In this week’s Motion Motorsport Report, Dave Mathers talks about the Canadian connection to the new MotoGP ownership group, NASCAR’s new, undisputed bad boy and much more.
DRAGSTRIP MEMORIES: This Sunday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Hamilton Airport. BE THERE!!
Liberty Media, the owner of Formula One, has purchased 86% of the MotoGP Series for a reported $4.5 million with the series retaining the other 14%. The deal will close at the end of the year. AND you will never guess who one of the MotoGP owners is – the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board!! Our pension money at work!! Who knew?
Denny Hamlin, who has successfully snatched the title of Most Unpopular Driver away from Kyle Busch, was criticized on social media for his perceived jumping of the final restart at Richmond. However, NASCAR declared no harm, no foul and I totally agree.
Joey Logano and Marty Truex were hanging behind on the backstretch hoping to be able to slingshot past Hamlin on the restart. Danny saw that and said, ‘I don’t think so!’ He did the right thing in my opinion.
Apparently, Hamlin got in a ‘Twitter Battle’ on X with Marcus Smith, President of Speedway Motorsports. Hamlin reposted a photo of the freshly laid asphalt at Sonoma coming up in Corner 11 and said that the same thing will probably happen in another SMI track recently repaved, North Wilkesboro.
Barbs were exchanged between the two with Marcus using the zinger about how many championships Hamlin has won (the answer, of course, is zero). Wow.
Richard Childress Racing (RCR) announced that Austin Hill, their Xfinity driver currently second in the Xfinity points, will be running in several Cup races this year for RCR. Could this point to a possible replacement of an underachieving and under-qualified current driver for RCR, down the road?
Canadian racer Robert Wickens was injured Saturday during an endurance race at the Nürburgring, in Germany. Driving a specially equipped Hyundai Wickens crashed through the barriers.
He was airlifted to a local hospital where all tests indicated that he was fine. He was held overnight in the hospital as a precaution. He stated he would be back at work soon.
NASCAR Cup Series: Kyle Larson (Chev) picked up the pole for the Cup race at Martinsville Speedway over Bubba Wallace (Toyota) and Chase Elliott (Chev). It was interesting to hear the fans ‘boo’ Denny Hamlin who appears to have already locked up the Most Unpopular Driver Award for the year. The first stage went green to the end with no cautions and was won by polesitter Larson.
At lap 112, the first caution came out for debris on the track. The debris might have come from Christopher Bell’s car that had just experienced some problems. Denny Hamlin won the caution free Stage 2. Two caution free stages at Martinsville? It must be due to the eclipse!! LOL
On lap 203, Bell’s problems continued as he spun for the first race yellow. With three laps to go, John Hunter Nemechek had a tire let go and he got into the wall for a yellow flag. And there was actually a fire under the right front of his car which was quickly extinguished. But that left a lot of oil dry and debris making for a long cleanup time. The race actually went 15 laps over the scheduled distance.
In an incredible tribute to Rick Hendrick – and in memory of the members of the Hendrick team who passed in a plane crash heading to Martinsville in Oct. 2004 – the checker flag fell on Hendrick Motorsports drivers William Byron, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott.
In the points Larson leads Martin Truex by 14 and Denny Hamlin by 17.
Their next race is Texas, Sunday at 3.30 P.M. on TSN 5.
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Qualifying for the Xfinity race at Martinsville Speedway saw Brandon Jones (Chev) grab the pole ahead of Cole Custer (Ford) and Sheldon Creed (Toyota). Chev, Ford, Toyota – parity!!
But it seems that Jones would have drop to the rear of the field due to a brake rotor change. He was joined back there by last week’s winner Chandler Smith who spanked the wall hard during practice and did not get a qualifying pass. In total 10 cars got sent to the back for the initial start.
On lap 9, Sammy Smith went low on corner entry to make it 3-wide resulting in Dexter Bean, on the top of the threesome, spinning for a yellow. On lap 36, Haillie Deegan and Brennan Poole got together with Deegan spinning for a caution. Aric Almirola picked up the Stage 1 win.
Oops!! On the restart Brandon Jones appeared to miss a shift and stacked up the whole top line behind him resulting in at least ten cars spinning. That resulted in a red flag for ‘cleanup all over the place’!
The rear starters Jones (5th) and Chandler Smith (12th) had both recovered very well in moving through the pack. The red flag lasted about ten minutes.
Right after the restart Parker Kligerman got a flat tire and spun for a caution. Justin Allgaier won Stage 2. Lap 171 a caution for debris on the track. On lap 196 Garrett Smithley spun going into Corner 1 for a yellow. With 6 laps to go Jeb Burton spins off Corner 4 collecting some other cars for a caution.
At the flag it was Almirola ahead of Sam Mter and Chandler Smith. Smith now has a 34-point edge on Cole Custer and 41 on Austin Hill – Toyota, Ford, Chev!!
Their next race is Texas, Saturday at 1.30 P.M. on TSN 2.
NASCAR Craftsman Trucks: Ty Majeski (Ford) picked up the pole at the paperclip Martinsville Speedway Friday night ahead of Christian Eckes (Chev) and Layne Riggs (Ford). Canadian Stewart Friesen (Toyota) started 14th. Another Australian Supercar star Cam Waters (Ford) started 22nd.
Things ran smoothly except for the constant bumping and banging until lap 29 when Thad Moffitt looped it in Corner 3 for the first yellow.
Eckes won Stage 1. On lap 66 Matt Crafton spun Tanner Gray with Crafton getting the worst of the deal, a damaged front end and, apparently, damage to his steering. Also involved were Mason Massey and Justin Carroll.
On lap 75 Layne Riggs got spun by Jack Wood for a caution. With two to go in Stage 2 Spencer Boyd got spun by Daniel Dye and Riggs got collected as well.
Eckes also won Stage 2. On lap 134 Kayden Honeycutt had a solo spin in Corner 2 for a yellow. On lap 145 Ben Rhodes got into Grant Enfinger in Corner 1 and then Grant body-slammed Dean Thompson up and into the wall hard.
On lap 158 Justin Carroll and Bret Holmes got together in one for a yellow. On lap 177 Riggs got spun by Enfinger and Cam Waters runs into the back of Jake Garcia damaging the Aussie’s rad from the looks of it. With ten to go Friesen, running 12th, got spun by Enginger and they collected Matt Mills.
The green came back out with two to go and Eckes made it a clean sweep of all three stages beating Majeski and Chase Purday at the flag. Friesen ended up 19th and Waters was 30th. It really wouldn’t be a Truck race if somebody wasn’t upset afterwards. Timmy Hill had a rather heated discussion with Friesen after the two of them got together during the race.
In the points it is Majeski with a seven-point lead over Tyker Ankrum and Corey Heim tied in second.
Their next race is Texas, Friday at 8.30 P.M. on Fox Sports Racing.
Formula One: With half an hour to go in Free Practice 1 at the Japanese Grand Prix the woes for Williams continued as Logan Sargeant, driving the car with the patched-up chassis from Alex Albon’s heavy off, at Australia, had a heavy off, himself.
Albon had been given Sargeant’s car by the team and, as there was no spare tub available, Sargeant was forced to miss the Australian race. And, once again, head-scratchingly, there was no spare tub available at Japan. He unfortunately missed Free Practice 2 as the team repaired the heavily damaged car. FP2 had sporadic bits of rain.
HUGE congratulations to Sky Sports for replacing the cloying, annoying Martin Brundle with the much better informed Ted Kravitz!! Well done. And he even talked about Sebastian Vettel’s biodiverse ‘Bee Hotels’ cloistered down near Corner 1.
Due to the rain in FP2, less than half the field attempted runs. And it seems that Toto Wolff decided to actually go to the race instead of ‘calling it in’ per his original plan to stay home. With Mercedes in free fall, that was a smart move.
Qualifying went exactly to script with Max Verstappen and Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez going ‘one-two’ with Lando Norris third, in his McLaren. The ‘script’ this year indicates that the order will be Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Aston Martin and finally Mercedes, the worst of the best.
And that is exactly the order that they ended up in qualifying. Apparently, the ‘modified side pods’ that Aston Martin came up with were only installed on Lance Stroll’s car and he did not get out of Q1, starting 16th, while teammate Fernando Alonso ended up 5th. Hmm.
Well, that didn’t take long. First lap, second corner, Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo tangled for a yellow flag and then a red flag to fix the tire wall. Albon had started 15th while Ricciardo had started 11th and Albon tried a pass on the outside that clearly did not work. I see another tub replacement in the future for Williams.
Then, to cause more grief for Williams, Logan Sargeant stuffed it into the sand trap on lap 42 but somehow managed to back out of the trap and get back on track. Local yellow only.
At the flag it was business as usual as Verstappen won over teammate Perez and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz. Stroll finished 12th. Mercedes was fined five thousand pounds for the ‘unsafe release’ of George Russell into the path of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren during qualifying. Russell passed Piastri in the closing laps of the race.
In the Drivers’ Championship Max is now 13 points ahead of Perez and 18 up on Leclerc.
In the Constructors’ Championship Red Bull leads Ferrari by 21 and Mercedes by 72.
Their next race is China, Sunday, April 21
IndyCar: Their next race is Long Beach, Sunday, April 21.
IMSA: Their next race is Long Beach, Saturday, April 20.
NHRA: GREAT news out of Phoenix!! A SOLD OUT crowd!! The rained out (snowed out?) finals from Pomona were held during the Arizona Nationals.
In Top Fuel, Justin Ashley beat Tony Schumacher. In Funny Car the ageless veteran John Force took out number one qualifier Matt Hagan. Number one qualifier Dallas Glenn topped Erica Enders in Pro Stock. As Factory Stock doesn’t appear to be running at Phoenix, I assume that their semi-finals and finals will be run at a later event.
In regular action Steve Torrence put down a 3.678 for the number one spot in Top Fuel. Shawn Langdon defeated Justin Ashley in the final 3.760 to 3.849. There were 7 ‘upsets’ (lower qualified car wins) and 7 ‘smokers’ (one or both cars smoke the tires).
Funny Car saw Austin Prock get the top spot with a 3.840. Prock then went on to run the field topping Alexis DeJoria in the final 3.952 to 4.049. Six upsets and eight smokers.
Canada’s very own Justin Bond, from B.C., came from the bottom of the charts in the first round of qualifying to the top with a 5.656 in Pro Mod. Justin lost in Round 2 to eventual winner Kevin Rivenbark who took out Ken Quartucci in the final 5.746 to 5.828. Seven upsets and five smokers.
Jeg Coughlin put down a 6.517 to lead Pro Stock. Canada was represented by Eric Latino (13th) and Sienna Wildgust (20th). Eric was a first-round runner-up. Greg Anderson defeated Dallas Glenn in the final 6.582 to 6.618. 3 upsets and 7, yes, 7 smokers.
Their next race is Las Vegas, Sunday at 7 P.M. on Fox Sports Racing.
NASCAR Canada Series: Their first race is at Mosport (CTMP), Sunday May 19.
APC Series: Their first race is at Sunset Speedway, Saturday, May 18.
Ontario Sportsman Series: Their first race is at Delaware, Friday, May 17.
Delaware Speedway: Their first race is Friday, May 10.
Ohsweken Speedway: Their first race is Friday, May 17.
Flamboro Speedway: Their first race is Saturday, May 4.
Southern Ontario Motor Speedway (Buxton): Their first race is Saturday, May 25.
Full Throttle Motor Speedway: Their first race is Saturday, May 4.
Grand Bend Speedway: Their first race is Saturday, June 1.
Grand Bend Motorplex: Their first race is the weekend of May 19.
St. Thomas Dragway: Their first race is the weekend of May 19.
Toronto Motorsports Park: Their first race is the weekend of April 20.
Shannonville Drags: Their first race is the weekend of May 5.
Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.
