One and done

Ben Spies clearly had the speed and skill to eventually be a world champion heading into his first season of World Superbike, but likely very few on the world scene figured it would happen his first time out following a season that saw a record number of poles won and consistent running at the sharp end.

Mix in five DNFs from the Yamaha runner though, and typical strong running from second place finisher Noriyuki Haga aboard his Ducatti, and the title came down to the last weekend's races in Portimao, Portugal last weekend. Spies did the business in race one, taking home the win and padding his lead when Haga crashed out. But the second race was fairly nervous, with Haga getting up to second — behind his teammate — and Spies hovering in the range he needed to finish at to secure the title. In the end he did enough to win by 6 points.

The rest of the SBK paddock won't have to deal with Spies next season though, as he's moving on to the Tech 3 Yamaha team in Moto GP, making it one season and one championship in SBK. Not bad.

Should be fun to watch next season with Spies teaming with fellow American and Texan Colin Edwards at Tech 3. Spies is replacing James Toseland, who's actually assuming Spies' ride for Yamaha in SBK. Edwards has had a great season in Moto GP, but podiumed only once on the satellite factory team, while full factory Fiat Yamaha rides Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo will finish 1-2 in the championship. Will Spies be able to go for podiums and race wins against the full factory riders? We'll see.

The Moto GP season ends Nov. 8 in Valencia, and Spies will be entered as a wildcard entry before doing the full schedule next season.


I have to also give some props to my boy in the SBK feeder series World Superspot — Eugene Laverty — who finished second in the championship, but won four races including last weekend's season-ender. Title winner Cal Crutchlow is moving up to SBK next season, and Northern Irishman Laverty will be among the favorites for the 2010 Supersport title.

UPDATE: Spies did real well in the one-off Valencia race, finishing seventh which also secured fifth place in the season championship for fourth-place finisher and future teammate Edwards.

Donkey!

Defending Moto GP champion Valentino Rossi, always game to break out a new helmet design should inspiration strike (see also here), was sporting a donkey face on his helmet this weekend in the San Marino GP, which he won.

I missed any mention of the helmet by the announcers, and thought maybe it was a rabbit on the helmet. But a note on the above photo points out that Rossi was calling himself a donkey — as opposed to his regular nickname of "The Doctor" — for falling on his own at the previous race in Indianapolis.

Photos above and below by ialla.

Super super special stage

Brawny

This is looking like it will be a crazy Formula 1 season. And I'm all for that.

Brawn GP, which formed only 23 days before the first race of the F1 season in Australia, ran 1-2 in qualifying and, even more improbably, 1-2 in the race with Jenson Button leading home Rubens Barrichelo both times. By 2008 standards this, in 300 terminology, would be madness. Especially since Brawn GP emerged from the Honda factory effort — they're basically the Honda cars that were in development since sometime last F1 season, but with Mercedes engines and gearboxes — that was awful last year, and saw Honda pull out of the sport in the offseason.

But a slew of rules changes were introduced prior to 2009, and it looks like the big teams were caught out. Brawn, Williams and Toyota all exploited a hole i the regulations regarding the rear diffuser, where Ferrari, McLaren, BMW-Sauber and Renault did not. Red Bull didn't either, but they appear to have brought a very fast piece to the track anyway, especially in the hands of youngster Sebastien Vettel.

So what did all this mean for the first race? Brawn GP first and second, with Button winning for the second time in his career. As a longtime Honda and Button fan, I'm liking it. And based on qualifying for the second race of the season in Malaysia, it looks like it will continue.

With no money restrictions or spending caps in the sport yet, the big teams could rebound once this early part of the season is out of the way, but they may well have been caught out by more than the diffuser issue, if Red Bull and Vettel's pace is considered.

We will see. In the meantime, it certainly cannot be called boring.

Brumos def

So the racing season got off to a pretty nice start when the Grand-Am's Rolex 24 of Daytona came right down to the last lap, with the number 58 Brumos Porsche holding off the number 01 Ganassi Lexus — the team that's won the event the past three years.

The "24" in the race name signifies 24 hours, meaning it was crazy to have the top four cars finish on the lead lap, let alone running nose to tail for the last 3-plus hours. It may well have been historic.

It was definitely entertaining, especially as the car I was rooting for took the win. The win was a long time coming for the Brumos team in Grand-Am, and former Formula 1 star and current Nascar racer Juan Pablo Montoya — piloting the second place Ganassi Lexus — definitely made them earn it.

Broms also came home third with the number 59 car, which included sports car racing legend Hurley Haywood in its driver lineup. A suggestion to Brumos on the 59: Get rid of the heinous florescent green spot color on the windshield and sidesills. It was there last year, and I was disappointed to see it back.

If the 58 has florescent red, how about a blue? I guess it's there so spotters can more easily pick out the car from afar, and to differentiate it from its sister car, but surely there's a more eye-pleasing option. That green is ruining the classic Brumos white with blue/red stripe paint job.

Last weekend

Spent a good deal of time watching sports last weekend and saw some nutty stuff. But let's get this out of the way first: "Sports, sports, sports, sports! Bart gets to ride in front because he's a good guy at sports!"


OK. First, Lewis Hamilton became the youngest driver, and first non-white dude, to win the Formula One championship, but only by the narrowest of margins after almost throwing away the title on the last lap.

First a little background. Hamilton, as a rookie last season, entered the last race in Brazil up 7 points. It should have been more, but he made hist first major mistake when he beached his car while entering the pits in China the week before. Another major driving gaffe, then a mechanical issue, would follow in Brazil, and there went the championship. Hamilton lost by 1 point to (my boy) Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari.

And so cut to a year later. Hamilton again starts at Interlagos up 7 points, with only native Brazilian Felipe Massa of Ferrari. And Massa usually cleans up at his home track. So a little eerie, right? Maybe, except Hamilton seemed to apply the lessons learned from the '07 and '08 seasons and was content running around in the top four most of the day, needing only to finish fifth to take the title should Massa win.

And then it started raining, and it got a little crazy.

With a handful of laps remaining all the front-runners, and most of the field, came in for intermediate rain tires. But not Toyota's Timo Glock, and with Glock staying out, Hamilton was in fifth place.

Which was good for the title, but then BMW's Robert Kubica, a lap down mind you, suddenly was much faster than Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel and Hamilton, and proceeded to pass Vettel going into a corner. Hamilton then seemed to pull over to let him through coming out of the corner, but did so awkwardly and slowed quite a bit, thus allowing Vettel to pass him as well.

And with less than two laps to go, Hamilton, great in the wet all season and driving the best car in the series, could do nothing about it. Vettel, likely taking the unofficial title of "best driver in the wet," was gapping him in an inferior car. The McLaren crew was collectively crapping their nomex suits, and the title was lost.

If not for Timo Glock's dry tires, that is. Massa was already well past the flag man when Glock slowed precipitously, supposedly because the rain picked up and he was struggling to stay on track.Vettel and Hamilton went screaming by, crossing the line seconds later in fourth and fifth, giving the title to Hamilton by a margin of 1 point over Massa.

To watch Hamilton have the title so well in hand all through the race, and then to almost throw it away with a few laps remaining, then to pass Glock at the last moment to save it: amazing. A definite "Whaaat?!?!" moment.


In far less dramatic news, Troy Corser, the guy I root for in World Superbike, took second in the championship with a stong last race, even as title winner Troy Bayliss dominated the weekend with two poles and two race wins. (Not bad for Bayliss' retirement send-off.) But second in the championship was pretty good considering a stong finish to the season was needed to claim it from teammate Noriyuki Haga.

Corser is leaving Yamaha for the new BMW factory effort next season. Should be interesting to see how competitive they'll be. Corser, though, is a good choice for BMW as he's fast, reliable and experienced.


And last we have that Texas Tech defeat of Texas, which was pretty epic. Crabtree is stout. I've liked Texas Tech a bit since someone somewhere referred to their fans as the "Philadelphia Eagles fans of colege football." Looking at the photo below, I'm guessing that was an accurate assessment.

Short way 'round

I was looking around for some Formula 1 photos from Friday's nighttime practice session in Singapore, in prep for Sunday's first F1 race under lights, but didn't see much. Did find some sweet Moto GP shots though.


Though he looks like he's sliding on his side, I assure you he's riding out of this. The Chupa Chups man, Jorge Lorenzo, at Twin Ring Motegi during practice Friday (for us). Shot by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images.

Won and done

I finally finished posting all my photos from the American Le Mans Series race at Lime Rock to my Flickr page, so check 'em if interested. There's a bunch of shots from the Porsche corral, and some racing ones too.

Though I couldn't see it from my seating position, David Brabham made an awesome last-lap pass to take the overall win in the Patron Highcroft Acura P2 prototype, passing the rival Penske Porsche RS Spyder in Turn 1 from the outside like the Porsche wasn't even inside of him. Brilliant mate!

Head-up display

Italian Valentino Rossi took the Moto GP win Sunday in his home race at Mugello. Rossi will frequently don a specially designed helmet for the home fans, and did so again this year. And yes, that's his face. And yes, that's pretty awesome.

When he was tucked down under the windshied on the straights, the face on the helmet was looking straight ahead. Pretty funny to see that at more than 200 mph. I wish he would keep this helmet and ditch his regular design, which was new for this year and pretty hideous.

When I first saw the design, I immediately thought of this.

Who's the big winner?

In case you didn't hear, Danica Patrick won her first IRL race — becoming the first woman to win in the series — at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan in April. Aside from its historic significance, the win offered a funny photo op as Patrick is nearly equaled in size by her trophy.

I actually cropped Katsumi Kasahara's AP photo to single out Patrick because I thought it was funnier this way. But to see second place finisher Helio Castroneves hold his trophy for another funny comparison, check out the original.

Respect

I saw an early Shelby Mustang GT350 — red with white stripes — for sale on the side of Route 611 in Horsham Monday. A street-going version, not a full-on racer like the above, if it was even an original. Haven't seen any Honda F1 racers around, early or otherwise.

Holy crap high side!

Jorge Lorenzo exits his Yamaha bigtime during practice Friday for Sunday's Moto GP race in China. Reports have him hurting both ankles, fracturing one, which sounds like he'll be out for this weekend. Sucks, but could have been worse, damn.



UPDATE: Lorenzo "got out of a wheelchair" to qualify fourth Saturday. This guy rules. Speed @ 4 p.m., get on it.

UPDATE 2: Lorenzo finished fourth. The Doctor won it.

Well, that didn't take long

I was just describing how impressive Moto GP rookie Jorge Lorenzo was in his first race, finishing second in Qatar, and it took him only two more races to win, taking the top step on the podium at Estoril, Portugal this past Sunday. I was watching the Flyers beat the Capitals and didn't see it, but it wasn't a shock as the Fiat Yamaha rider was on the podium in the first two races and has been very fast in qualifying.

Lorenzo's reward for winning? Surgery for arm pump. Yeeesh.

Looks like the Chupa Chups man will be in the thick of it not only this year, but for years to come. Plus, he's a little Spaniard I can root for against the little Spaniard I don't root for, Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, who won the second round race at Jerez, Spain.

My main guy in Moto GP, American and Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden, didn't fare so well. He crashed out of fourth place half way through, obviously before the below photo was shot. The other Americans did well, though, with Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards finishing fourth and Kawasaki's John Hopkins fifth.

Motorin' ... and driving through the night

Moto GP's first round this year, in Qatar, was the first night race held in the world's premier motorcycle racing series. My impression? Sorta cool, no big deal though.

As for the action, reigning champ Casey Stoner picked up right where he left off last year, coasting to a win on his Ducati. Behind him it was pretty entertaining though, with some new guys dicing it up with veterans.

The pictured rider is rookie Jorge Lorenzo, who's teaming with four-time series champ Valentino Rossi — "The Doctor" — for Yamaha. Lorenzo was impressive, taking the pole and beating his teammate by finishing second. Rookie Andrea Dovizioso was also impressive, beating out Rossi for fourth on the last lap. And the new Tech3 Yamaha team with Texan Colin Edwards and Brit James Toseland, over from World Superbike, looked strong on some sweet blue and yellow bikes.

After Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden got buried down the running order, I was pulling for the Tech3 guys, but also Lorenzo. Yes, because he was a rookie dicing with the vets (and I do mean dicing, that's him at 30 seconds blowing past Toseland and Rossi), but also because I liked his helmet. Yes, many times it's that simple with me.

One of the coolest things about racing, for me, is the whole graphic design appeal of the cars, bikes, uniforms, whatever. Specifically, I dig helmet designs. The big symbol on the top of Lorenzo's helmet looked like a corporate logo, but I thought maybe he was maybe using such a look for his own design purposes, which would have been cool. Outside of Nascar and guys riding with Red Bull and Monster energy drink sponsorships, you usually don't see anything that blatant.

But nope, Chupa Chups is a Spanish lollipop company. It still looks cool, though. Maybe if I was Spanish like Loranzo and saw it all the time I wouldn't think so, but I'm not, so it looks cool.

I guess there's not a whole lot of future in racers appropriating corporate logos for fun when they're all trying to get real sponsorship, but they could create designs that look like advertising but not specific logos and trademarks.

Anyway, round 2 is today in Jerez, Spain with Lorenzo sitting on poll again. If he takes his home race in his second GP expect to hear a lot more about him. If you pay attention to motorcycle racing.

This guy looks like he's rooting for Rossi, though.

One (U.S. open-wheel) love

Well, this is pretty good news. Hopefully the IRL will go ahead and add more of Champ Car's road races in 2009 as it said it might. Wonder what the Champ Car owners will do with all those one-year-old Panoz cars?

This leaves Dan Wheldon vs. Danica Patrick as the biggest feud in U.S. open-wheel racing, I guess.

Green flag 2008

Almost forgot about it, but the 2008 racing season kicks off (within minutes) with the start of the Rolex 24 of Daytona. Pretty stacked field of sports car regulars and racers from other disciplines this year, and I'll probably be pulling for the Alex Job Racing Porsche Crawford with Patrick Long, Andy Wallace and Bill Auberlen among the drivers. Be cool of my IRL guy, Dan Wheldon, could win in the second Ganassi Lexus Riley car with Scott Dixon too. Man, the SAMAX Pontiac Riley has some big time drivers with former Porsche regulars Mike Rockenfeller and Lucas Luhr, now driving for Audi, as well as Audi's Allan McNish. Good to see the Brumos Porsches both running the classic colors. Would be cool to see them in the mix too, and since they're now running Riley chassis, they could be.

Should be a good race.