[Not TiVoSafe] Motorsports Highlights: April 22-23
Filed under: Motorsports
Quite
a weekend! Ferrari returns, a new Nextel Cup points leader, a wild sports car race, a ton of motorcycle road racing,
and some fence-climbing in Japan.
Formula 1:
At the front of the
field, the San Marino Grand Prix was a mirror-image of last year’s race, this time with Michael Schumacher holding off
Fernando Alonso instead of the other way around. Schumacher’s victory capped a great weekend for the tifosi,
with Felipe Massa redeeming himself for his miscues in previous races with a fourth place finish, and Michael qualfying
on the pole. Alonso continued to build his championship lead with his second-place finish, and Juan Pablo Montoya
brought his McLaren home in third. Full weekend coverage here. [Photo courtesy
of Ferrari]
More after the jump.
NASCAR:
Kevin Harvick had one heck of a weekend, capturing both the
Busch and Nextel Cup races at the Phoenix International Raceway 1-mile oval. Harvick’s late-race charge through the
Nextel Cup field was aided by fuel mileage issues, as many other cars ran out of fuel in the closing laps. Tony Stewart
started last but finished second, and third-place Matt Kenseth now moves into the points lead, nine up on Jimmie
Johnson.
Get all the info here.
Rolex Sports Car Series:
Porsche’s Daytona Prototype effort continued to build up steam, with Mike
Rockenfeller and Patrick Long winning the VIR 400 for the Alex Job Racing/Emory Motorsports team. Rockenfeller put the
Porsche Crawford into the lead with only 3 turns to go, as Max "the axe" Angelleli banged fenders with Scott
Pruett, leaving room for Rockenfeller to squeeze by. Angelleli hung on for second, with Pruett rounding out the podium
trio. The full race report is here.
Troy Bayliss and Troy Corser dominated the two races in
Valencia this weekend, but it was Bayliss who enjoyed the view from the top of the podium, scoring the first double win
of the 2006 season. Bayliss now leads the championship by 22 points over Corser. More info
AMA Superbike:
Another
doubleheader motorcycle weekend was recorded on the western side of the Atlantic, with Suzuki rider Ben Spies sweeping
the AMA Superbike weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, duplicating last year’s feat by fellow Suzuki pilot Mat Mladin.
The full story on all the Barber action is
IRL:
Helio Castroneves got to climb the fence at Twin Ring Motegi,
starting on pole and dominating the race from start to finish. Dan Wheldon was second, followed by Tony Kanaan. The win
puts Castroneves 42 points ahead of Wheldon. Catch all the highlights here.
Written by Chris Paukert on April 25th, 2006 with
no comments.
Read more articles on Auto sport.
