Stewart and Johnson
With 30 laps to go in race 6 of the Nextel Cup series, this week at Martinsville, the decisive move came as Tony Stewart
worked and worked on leader Jimmie Johnson. Both had been at the front of the pack for most of the day, and with 30 to go, it was time to show what they had. The two hammered on each other, gently bumping each other up the track. Stewart finally got the lead, and while Stewart was working over Johnson, the battle allowed Elliot Sadler and Jeff Gordon to close the gap to the leaders. Sadler locked his brakes, which let Gordon slip through into third.
Johnson ran out of rear tires, and had to let Gordon through, and with 17 laps to go, Stewart led Gordon by a second. Stewart led the most laps - like he had
twice before this year, but until Martinsville he has failed to win a race in 2006 - and with the now traditional late race yellow, brought out this week by Joe Nemecheck, Stewart would have to see if he could hold on for the final few laps. The yellow did bring Gordon to Stewart's bumper.
With three to go on the restart, Gordon slipped up on the speedy-dry and Stewart was gone. Gordon, Kyle Busch, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. battled for second. Gordon took second, Johnson third, Earnhardt fourth and Busch fifth.
With the win - and with Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne, the top two in points having bad days - the points now see Johnson leading over Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Kahne, all of whom are within a 100 of each other.
Motorsport Quick Hits...
St-Pete to Castroneves: Helio Castroneves took his first win of the 2006 IRL season at the Honda Grand
Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday. After suffering a bitter defeat last weekend in the season opener at Homestead, Castroneves was ecstatic with the road course win.
"Everyone was telling me, 'Go for it. Go for it.' I drove it like I stole it," said Castroneves, who led 40 laps and took over the series' points lead. "You know, it was awesome. We didn't have many yellows (two), which made a very intense race probably for three of us. That was fun until I got the lead. I was like, 'OK, you guys better back off.' But they never did."
Behind Castroneves came Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan. Rounding out the top five were Vitor Meira and Danica Patrick.
Canada finishes 10th in first A1GP season: Patrick Carpentier had a tough weekend in the A1GP Team Canada entry with a 'dnf' in the sprint race and
a solid 7th in the feature race, at the final race of the A1 Grand Prix of Nations. The season finale was held at the Shanghai International Circuit, in China.
"Retirement in the Sprint race dealt a blow to our fight for points," said Carpentier. "I saw Mondini coming into the turn way too fast and that was it, we were both out of the race. The Feature, I'm pleased to say was a lot better, my start was good and the guys in the pits did a great job to get me even further up. The car was a little loose mid-way through the race then when France finally caught me I just didn't have the pace to hold them off. Overall it was a fun event and a great place to end the season."
The Circuit Park Zandvoort in The Netherlands will kick off the second season of the A1GP on the 29th September - 1st October 2006.
A1GP Final Standings: 1st France (172), 2nd Switzerland (121), 3rd Great Britain (97), 4th New Zealand (77), 5th Malaysia (74), 6th Brazil (71), 7th Netherlands (69), 8th Ireland (68), 9th Portugal (66), 10th Canada (59) = Mexico (59).
With 30 laps to go in race 6 of the Nextel Cup series, this week at Martinsville, the decisive move came as Tony Stewart
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| Stewart took the lead and drove away with the win at Martinsville. (Photo: Bob LeSieur) |
Johnson ran out of rear tires, and had to let Gordon through, and with 17 laps to go, Stewart led Gordon by a second. Stewart led the most laps - like he had
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| Stewart celebrating his victory. (Photo: Bob LeSieur) |
With three to go on the restart, Gordon slipped up on the speedy-dry and Stewart was gone. Gordon, Kyle Busch, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. battled for second. Gordon took second, Johnson third, Earnhardt fourth and Busch fifth.
With the win - and with Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne, the top two in points having bad days - the points now see Johnson leading over Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Kahne, all of whom are within a 100 of each other.
Motorsport Quick Hits...
St-Pete to Castroneves: Helio Castroneves took his first win of the 2006 IRL season at the Honda Grand
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| Helio Castroneves took his first win of the 2006 IRL season. (Photo: Penske Racing) |
"Everyone was telling me, 'Go for it. Go for it.' I drove it like I stole it," said Castroneves, who led 40 laps and took over the series' points lead. "You know, it was awesome. We didn't have many yellows (two), which made a very intense race probably for three of us. That was fun until I got the lead. I was like, 'OK, you guys better back off.' But they never did."
Behind Castroneves came Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan. Rounding out the top five were Vitor Meira and Danica Patrick.
Canada finishes 10th in first A1GP season: Patrick Carpentier had a tough weekend in the A1GP Team Canada entry with a 'dnf' in the sprint race and
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| Patrick Carpentier had a tough weekend in the A1GP Team Canada entry. (Photo: Jakob Ebrey Motorsport Photography) |
"Retirement in the Sprint race dealt a blow to our fight for points," said Carpentier. "I saw Mondini coming into the turn way too fast and that was it, we were both out of the race. The Feature, I'm pleased to say was a lot better, my start was good and the guys in the pits did a great job to get me even further up. The car was a little loose mid-way through the race then when France finally caught me I just didn't have the pace to hold them off. Overall it was a fun event and a great place to end the season."
The Circuit Park Zandvoort in The Netherlands will kick off the second season of the A1GP on the 29th September - 1st October 2006.
A1GP Final Standings: 1st France (172), 2nd Switzerland (121), 3rd Great Britain (97), 4th New Zealand (77), 5th Malaysia (74), 6th Brazil (71), 7th Netherlands (69), 8th Ireland (68), 9th Portugal (66), 10th Canada (59) = Mexico (59).
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