.
Up next for the Lizards is the Utah Grand Prix, which gets the green flag at 2:15 MT on Sunday May 17 at Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City, Utah. Following two street courses in a row, the Utah Grand Prix is a welcome return to a conventional road course for the team: a 2 hour and 45 minute race on a 3.048 mile, 15-turn circuit.
Heading into the fourth of ten ALMS races this season, Flying Lizard, fielding two Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs, is currently leading in the GT2 team championship. The driver lineup for the Utah Grand Prix will be Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long in the Flying Lizard No. 45 Porsche and Seth Neiman and Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 44 Porsche. Following two wins in a row at St. Petersburg and Long Beach, Bergmeister and Long are currently leading in the GT2 drivers' championship. Neiman is currently in fourth in the drivers points chase.
Race Details: The Utah Grand Prix gets the green flag Sunday, May 17 at 2:15 pm Mountain Time. For a full schedule, see www.lizardms.com.
Portland, Oregon driver John Duty needed four starts to find the Victory Lane for the first time in 2008, but in 2009 he only needed three starts as Duty put forth a dominating performance to score his first win of the year Saturday May 9th at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Oregon.
This was Duty’s first start since he suffered a serious arm injury on April 12th when he slipped and fell off the borrowed trailer the team was using while unloading equipment. The injury resulted in a fractured humerus and nerve damage that has left Duty with numbness and weakness in his right hand and fingers, but it did not hamper him on his way to Victory Lane. Duty started off by timing in 5th quick overall out of the 33 super late models in attendance. Duty parlayed a scratch by another competitor into a dash victory by leading all 4 laps from his inside front row starting spot, and then followed that up with a solid 3rd place finish in his heat race.
Starting 12th in the fully inverted field, Duty quickly worked his way toward the front utilizing all 3 grooves of the track and had worked his way up to the 3rd position when the first caution flag fell around lap 15. The resulting restart saw Duty quickly move into the 2nd position and set his sights after front row starter and race-long leader Jeremy Shank. Shank and Duty set a blistering pace around the rim for 15 laps or so running nose to tail within a car length or two of each other. As the laps were winding down, a late caution gave Duty an opportunity to take a chance on the bottom groove as the grip level of the top groove was diminishing. Duty took the lead from Shank a lap and a half after the final restart and pulled out to about a straightaway lead at the checkered flag.
In a Hendrick Motorsports assault on Darlington Raceway, Mark Martin at 50 the senior member of the team won Saturday night's Southern 500 by 1.531 seconds over teammate Jimmie Johnson.
Attrition trimmed the field, and perseverance allowed Johnson and teammate Jeff Gordon to rally from a lap down each to finish in the top five. But it was a call by Martin's crew chief, Alan Gustafson, that gave the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet his second victory of the season and the 37th of his career tying him with Bobby Isaac for 17th on the all-time career wins list. Martin and Johnson were two of seven drivers who stayed out on old tires under the 15th caution of the race on Lap 321, while Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr. and Gordon were the first three drivers out of the pits with fresh right-side tires. Stewart charged through the field to finish third in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, a car that gets engine, chassis and technical support from Hendrick.
Stewart's teammate, Ryan Newman, ran fourth, followed by Gordon. Stewart moved past 16th-place finisher Kurt Busch into second in the Cup standings, 29 points behind Gordon. Truex came home sixth, followed by Brad Keselowski in the No. 25 Chevy owned by Hendrick. Greg Biffle, rookie Joey Logano and pole-sitter Matt Kenseth completed the top 10.
On Friday afternoon, Kenseth was the surprise pole winner for Saturday's Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. On Friday night, he completed the daily double with a victory in the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped track, after misfortune struck the dominant car of Kyle Busch in the closing circuits.
Touring the 1.366-mile egg-shaped circuit in 27.394 seconds , Matt Kenseth won the pole for Saturday night's Southern 500, edging Jeff Gordon by a tenth of a second. Kenseth inherited the lead when Busch was forced to pit under yellow with a cut right-rear tire and won the race under the record-tying 10th caution period of the night, when Morgan Shepherd spun moments after a restart for a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the race six laps beyond its scheduled 147 laps.
The victory was Kenseth's first of the season, his third at Darlington and his 25th in the series, fifth-best of all time. Jason Leffler came home second, followed by Carl Edwards and rookie Erik Darnell, who posted his first top-five finish in his third start in the series. Fellow rookie Justin Allgaier ran fifth.
The 2009 Infiniti M35 strong point is a abundant list of technology and luxury options delivering an array of amenities and personal conveniences, and a build quality that's good enough to embarrass some well-known, old-school European luxury makers.
Goodies are great but will the M35x stand up to the SRTV test? We will see in the complete review coming soon.
The 2010 XC60 is Volvo’s first vehicle that takes a new approach to design engineering. But critics already agree that the small SUV has the right combination of style and substance to be a major player in this category and SRTv will be sure to put this interesting take on a sport ute to the test. 1st impressions are good and looking forward to time at the wheel.
Lamborghini Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce the new king of the bulls is even more powerful, lighter and faster. The Lamborghini Murciélago is one of the most extraordinary super sports cars of all time.
Automobili Lamborghini has now expanded its model range with a new, exceptionally purist and even more extreme top model – the Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce is even more powerful, lighter and faster than the Murciélago LP 640. With the output of the 6.5 liter V12 increased to 670 hp and a weight reduction of 220 lbs, the Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce boasts a power-to-weight ratio of 5.1 lbs per hp. This catapults it from 0 to 60 mph in a breathtaking 3.2 seconds and powers it on to a top speed of around 212 mph.
Distinctive design refinements ensure that each of this 350-unit limited edition series conveys its full potential from the very first glance. With its outstanding performance, razor-sharp precision and exceptional high-speed stability, the Lamborghini Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce is the ultimate performance car for advanced sports car drivers. The super sports car has been extensively redesigned with a new front and rear, an innovative engine bonnet and a choice of two aerodynamic set-ups featuring either a small or large rear spoiler. The interior in Alcantara and carbon fiber provides a purist and minimalist approach. In order to achieve the substantial weight reduction of 220 lbs, the Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce was extensively reworked and redeveloped in virtually every aspect – from chassis to engine and transmission, right through to the interior. The increase in engine output from 640 to 670 hp is the result of optimized valve timing and a reworked intake system.
The significantly modified aerodynamics with substantially increased downforce brings considerable improvement to vehicle stability at very high speeds. With the small standard-fit rear spoiler, top speed stands at 212 mph, while the large "Aeropack Wing" and its added downforce gives a top speed of 209 mph. "The new Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce is the systematic continuation of our brand philosophy. It is more extreme and uncompromising than virtually any other automobile," says Stephan Winkelmann, President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini. "As the new top model of the highly successful Murciélago range, the SuperVeloce displays not only outstanding driving dynamics, it is also further evidence of our company's technological expertise. Customers can look forward to an utterly unparalleled driving experience."
Absolutely no corners have been cut when it comes to one characteristic that is a feature of all Lamborghini super sports cars, the exceptionally high quality of the workmanship.
Darlington Raceway's retro red-and-white paint job saluting the track's 60 years of racing couldn't hide the black stripes left by dozens of Sprint Cup Series cars scraping the wall during Friday's practice sessions.
Several drivers caused significant damage to their cars in the first practice session and the final session was just as rough; by the end of the final practice three drivers -- Scott Speed, David Reutimann and David Stremme -- were in backups.
Ten drivers hit the wall in the first practice including Scott Speed and David Reutimann. David Stremme was one of 10 to earn a stripe in the final session at Darlington. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was 21st on the speed chart in final practice, struggled with his setup and said the reason for so many scrapes and spins was because "the tire is real hard" and "is slick." Several drivers also noted the amount of dirt and sand accumulated on the track, reducing the grip.
