11.19.07
Posted in General Category at 1:01 am by admin
JIMMIE Johnson won his second successive NASCAR championship after defending his points lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon in the final race of the season.
Matt Kenseth of Roush won the 400 mile race but Johnson finished seventh to ensure he ended the championship with a 77 point lead over four-times champion Gordon - who finished fourth.
Johnson went into the race knowing that even if Gordon - who won back-to-back titles in 1997 and 1998 - won the battle he only needed to finish 19th to keep top spot in the standings.
The 32-year-old Johnson, driving a Chevrolet, took few risks in a race which saw Kurt Busch finish second and Denny Hamlin third.
Johnson’s title win was the seventh triumph for team owner Rick Hendrick and completed an outstanding season for the driver who claimed 10 victories throughout the 36 race season - including four of the last five races.
“I don’t think I have seen a more dominant performance since I have been in racing,” said Hendrick of Johnson’s season.
“I was in the right frame of mind and focused on the right things and I had great support from my team,” said Johnson, who came from 68 points behind Gordon to clinch the title.
The rivalry between the two team mates has always been calmed by friendship and Johnson described Gordon as “a great friend and a great teammate”.
Gordon, consistent throughout the season, said he had paid the price for being conservative, whereas Johnson had shown the determination and risk-taking needed to come from behind.
“In those four races they got aggressive and we were maybe a little conservative. They got the wins at crucial times and they beat us - that is the bottom line,” said Gordon.
“It is always about risk versus reward but other than a bit more of an aggressive approach in the car set up, I am not sure what more we can do on the track.”
Gordon, 36, was Johnson’s mentor when the younger man entered the sport six years ago, and he said he was aware that time was now running out for him.
“I don’t feel like I am done yet but I know I don’t have a lot of years left to be this competitive,” he said.
Johnson though is looking forward to plenty more successes.
“We are just hitting our stride, there are a lot of good years ahead of us and hopefully a third championship,” he said.
Hendrick will be strengthened next year by the sport’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Junior, who raced for the last time for DEI - the team founded by his late father.
Earnhardt Jr. decided to quit DEI, run by his stepmother Teresa, after his request for 51 per cent ownership of the company was rebuffed - he finished a disappointing 36th.
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Posted in General Category at 12:59 am by admin
Red Bull KTM Off Road Race Team rider David Knight claimed his second championship of ‘07 this passed weekend when the two-time Enduro 3 world champion added the AMA Endurocross title to the Grand National Cross Country championship he claimed at the end of October. Winner of the opening two rounds of the ‘07 Endurocross series staged in Colorado and Oklahoma, Knight arrived in Vegas eight points ahead of his closest championship rival Damon Huffman and ready to win his second Endurocross title. Easily winning his qualifying heat and impressively fast around the challenging course housed within the Orleans Arena Knight looked all but assured of claiming his second Endurocross title after Huffman, the championship’s second most consistent rider at rounds one and two, struggled through the LCQ to make it into the final. Starting well Knight was soon into the lead of the 10 rider main event.
Knowing all to well that one mistake could rob him of the Endurocross title the Manxman put in several faultless laps to open up a small gap at the front of the field. Behind Knight KTM mounted Pole ‘Taddy’ Blazusiak quickly worked his way up into second and for three laps the two riders were separated by nothing at all. As the race neared its close, and not wanting to get into a battle with his team-mate that might result in neither of the two riders winning the race should they have collided with each other, Knight let Taddy take over the lead and one lap later the win. In winning the race Taddy stopped Knight from claiming the $50′000 Motorcycle Mechanic’s Institute prize money that was available to him had he have won the race.
Extremely disappointed at having not won the sizeable prize purse available to him Knight was pleased to have ‘won back’ his AMA Endurocross title. In doing so David secured his second major US off-road championships in ‘07.
David Knight: “That was one of the hardest races I’ve ever done. Not because the track was too difficult, it wasn’t it was a great track, but because I couldn’t push as hard as I wanted to try and win the race because I knew winning the championship was more important. Taddy was riding really well, and bumped me in a few corners, but it was too risky for me to ride hard - one mistake indoors and your race can be over. If that had happened then I could have lost the championship, who knows what could have happened. So I decided to move over and let him passed, which was hard. But like I said winning the championship was more important than winning the race. Yeah, I’m pissed about not winning the money, who wouldn’t be. Winning the GNCC and Endurocross championships in the same year is great, but tonight things didn’t go the way I thought or hoped they would.”
Results - ‘07 AMA Endurocross Round 3, Las Vegas
1. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 8 laps
2. David Knight (Red Bull KTM Off Road Race team) 8 laps
3. Mika Ahola (Honda) 8 laps
4. Colton Haaker (Montesa) 8 laps
5. Nick Bozobvich (Yamaha) 8 laps
6. Geoff Aaron (KTM) 8 laps
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Posted in General Category at 12:59 am by admin
Six of Michelin’s 2008 MotoGP riders attended the penultimate test session of 2007 at Sepang, ending the three-day outing happy with latest developments from Michelin and confident of further improvements in the run-up to the 2008 World Championship which commences in Qatar on March 9.
Michelin man Nicky Hayden (Repsol HondaTeam RC212V-Michelin) ended the session fastest, using qualifying tyres on the final day. Hayden’s best lap was a stunner – almost 1.3 seconds inside the pole position pace set by team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin) at October’s Malaysian GP. Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) also lapped inside Pedrosa’s pole time using qualifying tyres, but even more impressively was inside the lap record on race tyres.
Michelin also used the session to get to know four new Michelin MotoGP riders: Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V-Michelin), Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin), Randy de Puniet (Honda LCR RC212V-Michelin) and James Toseland (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin).
“We’re happy with the three days and it was great to do a lot of work with our new riders,” said Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “The data and information we gained here will be very important in helping us work towards the first tests of 2008 here in January. Our new riders all made excellent progress with their lap times and proved that they are extremely motivated.
“We had new tyres to test during this session, plus we also wanted to try the same tyre types that worked so well at Valencia last month at a different racetrack. At the moment the tyres we are working on are logical developments of our latest tyres, though we did try out some new compounds that worked well. Nicky also tested a new 16-inch rear, though he focused mostly on our 16.5.”
Hayden was happy with his second outing on Honda’s 2008 RCV. “We’ve been working through a lot of stuff on the new bike – engine mapping, electronics and tyres – and I’m pleased because we’ve been made constant improvements,” said the 2006 World Champion.
MotoGP newcomer Dovizioso impressed with his speed, the 2007 250 runner-up setting the fourth fastest lap of the three days. “Andrea did an excellent job,” added Weber. “He focused on the front tyre and he gives very good feedback. It was also good to work with Jorge, though he was working more on bike set-up than tyre testing during these tests. Randy did a great job, he really likes his new bike and tyres and shows great potential. James worked very well in his first ride on a MotoGP bike, especially considering he was also riding on a new track and with new tyres.”
2006 and 2007 World Champion Lorenzo was seventh, focusing on machine set-up. Former Kawasaki MotoGP rider de Puniet led the first day and ended up ninth, after injuring a thumb in a fall on the final day. “This has been a very positive test I have done a lot of tyre evaluation with Michelin, with good step forward on the rear, we tried some different compound front tyres. The crash was strange, I had the same braking and speed as the lap before, when I lost the front-end. I rode again in the afternoon but did not use a qualifier, just the latest Michelin race tyres. After just five days with Honda LCR and Michelin I’m happy with move to the LCR team and know we can be faster when we get the 2008 model Honda RC212V”. said Randy.
Double World Superbike champion Toseland was tenth, improving his times throughout the three days.
Edwards also came away impressed. “Michelin have been working really hard, they’ve got some new ideas which should keep us moving in the right direction,” commented the former World Superbike champion.
Off-season testing continues at Jerez, Spain, on November 27/28/29. MotoGP then begins its traditional six-week mid-winter recess, with testing resuming at Sepang on January 22/23/24 2008.
Michelin riders lap times
Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin): 2m 0.592s
Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin): 2m 1.811s
Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V-Michelin): 2m 2.128s
Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin): 2m 2.643s
Randy de Puniet (Honda LCR RC212V-Michelin): 2m 2.700s
James Toseland (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin): 2m 3.550s
2007 Malaysian GP pole position
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin): 2m 01.877s
Sepang outright lap record
Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici): 2m 02.108s
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Posted in General Category at 12:57 am by admin
The Q motor oil under the hood of the
No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet helped Jimmie Johnson earn the NEXTEL Cup Series
championship for the second consecutive year. With one of the unique motor
oil formulations developed specifically to help keep the team’s engines
running at peak performance throughout the season, Johnson powered through
the standings to his second career championship at Homestead-Miami
Speedway.
“Every team literally has hundreds of things to worry about in the car
each race, and one item we never have to think about that has delivered
consistent performance this season was the motor oil,” says Jeff Andrews,
director of engine operations for Hendrick Motorsports. “With Q motor oil
under the hood, we know the performance from our engine is maximized and
that we are providing ourselves with the additional horsepower we need to
win.”
Initiated nearly a decade ago as a sponsorship, the Quaker
State-Hendrick relationship has grown over the years into a
championship-winning technical team, which has now helped Johnson repeat
his championship ways. Q engineers work diligently with Hendrick
Motorsports throughout the season to analyze and adjust the motor oil
formulations provided.
The results of the integrated relationship are very tangible; with Q
technology flowing through the engine of the No. 48 car, Johnson won nearly
one-third of the races this season while finishing in the top 10 more than
20 times. Moreover, since the partnership began in 1996, Quaker State and Q
motor oils have helped deliver a total of six Cup race championships and
118 race wins with Hendrick Motorsports.
“Once again, the entire Q team is honored to be a part of the Hendrick
Motorsports team and to have helped power this championship season,” said
Troy Chapman, director of marketing, Quaker State and Q. “The entire Q team
wants to congratulate Jimmie Johnson and everyone who was a part of the No.
48 car’s success; capturing back-to-back NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championships is
an extremely difficult task, and we are proud to make the motor oil that
helped make it a reality.”
Heat-activated Q motor oil was initially developed in 2005 for Hendrick
Motorsports to reduce friction under stressful race conditions while
helping maximize power and performance for the team’s engines. The
technology in Q motor oils has seen every driver in the Hendrick garage
visit victory lane at least once this season.
About Quaker State
Quaker State is among the industry’s most innovative motor oil brands
and offers a full line of products to meet every type of vehicle engine
need. Quaker State is the first motor oil brand to create a synthetic blend
of motor oil, one of the first brands to develop High Mileage Engine motor
oil, and the only brand to market its motor oil product in a clear bottle.
For more information about Q products, please visit http://www.QPower.com.
Quaker State brand products are manufactured by Shell Lubricants. The
term ‘Shell Lubricants’ collectively refers to the companies of the Shell
Group engaged in the lubricants business. Shell lubricants companies are
global leaders in lubricants and operate in approximately 120 countries
worldwide. They manufacture and blend products for use in a range of
applications from consumer motoring to food processing and heavy industry
to commercial transport. The Shell portfolio of top quality lubricant
brands includes Pennzoil(R), Quaker State(R), FormulaShell(R), Shell
Tellus(R), Shell Cassida(R), Shell ROTELLA(R) T, Shell Spirax(R) and a
portfolio of car care products and Jiffy Lube(R) services.
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Posted in General Category at 12:56 am by admin
Held in Western Australia over the weekend the Narrogin Rev Heads Australian FMX champs is the second big competition win in two outings for Honda’s Cameron Sinclair. Since retaining the King of the Coast crown recently in QLD, Cam has been more motivated than ever to further improve his riding and has perfected many new backflip combos in the process.
The win in WA was a big confidence booster for Cam, beating a list of local stars as well as long time Australian and international superstar Matt Schubring.
“It was awesome to have beaten Schuie, he has been the best rider in Australia for a while now, the course was awesome and I have been training so much leading up to this event.”
Cam returned home to Melbourne and plans to recommence training in preparation for a hectic schedule in 08, beginning with a tour of the U.K with the
Crusty Demons of Dirt in the first week of Jan.
Final Results
1st Cam Sinclair
2nd Matt Schubring
3rd Josh Sheehan
For more information on cam go his website www.sincs99.com
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