In this week’s Motion Motorsport Report, Dave Mathers covers the NASCAR action in New Hampshire, the Toronto Indy, NHRA Denver and more.
Full marks to St. Thomas Dragway for cancelling Saturday and Sunday’s races… last Thursday. Too many racers have made expensive and frustrating trips to racetracks only to sit in their trailers in the rain. With weather forecasting now being readily available on just about everybody’s phone, tablet or desktop, we need to see more smart moves like this one.
After all, the only winner in a rainout is Trudeau who collects all that ‘brain dead’ carbon tax money on all the fuel consumed just getting there and back home!!
Cancelling at 5:30 for a 7:30 start is unfair to the racers, the fans and the staff. Think about it.
Formula One’s Martin Brundle’s sad attempt to interview super model Cara Delevingne at the British Grand Prix did NOT go well. One would think that by now, Brundle would realize that just walking up to somebody and expecting an interview is not going to work all of the time. Maybe he should get ‘his people’ to talk to ‘their people’ in advance? Combined with his bizarre ‘corner talk’ during practice, it may be time for Brundle to trundle off to the old folks home!!
NASCAR CUP SERIES: Christopher Bell nabbed the pole at Loudon ahead of Martin Truex, both in Toyotas, and Aric Almirola (Ford).
Rain delayed the race until Monday at noon. On lap 28, A.J. Almendinger spun in Turn 2 but fortunately kept it off the wall. The caution became the ‘Competition Caution’ to check tires after all the rain on the weekend. Kyle Busch was smoking as they came to the flag on lap 70 to end Stage 1, which was won by Truex.
A couple of speeding tickets were handed out after the pit stops. On lap 161, Erik Jones spun out of Corner 4 for a yellow. On the restart, Aric Almirola lost a right rear wheel bringing the caution right back out. Truex also won Stage 2.
On lap 270, Noah Gragson had a right-front tire explode, sending him into the Turn 2 wall. On lap 280, Alex Bowman, Erik Jones and Ty Gibbs got together with Bowman spinning and all three kept going but the yellow came out.
On lap 288, Christopher Bell got loose in Three running top 10 and backed it into the wall in Four, doing a lot of damage to his right-rear. But he drove away!! These cars are tough!! On the last lap Ricky Stenhouse pulled one of his usual ‘dash and runs’ pushing Ryan Blaney up into Ty Gibbs who scraped up against the wall but kept going.
At the flag it was Truex winning his first race in New Hampshire followed by Joey Logano and Kyle Larson. Great to see the Canadian flags in the crowd. And truly a good clean race with very little attrition to speak of.
In the points Truex leads William Byron by 17 and Bell by 62. Their next race is the Pocono, Sunday on TSN 5 and NBC at 2.30 P.M.
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: Chandler Smith (Chev) won the pole at Loudon over John Hunter Nemechek (Toyota) and Josh Berry (Chev). Canadian Alex Labbe (Chev) qualified 21st. Smith moved to the outside for the initial start putting Nemechek on the inside (pole) position. But that sure worked for Smith as he jumped way out front. Two laps later Justin Allgaier got around Smith for the lead.
On lap 42, Chris Hacker spun on the backstretch for the first yellow of the day. Justin Allgaier picked up the Stage 1 win. Unfortunately for Allgaier, he got penalized on his pit stop for pitting outside his box.
On lap 65, a car stalled on pit road bringing out another caution. On the restart (restarts bring more cautions!!) Parker Kligerman hit Daniel Hemric when the field slowed in front of them for yet another yellow collecting a bunch of cars. On lap 85, Connor Mossack got into the wall in Two for another caution. Sammy Smith won Stage 2.
On lap 102, Riley Herbst and Austin Dillon got together with Herbst spinning, into the wall and then hit again by Dillon. On lap 160, Kyle Sieg and Josh Berry got together to bring out a yellow.
With 10 to go Parker Retzlaff looped it in one after losing his right rear tire off the rim. On the restart once again – carnage!! Sammy Smith either bogged or spun and dropped back then hitting Sam Mayer and collecting three or four other cars.
On the restart Cole Custer appeared to get into Sheldon Creed with both cars spinning along with two others. As the white had come out, the win went to Nemechek followed by Chandler Smith and Austin Hill. Alex Labbe finished a very strong 12th.
In the points Nemechek leads Hill by 33 points and Allgaier by 60.
Their next race is Pocono, Saturday on TSN 4 at 5.30 P.M.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS: Their next race is Pocono, Saturday on Fox Sports Racing at noon.
FORMULA ONE: Their next race is Hungary, Sunday at 8.55 A.M. on TSN 5. Daniel Ricciardo makes his return to the series, replacing Nyck de Vries in one of the the AlphaTauri cars.
INDYCAR: Qualifying for the Honda Indy of Toronto was both wet and exciting. At the (very damp) flag it was Christian Lundgaard on the pole followed by Scott McLaughlin and Pato O’Ward. Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco started 22nd.
Well, THAT didn’t take long. Just coming out of Corner One on the very first lap somebody (Jack Harvey perhaps?) thought it would be a good idea to go three-wide going onto Lakeshore Drive. Nope!!
I guess this guy isn’t old enough to have heard that age old A.J. Foyt quote ‘you can’t win the Indy 500 on the first lap’!!! Sadly, DeFrancesco was one of the cars collected. Graham Rahal, starting DFL, saw the carnage and backed up electing to go through the ‘escape road’ through the Princes’ Gates.
The pace car picked up the field and then took them through the gates, as well. I must admit I have never noticed that off ramp through the gates before this race. Is it new or have I just not been paying attention? Hmm.
After nine cleanup laps, business resumed. On lap 42 Romain Grosjean spanked the wall hard just before halfway bringing out the second full course caution. On the restart Helio Castroneves looped it after a ‘tap’ from Kyle Kirkwood stopping on track for another yellow. Kirkwood received a stop and go penalty for that incident.
At the checker, it was polesitter Lundgaard with the win followed by Alex Palou and Colton Herta. Unfortunately, DeFrancesco finished a disappointing 23rd.
In the points, Palou extended his lead out front of Dixon to 117 and by 126 ahead of Newgarden.
Their next race is Iowa, Saturday, on NBC at 3 P.M. and Sunday, on NBC at 2.30 P.M.
IMSA: Their next race is at Lime Rock, Friday and Saturday on RevTV at 5 P.M. both days. (The home of the Puritans still does NOT allow racing on Sundays)!!
NHRA: Qualifying at what is, sadly, the last race at Bandimere Raceway in Denver is always interesting due to the ‘mile high’ altitude. Encroaching development (we have heard THAT song before – i.e. Englishtown!!) has forced the owners to look for a replacement location reportedly finding one adjacent to the Denver International Airport.
I made some people laugh the last time we flew out of Denver where the runways are at least five miles long by saying ‘I didn’t realize we were going to drive to Detroit’!! Perfect location as they will get no noise complaints if and when it’s built.
Brittany Force topped Top Fuel qualifying with a stout 3.724 in the very thin air, Matt Hagan put Tony Stewart’s Funny Car at the top with a 3.895, Erica Enders was first in Pro Stock with a 6.919 and Hector Arana, Jr., led the Pro Stock Bikes with a 7.047.
In the four NHRA Challenges run in conjunction with qualifying Justin Ashley won his stunning fifth Top Fuel Challenge, Matt Hagan won the Funny Car Challenge, Troy Coughlin, Jr. Won the Pro Stock Challenge and Matt Smith won the Pro Stock Bike Challenge.
Perennial crowd favourite Clay Millican won Top Fuel over Doug kalitta. Six upsets and four ‘smokers.’
Matt Hagan marched right through Funny Car and took out Alexis DeJoria in the final. Five upsets and five smokers.
Troy Coughlin, Jr. Topped Dallas Glenn in the Pro Stock final. Two upsets and one smoker.
Gaige Herrera continues to dominate Pro Stock Bike this year beating Angie Smith in the final. Three upsets.
Ashley leads the Top Fuel points by 97 over Steve Torrence and by 106 over Leah Pruett. In Funny Car Matt Hagan leads Ron Capps by 4 and Robert Hight by 69. Dallas Glenn has a 162-point lead over Matt Hartford in Pro Stock and177 over Deric Kramer. Gaige Herrara has a 189 bulge in Pro Stock Bike over Hector Arana, Jr. and 194 on Steve Johnson.
Their next race is Kent, Washington, Sunday on Fox at 4 P.M.
SUPERSTAR RACING EXPERIENCE (SRX): First and foremost a very special thanks to RevTV and Rogers for picking up this series that had run on CBS in the past.
This year they switched to ESPN and I figured we were out of luck. Nope!! Good job.
Twelve drivers from various racing disciplines showed up to play in the Tony Stewart / Ray Evernham created two-hour mid-week show. The first race for this year was at the beautiful Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut.
The first heat was won by Denny Hamlin followed by Paul Tracy and Marco Andretti. (I had scored it Marco, Denny, Tony but apparently, I was wrong). Heat two was won by Ryan Newman over Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski.
The main was entertainment at its finest as the ‘usual suspects’, Tracy, Hamlin, Stewart and others, were back at it pushing and shoving much to the total enjoyment of the fans. At the flag on lap 56 of 75, shortened due to rain, it was Hamlin over Newman, Boyer, Tracy and Hailie Deegan.
Their next race is Thursday back at Stafford Motor Speedway, due to extreme flooding in Vermont taking Thunder Road out of the mix, on RevTV at 9 P.M.
NASCAR PINTY’S SERIES: The series dropped in for their annual appearance at the Honda Indy of Toronto last Friday. Road course ace and IndyCar veteran Alex Tagliani grabbed the pole ahead of Andrew Ranger and L.P. Dumoulin.
I’m not sure what was going on with qualifying, but it showed 21 cars qualifying yet Live Timing showed 26 cars in the race. That’s a really good turnout for the race. The race appeared to run much smoother than some previous races.
There were the usual number of cars overcooking corner entries but nothing overly serious. Tagliani led Ranger for much of the race, but in the late going, Kevin Lacroix advanced to second, while defending series champ Marc-Antoine Camirand was up to third after starting 18th!
Business really picked up with two to go as it appeared that Tagliani hit traffic and his lead evaporated, bringing Lacroix and Camirand to his rear bumper.
We have seen several races this year where fireworks erupted on the last laps and it looked like this race would be the same. However, Tagliani kept the hammer down and finished ahead of Lacroix, Camirand, L.P. Dumoulin and Ranger. I had to smile while watching the race on the TSN feed as the laps were stuck at 17 of 9999!!
In the points, Treyten Lapcevich has a 19 point lead on Lacroix and 30 points on Camirand.
Their next race is Saturday, July 22 at Edmonton.
UNITED RACING SERIES: The London Recreational Racing 100 at Flamboro Speedway was bumped to Sunday afternoon by rain. The card featured both the Super Stocks and APC Late Models.
Lane Zardo qualified first for the Super Stock feature, followed by Carson Nagy and Trevor Collver. At the end of the Flamboro 50, it was Brandon McFerran followed by Zardo and Shawn Chenoweth. Nagy leads the points by 3 over Zardo and by 14 over Collver.
Shae Gemmell won the LRR 100 over Jake Sheridan and Blair Wickett. Former series champ Jo Lawrence leads the points by 2 over Jake Sheridan and by 7 ahead of Danny Benedict.
Their next race is Sauble, Saturday, August 5.
ONTARIO SPORTSMAN SERIES: Mother Nature sadly once again won the OSS race at Delaware Speedway on Friday night. Their next race is Peterborough, Saturday, July 29.
DELAWARE SPEEDWAY: As mentioned above, the Ontario Sportsman Series race was rained out. Their next race is Late Models, Super Stocks, V/8 Stocks AND King of the Hill Friday.
FLAMBORO SPEEDWAY: Their next event features the Pro Late Models, this Saturday.
OHSWEKEN SPEEDWAY: Their next big race is the Slack Lumber Night one week Friday. The track is closed this Friday.
SOUTHERN ONTARIO MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Buxton): Their next race is Saturday with the OTS Sprints.
GRAND BEND SPEEDWAY: Their next race is this Thursday and the Can-Am Midgets Saturday.
GRAND BEND MOTORPLEX: Their next race is the Summer Smash this weekend.
ST. THOMAS DRAGWAY: They feature regular racing this weekend.
EAST LONDON TIMING ASSOCIATION ‘LittleBigGo’ – Friday, August 11, 10 – 5 at St. Thomas Dragway. BE THERE!!!
TORONTO MOTORSPORTS PARK: Their next race is the Canadian Sports Compact Series this weekend.
SHANNONVILLE DRAGS: Their next race is August 26 & 27.CAN AM Stock/Super Stock Series their next race is at St. Thomas Dragway August 5 & 6.
Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.
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